E85 fuel

[majortom]

E85 fuel is at the local gas station for 80c a gallon less than regular. We have had ethanel blend fuel here for several years. The old dodge had issues with old rubber parts failing when we switched to corn, i.e. fuel hoses,fuel pump, accelorator pump. after that she desided that ethenal is ok. My question is why cant i dump E85 in the tank? the mil. 318 has a really low compresion ratio, lots of cooling, and a mild advance curve. Unless someone has had experiance with E85 in a880 i am willing to try it.

 

[ida34]

The common E blend was E-15. It is 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline. E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. If you had trouble with 15% I would say you would also have a big problem with the E85 eating all the rubber in the fuel system.

 

[Crazyguyla]

I just did a paper on E85. Here are some things about E85:
1. E85 is corrosive, need to upgrade all the rubber parts to viton line rubber.
2. E85 has a lower thermal value(BTUs) than gasoline. takes more to produce the same power( about a 20% more fule consumption ).
3. Carburator needs to be modified to flow more E85.
4. E85 has a higher octane rating (110-115), higher compression possible.
5. It's earth friendly, has a starchy smell when burned.
6. Low emissions
7. E85 is denatured so one can't get tanked at the pump
8. Finnally, something else to tax all the hard working moonshiners out there

 

[FMJ]

You forgot that it takes as much energy to produce a gallon of ethanol as it produces when burned......and that without subsidies the ethanol producers would fold.....

 

[Melvinitis]

My 2007 Impala drops from 31 MPG to 23 MPG on the E85. But it is only 15% cheaper.

 

[JCease]

Last summer I was in Las Vegas. We had a rented Tahoe that was a flex fuel truck. I got the bright idea to fill it with E-85 before I turned it back in to the rental company and save a few bucks on the fill up! Well, we kept it an extra day and I went from 19 mpg to about 14 mpg on the tank of E-85....I think that is my only complaint with it. I am not sure where the break even point comes when you compare price/efficiency or $/MPG. I didn't notice any adverse effects or loss of power.

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

I think the whole ethanol issue needs to address the possible hunger problems in third world countries that have depended on surplus grain that is now being brewed into ethanol for E85. It would be really nice if the clean coal consortium can come up with a good way to burn coal in an internal combustion engine since if we used coal alone for energy in America we have a 500 year supply of the black stuff.

I also think that electical vehicles are the key to the future of transport in America using coal fired, hydroelectric, nuclear and geothermal sources to produce it we could be self sufficient not requireing any imported oil because American sources could handle the lubrication requirements for years to come.

 

[cranetruck]

Diesel fuel is a byproduct of gasoline production. I think that's a fact.

So, if you don't simultaneously reduce the need for diesel, there should be a surplus of gasoline as a result of burning ethanol....

IMHO the best way to use biofuels is to add plain veggie oil (not biodiesel) to diesel fuel and forget about ethanol.
This would produce a surplus of diesel and lower cost of transportation (=lower food prices).
By pushing ethanol, someone is trying to show "how bad" it is to not use crude oil for fuel.

 

[JasonS]

I have read conflicting reports on the real energy content required to make a gallon of ethanol. That fact that most of the detractor's papers come out of California makes me believe that there is a lot of political BS to sort through. I don't think that anyone seriously believes that corn based ethanol is THE solution. Cellulose ethanol, maybe.

There is a lot more to global hunger than ethanol. Don't forget about politics, weather, and the effects of the global economy. Think about how Mugabe has buried his country, brazil has lost wheat crops, etc. Money pours out of America to feed the global hunger.

This is not directed at anyone here but I get really irritated when the news blames farmers and ethanol for the global hunger. Grain (and food) has been REALLY undervalued for a long time. When I can burn corn to heat my house and it is cheaper than other sources, that indicates a problem.

 

[steelandcanvas]

FWIW, Wifey called this morning and told me E85 jumped up 40c a gallon since last time she filled up (last week).

 

[ARMYMAN30YearsPlus]

Jason:
I was not and would never blame farmers my soil roots go too deep. The problem is almost entirely political and I only made that comment because God bless the American farmer I have seen many hungry people with wide smiles when a bag of American grain arrived for them. I still think that coal has to be pushed more.

 

[Crazyguyla]

The most efficient crop for making etanol is not corn, so my research has lead me, but switch grass. I'm not sure what switch grass is, but from what I gather, it's like prairie grass. Ethanol is a very huge political driven subject. As I stated in my paper, the best use for Ethanol would be used to fuel hybrids. As for our normal gasoline operated engines, they would have to be specailly tuned to run ethanol efficiently. E95 is being looked at as a filler to help the desiel market. Ethanol is not the end state, but just another stepping stone in a diffrent direction...

 

[JasonS]

Jason:
I was not and would never blame farmers my soil roots go too deep. The problem is almost entirely political and I only made that comment because God bless the American farmer I have seen many hungry people with wide smiles when a bag of American grain arrived for them. I still think that coal has to be pushed more.

No offense was taken from your comment.

 

[M543A2]

All responders have made good comments about the ethanol situation. Sugar cane is now being considered as one of the potential highest yielding sources.
I am a farmer, too, and there are many issues about it that bother me. Articles in Successful Farming and Time magazine have pointed out many of the unmentioned problems with this course. It will shake out in time, but I personally from my reading do not think it is the golden chalice answer it is currently being presented to be. One concern I have is how the land is now being treated. Farmers do not seem to be what I call "stewards of the soil" like my father and others were. With the removal of all of the remaining fodder from field crops off the fields for biomass, and with minimum or no tillage, we are running on borrowed time. We always made it a point to plow down cover crops to keep the soil loose and full of humus for plant feeding. That is not happening to the same extent now. It is amusing how the thinking about farming methods has changed. We were told years ago to throw away the moldboard plow and use chisel plows to break up the compaction below the plow depth. Dream yields would result. We are now told to drive over it repeatedly with heavy no-till machinery without any breaking up of the soil for years. This makes me say there is a problem when basic thinking changes that way. I was renting my farm; seeing this kind of farming going on has made me take it back. I am going back to the tried and true methods for the soils in this area; moldboard plowing, turning down the plant matter to build up the soil. Taking off crops without this replacement process as is done today is headed for lower yields and hard, depleted soil. They are still reaping the benefits of what was done by the true soil stewards in the past, but it will end.
My son and I have modified the carbs on our 880's to run E85. We have not changed any rubber parts or fuel pumps. We have been running it for two years now with no problems. The plastic fuel tank on these trucks is a plus.
Regards Marti