Well said.

 

?? Wow ??

In my older car a 1997 Ford Taurus.. I got better MPG when running the Ethanol fuel blend.. by almost 3mpg..

And maybe because I live in a farm state with an Ethanol Plant, with my 'store member id' I am able to purchase the Ethanol fuel blend for less than standard unleaded....

And when I was a kid living in a farm town .. an old farmer that I worked for two summers had an Ethanol still on his farm .. and no you could not drink this stuff .. and that was all he used in his Modified "1950's John Deer Tractor".... and to heat his barn in the winter time... and once your get a farm based ethanol still going on a farm and keep it feed with farm waste.. it is like free fuel.. which saved this old farmer thousands a year...

And GMC sells nothing but Ethanol fuel based vehicles in Brazil... a country that has no oil reserves and 'grows it own' Ethanol fuel...

If it was not that from my use of the fuel in my riding lawn mower... which when I use standard unlead I use two gallons to mow my lawn and when I use the Ethanol fuel blend I only use one gallon to mow... And my personal use of the fuel in my older Ford.. I would almost believe that using Ethanol fuel blend gets lower MPG...

But the HHR owners manual state not to use so have not tired it yet....

--David

 

POLITICS.......

Because I have researched this issue very extensively for investment purposes, I could write a research paper for my masters degree on it. We will pay dearly in the end.

I'm not a "crazy", but when big business and the government join in promotion of something it needs to be reviewed thoroughly and realistically.

Unleaded "designer" fuels is another example.

Enough said

 

If in your statement you mean no fast money to be made you are most likely right... as the product is so low tech... and can be made at home if it was not law enforcement would think you were trying to make something else to drink...

 

Don't confuse E85 with the 10% or 15% blends (some are also the designer fuels). GM states in the owners manual, that you CAN use up to 15% ethanol blend (no methanol). You CANNOT use E-85.

As an additional note...notice that the great majority of vehicles that are able to use E85 are the more powerful, full size cars and trucks (Gm "dropped" the previous generation of smaller engines that would use E85). 2 reasons....to impress the consumer they have access to a "cheaper" fuel in a "gas hog" and 2...those vehicles have the additional HP to possibly cover the decrease in performance.

The use of E85 would be a different issue IF we could produce, even current demand. However, industry experts say it will be 2 years before we can build enough "refining" capacity to meet todays use requirement. We need to build better and faster if this country is to be independent from foreign influences.

I'm done...that's my 3 cents.

 

No....I have made fast money of the ethanol companies. And I still do....off and on. That is my choice in a capitalist, free society. But, I do know when to get out.

 

Beware,,,,,,,If your vehicle is not rated for E-85, then your fuel tank and fuel lines are not coated to protect them from the high concentration of Ethonal...which will eat them from the inside out.....

This is why E-85 fuel will cost you more at the pump than unleaded regular....because Ethanol can not be transported through the normal underground pipe lines and has to be transported by truck or rail tankers...

 

It's all in the computer prgramming. The current E85 cars/trucks are tuned for maximum gasoline peformance, thus less MPG using E85. SAAB has a 9-3 that's tuned to E100 and it has butter performance than he gasoline counterpart. The cost to convert a gas only to E85 compatible is cost prohibitive. So whatever you save frm E85 (if any) will not be recoup'd from the conversion.

 

In order to convert you will need an Alcohol sensor in the tank , New fuel lines ,New fuel pump ,New injectors and of coarse a Reprogrammed ECM .

I do understand the lose in mileage that associated with E85 but you need to realize that if you built a motor to run on E85 and occasionally Gasoline then you would be able to take advantage of the 105 octane and erase the loss. More importantly you'd be able to make the same power we get in a 2.4 with a 1.4 turbocharged that runs just E85 and receive better fuel economy. We are currently testing a Tahoe with a custom tune on E85 on a 2000 mi road trip to see what we can get out of a tune for E85 for mileage . I received a report that shows we narrowed the gap Between E85 14.7 mpg and 87octane 15.9 mpg . We cannot just switch to E85 it will wreck the world economy it has to be done gradually . We will catch up with demand as they start getting more efficient with harvesting it . We have to do this what our choice ? Keep going to war to secure Oil ? Keep wrecking the Ozone ? Hydrogen ?[ HA HA the least effective way to make fuel ]

BTW you'll see the advantages of Boosted applications when E85 becomes more Available and Cost effective .

 

Again, I'll remind people how POLITICAL this topic is. Look at the conflicting information.....look at everyone that has a friend, "that has this and gets this". This is a forum structured to allow this type of discussion....and that is good.

I suggest anyone interested in using and supporting E85 do some serious research.

Do not believe what I tell you, or for that matter, what anyone else states on this forum. Some people are correct in their statements, some are partially correct, some are totally wrong (in my opinion).

So, do your own research with creditable, factual websites and organizations. Do not accept personal testomonials unless distributed but creditable organizations, and then be cautious....something like, "...i added this $12 air device and I increased my gas mileage by 33%"....yeah, right. Remember, the web DOES contain a lot of erroneous information.

Again, good luck.