WOW I own a flex fuel car didnt know it

[kwm]

I have a 01 Chevy S10 that I bought slightly used in 03. I was trouble shooting what I thought to be a slowly failing fuel pump and stumbled across, what is I guess a fact, it being a felx fuel E85 truck. Before people start to slam me here: A) I did read the manual front to back, B) there is no sticker or badge anyplace on the truck alerting me to this C) only one small paragraph in the manual does say that if your S10 is a L2200 4 cyl engine with a 5 as the eight digit in the VIN it is designed to run E85 or 87 oct gas.... Anyway, I found 1 of only 3 stations in the Charlotte area that sells E85 and I plan to go there today after work but with a lot of trepidation I can tell you that much. E85 is selling at this place for $2.79 where gas in my area is $3.33 or higher. I went to buy a fuel filter at the auto parts store and baulked at the almost $40 price and was like what the fuel filter should be like $10 bucks. He said it is $10 or $11 on the gas only S10 for the 2000 model year but yours is a 2001 flex fuel.... I was like no it is not! Then he showed me what a flex fuel filter looks like and what the standard gas one looks like and sure enough the truck has a flex fuel filter on it. Has this by chance happened to anyone else? Should I be worried about putting the E85 in it at all?

[Scott R]

My brother has an 01 Tahoe that accepts E85, at 2.70/gallon he's lost money vs. 87 octane. Its easily a 20% reduction in millage, sometimes more.

[kwm]

Scott do you think that would be ameliorated at all by the fact that I have a 4 cyl isn't the Tahoe a V8?

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by kwm

Scott do you think that would be ameliorated at all by the fact that I have a 4 cyl isn't the Tahoe a V8?

Good point, had not considered that, you may as well try.

[kwm]

Scott I like your SC set up, "9:8:2 JE's SSI's 964 CAMS Heater Backdate M&K ". Did you own the car stock at all if so where on a scale of 1-10 would you put the engine perf. where it is now compared to stock? Thanks

[MRM]

Being in the grain belt up here, E85 is a pretty big deal. Most people don't know it but most Ford trucks and SUVs in recent years are E85 compatible and many other SUVs are too. I haven't heard the same anecdotal reports of that big of a loss in mileage, so I strongly suggest trying it and see if you like it.

[deanp]

See here for some additional info:

http://www.cars.com/go/advice/Story.jsp?section=fuel&subject=fuelAlt&story=e85

http://e85prices.com/

http://e85vehicles.com/2001-s10pickup.htm

[deanp]

Also here:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/calculatorCompareSideBySide.jsp?column=1&id=17307

[Scott R]

Originally Posted by kwm

Scott I like your SC set up, "9:8:2 JE's SSI's 964 CAMS Heater Backdate M&K ". Did you own the car stock at all if so where on a scale of 1-10 would you put the engine perf. where it is now compared to stock? Thanks

I owned the car stock, and it slipped to running on 5 cylinders before I rebuilt it. The performance over stock is pretty amazing, the torque curve on the dyno is almost straight up on the graph. At 3k rpm's if you step on it, the front end lifts (not off the pavement) due to the torque. In short, I love it. Currently its at my p-car wrench to get dialed in, the CO needs to be upped to add more fuel.

[onewhippedpuppy]

E85 will always give you 15-20% less MPG, ethanol has less internal energy than gasoline. Many new cars from Ford and GM are FlexFuel. In some cases, it's the only engine they offer.

[Evans, Marv]

I like to put bio in my truck. The place I buy it also has E85 as well as propane. The problem is it's only one of two (I think) places in the whole county that sells it.

[the]

Do flex fuel cars get less mileage (compared to a non-flex car), even when running on regular gasoline?

I recently had a Chevy Impala 6 cylinder rental car, flex fuel. I did almost 700 miles, all highway, running on regular gasoline. According to the trip computer, averaged 70 mph, and 22 mpg. Mileage seemed low to me.

[masraum]

I know that when they added the 10% crap to the regular gas here last year, my mileage went down by about 10%.

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by masraum

I know that when they added the 10% crap to the regular gas here last year, my mileage went down by about 10%.

That is strange... that suggests that the additive has no "internal energy"...

[fuelie600]

My '02 suburban mileage drops from 16MPG on 87 to 12.3 on E85. (both highway)

It's rare that the price difference makes up the difference.

E85 does smell good though....

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by TheMentat

That is strange... that suggests that the additive has no "internal energy"...

10% ethanol by volume, ethanol has less internal energy than the gas it replaces. Your car has to burn more for the same output, so less MPG.

[BGCarrera32]

Originally Posted by MRM

Being in the grain belt up here, E85 is a pretty big deal. Most people don't know it but most Ford trucks and SUVs in recent years are E85 compatible and many other SUVs are too. I haven't heard the same anecdotal reports of that big of a loss in mileage, so I strongly suggest trying it and see if you like it.

Its such a big deal in fact, I can only think of 1 gas station in about a 15 mile radius from my house in the northern suburbs that carries E85.

And, you get about 70-75% of the BTU's per gallon vs. a gallon of gasoline.

[TheMentat]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

10% ethanol by volume, ethanol has less internal energy than the gas it replaces. Your car has to burn more for the same output, so less MPG.

Huh???

If you add 10% ethanol, and your car has to burn 10% more fuel, doesn't that suggest that the ethanol produces approximately ZERO energy?

Someone's calculations are off by alot...

[Gogar]

I"m just really impressed; I've never heard someone use "ameliorate" in a sentence.

[MRM]

Originally Posted by BGCarrera32

Its such a big deal in fact, I can only think of 1 gas station in about a 15 mile radius from my house in the northern suburbs that carries E85.

And, you get about 70-75% of the BTU's per gallon vs. a gallon of gasoline.

Where are you? I'm in Vadnais Heights and have three within a few miles. More on the way downtown. Maybe you just need to look for them.