Flexfuel E85

[gr8fl4porsche]

Running my first tank of E85 through my '12 Yukon with the 6.2.

Compared to the fuel I have been buying, the truck seems to run with a little more pep. Could be the placebo effect - not sure.

Is there any downside to continued use of E85? Its about $ .30 less than standard 87 octane fuel. Can't tell if there is a MPG penalty yet since the truck gets crappy mileage anyway.

[M.D. Holloway]

Get back to us in a month and see what you think...

Ever eat non-fat ice cream? First bowl makes ya feel good about your self...that ends soon enough...

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

Running my first tank of E85 through my '12 Yukon with the 6.2.

Compared to the fuel I have been buying, the truck seems to run with a little more pep. Could be the placebo effect - not sure.

Is there any downside to continued use of E85? Its about $ .30 less than standard 87 octane fuel. Can't tell if there is a MPG penalty yet since the truck gets crappy mileage anyway.

Yes. You will find your wallet is lighter as you travel to the gas station more often.

Ethanol has about 30% less energy per gallon. Did you pay 30% less for the fuel?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Yes. You will find your wallet is lighter as you travel to the gas station more often.

Ethanol has about 30% less energy per gallon. Did you pay 30% less for the fuel?

This would be the reason why I've never even tried it in my E85 capable F150. The MPG already sucks, explain why I would want to do worse?

[beepbeep]

unless E85 is >35% cheaper, it's more expensive per mile. Other that that, it's much nicer fuel IMHO. Burns clean (no soot), 104 octane RON.

Been running my cars on E85 since early noughties...

[nota]

good for turbo's

[Hydrocket]

Turbos LOVE E85! I've seen Supras kick out over 200 more HP when running E85 vs. gasoline. It's essentially the same octane as race fuel.

996/997 TT are getting into E85 now too...

[red-beard]

You have to setup higher compression to take advantage of the higher octane rating. That can lead to worse emissions of NOx.

[gr8fl4porsche]

Went through my test tank - that didn't take long.

E85 was about 10% less than 87 octane.

MPG was about 17% less.

So based on cost per mile the experiment failed.

Performance wise the engine really runs well on alcohol. Seems to idle more smoothly and had better throttle response. I will switch back and forth for a while to see if the performance improvements are actually real. Of course, it could be the crappy winter gas we get in the Midwest.

[IROC]

Originally Posted by gr8fl4porsche

So based on cost per mile the experiment failed.

Edmunds (or somebdoy, I forget) ran a pretty well crafted test a while back using a Tahoe over the same route, same time of day, blah, blah blah comparing E85 and regular 10% ethanol gas. The E85 resulted in only ~66% of the gas mileage as the "regular" fuel.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Hydrocket

Turbos LOVE E85! I've seen Supras kick out over 200 more HP when running E85 vs. gasoline. It's essentially the same octane as race fuel.

996/997 TT are getting into E85 now too...

Yup, very resistant to detonation. Crank up the boost on E85. By that point, MPG isn't really a consideration anymore.

[IROC]

BTW, I thought the 10% ethanol in our gas was a new thing. Check out the sign in this old picture:

[Aragorn]

Didn't the ALMS start running E85 a few years ago when they started the "green" challenge?

Thought the fuel provided better mpg then was stated above?

Trackside, it smells great.

[flipper35]

Originally Posted by IROC

Edmunds (or somebdoy, I forget) ran a pretty well crafted test a while back using a Tahoe over the same route, same time of day, blah, blah blah comparing E85 and regular 10% ethanol gas. The E85 resulted in only ~66% of the gas mileage as the "regular" fuel.

Car and Driver. They also found the 0-60 and 1/4 mile times improved slightly. You can pump more fuel through when it carries some of it's own oxygen.

[drmatera]

Yes my 930 goes from about 21mpg to around 18mpg on the highway. But I picked up almost 40rwhp when switching to E85 so I couldn't care less.

[look 171]

How the heck do you get 21 mpg out of your 930? Any mods?

[SeanPizzle]

I plan on running it in the rally car this year. 2.0L NA with a bump in compression ration and some bigger injectors.

[MotoSook]

Every time I see someone at the E85 pump I want to run over and tell them they are spending more money on it....but don't feel like giving a chemistry and math lesson...they probably wouldn't understand it anyhow.

[drmatera]

Originally Posted by look 171

How the heck do you get 21 mpg out of your 930? Any mods?

EFI conversion

[drmatera]

and I'll agree with most here in that using E85 for your daily driver flex-fuel vehicle is more a "feel good" action kind of like buying a Prius.