E85 in a non flex-fuel vehicle

[foytix]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

When it goes in the cylinder, that's what I want it to do.

2 types of explosions inside a cylinder
controlled burn = good
pre-detonation = bad

[Cobb]

I see e85 around me and found out almost all military bases sell it too to those who can get inside as an employee or contractor.

Im tempted for all of the above, using home grown fuel, higher octane, cheaper price.

[Cobb]

Well, Ive tried the half and half method. The fuel is only like 10 cents cheaper a gallon. It has quite a few benefits from my butt dyno. The engine is quieter, smells less when cold, ima system provides more assist and regens more when I coast as one would think it should work. It takes longer to make heat on cold mornings. Best of all fuel economy in cold weather is unchanged. I had a few 50-60 degree days and saw a 9 mpg increase, but I want further testing.

Im assuming its running leaner, but no dtcs. Best of all it performs in regards to reving and cvt shifting just like its on 93 octane vs 87 discount dog piss gas. Yes, the insight likes 93 octane and when you put your foot in it you see and feel a real difference.

[Allch Chcar]

50:50 this time of year would be 50% E10 and 50% E70 for ~E40. I'm always curious how the Honda hybrids handle higher levels of Ethanol. The benefit of premium in the Honda L series is well known. From technical articles that I've read concerning the L series, the SCR was specifically designed to improve partial throttle fuel efficiency. Which means it's tuned very rich at high loads, from my experience.

[Arctic Fox]

Originally Posted by Arctic Fox

I've a '93 Plymouth Sundance Duster (V6, auto, 150k) that runs awesome on 1-3 ratio of E85 to gasoline. Idle was smooth, engine ran cooler, stomp on the gas pedal and it goes! I'm thinking of going back to the ethanol mix again (just one local e85 station, open only on weekdays).

A Dodge dealer told me it wouldn't run on ethanol without $3000 worth of modifications. LOL

I now have a semi-unmodified 2000 VW Passat wagon that I've been filling up on E85 for the past year an a half. No issues besides harder to start in cold weather. In winter I'll sometimes add three gallons of gasoline to ten gallons of E85 just to get it to start easier in the mornings.

[Cobb]

Thats good to know. The gen 2 is rather clumsy in its performance and hand off between the ima power curves, the engine and shifting of the cvt. Although the American one suggests 87, the Euro and others the manual suggests 91 octane. I tried buying gas at different stations and different grades since the timing was almost always severely retarded.

Granted I considered trading mines like others have, I had found renewed interest with my city driving I do now and the better performance on 93 octane from BP.

With the better gas when the car recharges while going up hill you do not feel like the parking brake was pulled up 5 notches or 3 large people hopped in to hitch a ride.

Likewise throttle response is improved. Once warm and driven you can floor the insight at a stop and having nothing happen for 3-5 seconds. Then the engine revs and you crawl along. Now I trigger trac control and my tires are inflated to 35psi.

With the mix of 885 added I notice more assist when accelerating and regen when coasting. It seems someone adjusted the tps so the ima system works better with the engine. THe power band is more fluid and you feel one torque curve vs the 2. You know, where the ima system drops off just off 2 grand and where the engine starts to ramp up at 4700 rpms.

Originally Posted by Allch Chcar

50:50 this time of year would be 50% E10 and 50% E70 for ~E40. I'm always curious how the Honda hybrids handle higher levels of Ethanol. The benefit of premium in the Honda L series is well known. From technical articles that I've read concerning the L series, the SCR was specifically designed to improve partial throttle fuel efficiency. Which means it's tuned very rich at high loads, from my experience.

[roosterk0031]

Miles Per Dollar Calculator

Handy little program to calculate your blends % and octane.

Jonny Energy E85 Conversion Kit / Ethanol Upgrade Units

Kit to convert most cars to E85, I haven't bought one yet, but maybe this summer. I predict it will throw off the factory MPG, range etc... SGII has to be calibrated for specific blend, factory gauge must work of fuel injected and works pretty well regardless of blend.

[Cobb]

I posted this in another thread, but thought Id share it here too since the interest in honda hybrids and ethanol.

Well, its back warm last week in VA and I tried it again. I had done 4.x gallons of e85 to 6.x gallons of regular gas. It did well like 93 octane and gained 10 mpg. Only down side was in the cold weather below freezing I got a trim error.

Well I tried 2.x gallons e85 to 8.x gallons of gas. I actually lost 5 mpg.

Tank 2 with 4.x e85 and 6.x gas is not counted as I made 4 trips to the hardware store for 50 bags of mulch and a trip to the dump. Even with that its at 40mpg and as of yesterday temps dipped to freezing again. All trips required me to idle inline as lowes has a line and loads your stuff for free. The dump had a long line too as they weigh you coming and going.

Im thinking a 4 to 6 or a 5 to 5 ratio maybe ideal in non freezing weather for max mpg and performance without a cel.

[kir_kenix]

My S10 sees various blends of ethanol almost every fill up, just depends where I'm at. Been doing this for over 5+ years and 70,000+ miles. Most of the time when I fill at a "blender" pump I'll pick up e-30 or e-50 (if they have it. For some reason some pumps go e-10, e-30, e-85). If the gas gauge needle is at 3/4 or above, I'll usually top it off with e-85.

Running straight e-85 causes my CEL to turn on if I ever go WOT. My S10 does not have a very elaborate CPU, and cannot compensate for e-85 in WOT. If I know I'm going on a long highway trip, I can almost always use an entire tank of e-85 without kicking on the CEL. Mixed driving is quite a bit tougher to run without engaging the dummy light.

I've gotten nearly all of my best tanks using e-30ish blends, and its usually $0.30-0.40 cheaper around here. No CEL and good performance as well. Only downside I have found is that some of the ethanol gets past the rings and into the oil. I do an oil analysis every few oil changes and Blackstone lab told me that the amount of it in my oil was nothing to be concerned about. Still, I change my oil a little more frequently if I'm running alot of e-85 (maybe every 7.5k instead of pushing it to 10k).

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Mandated ethanol content will increase within the next years to 30% in my country. Some folks who own either carburettor-fed vehicles or non-flexfuel ones with some older EFI are expressing some concern.