Some of you already realize that ethanol blend in gas hurts your miliage but for everyones knowledge I have found this to be true. I just made a round trip from California to Missouri and back while filling up several times along the way. The best gas station I found was in Mountain Home, AR and it advertised "No ethanol in our gas" so I was able to get 93 octane without that crap and got my best gas miliage from there. Even though I was driving through the curvy and hilly roads in the Ozarks I got 22 mpg. I drove through Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California...All the other times I filled up I got 18-19 mpg. I noticed a few gas stations in the Ozarks that offered "real" gas so if you are ever going through there stop and fill up! The price was also about 25 cents cheaper per gallon as well. I want to protest ethanol now. lol

By the way, on the I-8 in Texas the speed limit is 80 mph!

 

Agreed...my truck even idled a little rougher on the E-85 stuff and the mileage went to the crapper. It is cheaper gas so I guess it works out the same, but I didn't like the way my truck ran on it. It's sad we are going through all these chamges to try and eliminate our dependence on foreign oil, when we have a HUGE supply right here in North Dakota. A friend of mine forwarded an article about that to me a few months ago and it is enough to really **** you off. Basically a handful of environmentalists are stopping us from drilling here. America the beautiful!!!! Too many bleeding hearts!!!!

 

What are you talking about, they drill in ND all the time. I know for a fact there is oil pumps all over aroung the Minot area and north west of there. Where are you at in ND? I was stationed at Minot and worked in the Missle field, I traveled all over the north half of ND.

I agree, you will not see any fuel mileage increases on E85. But you have to remember, it is higher in octane than any gas you will find at a regualar pump station. Also the E85 cleans your fuel system, so if your fuel filter is already coming close to needing to be changed, then running E85 and expecting more power than you will probably be soarly mistaken. It will probably run like crap for a tank or two on the moonshine, but once your computer adjusts to the higher amount of fuel needed, and it gets done cleaning out your engine. You should feel a little bit of a performance increase. But definetly not a fuel mileage increase.

I have heard of guys using E-85 instead of race gas on the track to save money. They just tap away on the old laptop and make a couple of runs and thats that! good improvements on it too.

 

I am not anywhere near N.D. I wish I still had a copy of the e-mail that I read. Maybe it was an old article. I stand corrected.

 

Guys correct me cuz I may be wrong - but isn't E85 designed for Flex-Fuel vehicles ONLY? Mr. Shamrock, is yours Flex-Fuel?

 

The main reason for E-85 is to reduce emissions. Running it in a regular gasoline motor will only affect consumption. Thus if it were vice versa then the results would be devastating. For a vehicle to run strictly on E-85, the whole fuel system would have to be changed, bigger injectors, plastic fuel tank, plastic fuel rails, a higher compression set up, etc. Result, equal or more power, consumption would even out, and less heat. IMO, the Flex Fuel Vehicles were made halfway, which doesn't make sense cuz even those will lose MPG switching to E-85. Hence... give up the power and consumption rate to reduce emissions. But GM has stated that by 2012 50% of their vehicles will be dedicated to run on E-85.

 

I think that we need to look into other sources of power besides that ethanol crap. There are more downsides than upsides if you ask me. I beleive Hydrogen power is the way to go. Hydrogen is everywhere, completely renewable, and burns clean. In a liquid state, Hydrogen is no more flamable than gasoline either. California already has a fleet of hydrogen powered Civics roaming everywhere, and for some reason, we still fail to embrace it

 

I should have been driving in the 60s when gasoline contained lead! I'm not saying that I want our planet to be polluted, I just want to be one of the few who do lol. But of course back then the muscle cars had much higher compression motors. The government should allow a retro month which gives us great fuel at 35 cents/gallon. I would even grow my hair really long too if that happened.

I'm just a dreamer...

 

"Can you run E85 in a regular as motor?" I only ask, because I got a bad tank of gas that was 90% plus alcohol and it set off all kinds of engine codes. Misfire mostly as I recall....
And being alcohol based it will eventually dry out the rubber seals and make plastic brittle... from what I read. Just my .02.

 

No you cannot run E-85 in any vehicle. It has to be compatable from the factory or specifically modified to accept it. I know it has to have bigger injectors and the fuel lines have to be in compliance, also the vehicles programming has to have the range to flex to the higher fuel input rates. That is what I know!