E85 use? - Diesel Forum

99beast · 05-01-2005, 09:22 AM

I live in northern Nebraska and work for a large farmer owned cooperative in the energy division. This week, we introduce E85 to the public as the first retail supplier in the county. I am getting lots of questions from our fuel customers about how much (if any) E85 they can blend in with ordinary E10 before they have trouble with a non-E85 approved vehicle's fuel system. From a legal standpoint, we cannot recommend anyone using this fuel that does not have it approved from the manf. There is a good list at www.e85fuel.com I am curious if there are any users on this site or some Ford engineers on this site that could give us some feedback on just how tough it is to use this alternative fuel. Our 10% ethanol blend sells for $2.11 today and the E85 will be priced at around $1.90. This is why there is so much interest in E85 today. Thanks in advance for your reponses.

ThomasT · 05-01-2005, 10:37 AM

Read your owners manual… It is not recommended. Actually Ford doesn’t even make an engine for our trucks that will run on it.

Thomas

99beast · 05-01-2005, 08:15 PM

I am very much aware that the owners manual does not recommend we use this product, but I know that some people do anyway. I was looking for some personal experience from some of the forum members. I have a customer who is experimenting with 50/50 blend in a 6.0 liter chevy gasser (2005 model)to see how high he can go before he has trouble.

LRH · 05-01-2005, 11:17 PM

Might check a dark side forum as the biggest concentration of E85 vehicles seems to be the Chevy/GMC Suburban and Tahoe's from I believe 2002 and up with the 5.3. The same E85 spec 5.3 engine is a fleet only option in the pickup's. Most likely 95% of the folks driving them don't know it, so checking a GM site may not net much info. Ford offered a 3.0 in the Ranger for several years as a flex fuel, quite a few running around. Just remembered the S-10 with 2.2 was flex fuel for a few years also.

ThomasT · 05-02-2005, 01:16 AM

I had a 2000 Ranger FFV with the 3.0L. I did NOT get good mileage or power out of it when using the alternative fuels. So in my opinion I don't see any point in possibly voiding your warrantee by using the E85 especially since you would only be saving 10 cents a gallon with a 50/50 mix.

I will also say that when I run strait gas (not E10) I tend to get 2mpg better than I do when I fill up with the E10. In Missouri most stations have nothing but E10 (or equivalent) but when I go to the Lake of the Ozarks I get strait gas. My buddy sees the same increase in his 6.0L Cheby.

Thomas

Kelro · 05-02-2005, 05:36 PM

This question was posed on agriculture.com under the Machinery Talk forum several weeks ago. The general consensus from actual users was you can blend it with your regular unleaded gas up to about 50%. If you go higher than that the check engine light will come on due to too rich of a mixture but doesn't seem to hurt vehicle performance. There was considerable interest in doing this because of the price difference being in the neighborhood of .30. I wouldn't do it under warranty and I assume the stuff would really clean out gummed up systems. Having said all of that, you know who's rear is in a sling if something bad happens to their vehicle while using the E85.

99beast · 05-03-2005, 08:39 AM

Thanks for the responses. The interest is especially high in our market because of the $.40/gal price spread between straight nolead and E85. Even with 15% lower fuel economy, the $1.80 fuel price is attractive. Our local Chevy dealer has a mechanic that plans to experiment with his '92 half ton. It will be interesting to see what he lerans.

isellford · 05-11-2005, 07:16 AM

Just came back from a 2006 Ford fleet intor meeting. We were told that later on in the model year, the '06 Super Duty will have an FFV 5.4L engine available to run on E85.
The '05 Explorer V-6 is also FFV.

99beast · 05-11-2005, 01:16 PM

Thanks for the update. It's nice to have some fellow members that have access to the current information. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]