09 Panel

I understand all the BS about E85 and the environmental things. I also know it's cheaper but the MPG is less. BTW, I love how GM handles that one in the manual. (You will need to fill the tank more often with E85) My question is if there is any benefit to running a tankful now and then. I was just wondering if anyone knew if it was a better cleaning agent for the FI system than regular fuel with it's additives.

dbfruth

Because E-85 and E-10 contain alcohol they are great at removing water from a fuel system. I had 2 old cars (87 LeBaron and 84 Caravan) that both tended to get water in the fuel in the winter making them almost impossible to start. As long as I filled up with E-10 every 4th fill up or so I never had a problem with the water. It was much better than Heat since for every 10 gallons I put in I was getting 1 gallon of alcohol.

09 Panel

I was more interested in if anyone knows if it works to keep the injectors cleaner than regular fuel with it's included additives does.

twistrman

haven't seen an E-85 station in a bit, but i do remember the last one I saw the E-85 was more expensive then regular...

The Curly 1

"I was more interested in if anyone knows if it works to keep the injectors cleaner than regular fuel with it's included additives does."

I do not know for a fact but I would think the E85 would be very good for cleaning out the injectors. E85 uses considerably more fuel and alcohol is clean burning but corrosive if it sits.

09 Panel

Here in SC that are stations around that have pumps and the fuel is about 20-30 cents less per gallon than regular.

masterchief1112

the thing you have to consider is it worth running it. can you save money running it, sure if its 30% cheaper because you will usually use 30% more fuel(dont quote me on that, it was on tv) but i would agree that it would clean out the injectors.

solman98

That is so the computer gets a chance to "learn" and make sensor adjustments. A tank ever so often will be fine, and yes you will probably see a few MPG's lower. One of our customers is DOE, they are required to run nothing but E85. There mileage isn't much different than any other of the same type of vehicle.

I've ran it in a Taurus we had a work before, with 87 I saw about 26, with E85 it dropped to about 23. It was about 40cent cheaper if I recall. But that was a few years ago. Havne't had the oppotunity to test it in our work Impala yet.

If my HHR ran it, I would run it as much as possible.

09 Panel

I was just thinking a tank every so often as a maintenance kind of thing.

Snoopy

Your presumed assumption is correct. For marketing purposes, GM carefully words their experiences to evade the true problems of useage.....less MPG. As a direct result, if the consumer focused on the real MPG rating it could minimize GM's stated image of MPG. For instance, think of a truck that normally gets 20MPG highway....it now maybe gets 17 MPG, using E-85. That could inhibit sales even further. And GM spent a large amount of money testing and promoting E-85 vehicles. They just do not want to admit it. Did GM tell you the truth....yep. Did they tell you the entire truth.....yep. Did they provide enough info for the average consumer to make an intelligent decision.....NOPE. So they minimized their responsibility.

This was related to me by a retired GM Marketing person.

As suggested, the use of E-85 is a cost consideration. Cost per gallon AND reduction of MPG, is the consideration. Unless of course, you believe in the use of a product that MAY be less harmful to the environment AND/OR THINK it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.