E-85 Gasoline

[Bob Landry]

I'm going to assume that E-85 gasoline is the so-called Flex Fuel that the newer vehicles are able to use. I own three vehicles that can burn flex fuel, including a new tow vehicle, a F250 6.2L. I'm seeing more places in my area selling this fuel, most at a price considerable lower that the standard 10% ethanol stuff. Has anyone run this stuff in their TV? I'm curious about performance issues caused by it and especially any maintenance or repair issues stemming from it's use.

[Laredo291OH]

Hi Bob,

As long as your vehicle shows it is able to run the E-85 (I believe the fuel caps are yellow, at least on my GMC they are) you shouldn't have any problems as far as maintenance and repairs. I have used it a couple of times and didn't notice much of a difference as far as repairs. I believe you will see a drop in MPG though, most say enough that the cheaper price isn't worth it.

[JRTJH]

Bob,

I ran E-85 in my F150. I got about 25% less mileage per gallon and it was about 15% cheaper, so the numbers added up that it is more expensive to run E-85. The specs on the 5.4L flexfuel engine in 2010 reflected that using E-10 fuel the engine produced 310 HP and using E-85 it produced 320HP. I might be off on the numbers, I'm not home to check the actual specs on my home computer. Anyway, E-85 produces slightly better HP, but towing our Springdale with the F-150 I didn't notice better performance and when towing our mileage dropped to enough that I wasn't inclined to even consider using E-85 other than to find out it wasn't a better deal.

I haven't used it in the F250, and probably won't based on past experience. If you decide to try it, post your findings, I'd be interested, but not enough to use my truck as the guinea pig.

[TAZ23]

You will get slightly more power from E-85 according to the gov. but will lose about 25% of your mpg's. Cost per mile is not worth it IMHO.

[Javi]

When I had my F150 I could tow the Passport from Waco to Rockport or back with one tank full of gas, filled up in Aransas Pass with E-85 and barely made it into Lockhart on fumes.

[Jim W]

This may be able to answer why you should not pull a trailer with E-85 gas. The vehicles that are designed for flex-fuel can burn E-85 gas but the energy content is not their when extreme work is required. See the cart where you need to burn x amount of E-85 to equal gas.

--------------------------Gasoline Gallon Equivalents
Fuel Type----------Unit of Measure-----BTUs/Unit--------Gallon Equivalent
Gasoline (regular)------ gallon------------114,100------------1.00 gallon

Diesel #2-------------- gallon------------129,500------------0.88 gallons

Biodiesel (B100)-------- gallon------------118,300------------0.96 gallons

Biodiesel (B20)----------gallon------------127,250------------0.90 gallons

Compressed Natural-----cubic foot-------- 900---------------126.67 cu. ft.
Gas (CNG)

Liquid Natural Gas-------gallon------------75,000------------1.52 gallons
(LNG)

Propane (LPG)-----------gallon------------84,300-----------1.35 gallons

Ethanol (E100)-----------gallon-----------76,100------------1.50 gallons

Ethanol (E85)------------gallon-----------81,800------------1.39 gallons

Methanol (M100)---------gallon-----------56,800------------2.01 gallons

Methanol (M85)----------gallon-----------65,400------------1.74 gallons

This chart is from an article on E-85 fuel and why it is not a good use of ethanol.
Jim W.