Just so we're clear, I certainly wasn't disputing you. With the right tuning, you can run E85 in just about anything get really good results. I just wanted to reiterate that there *could* be some long term side effects.

Keep us posted on the testing. I am sure it's gong to be good because I've already seen what it can do.

Laterz

Bill

 

Don't worry Bill, I completely understood where you were going with your post. I'm not an ***, well not most of the time. It was a good post for people who didn't know anyways. Wednesday night or Thursday, I'll have results. Still trying to get a hold of a set of nsr cams for the car for a magazine write up or something ... Ugh.

 

Good info.

The cool thing about E85, is its really cheap race gas, the bad thing is, if you have a 700rwhp street car like me, you need an absolutely massive fuel system to supply enough E85. If I do end up running it in my GT500 I will have to drop the boost down.

 

Hate to bring back an old post but just thought i would add and maybe my truck is a freak but I was getting between 8-9mpg on regular 87 octane. My last 2 tanks have been straight E-85 and im getting 10mpg now. Cheaper in price and i gained 1 mpg. Id like to try an E-85 tune and see if it drops it or raises it some. Once I get the tuner and my intake and exhaust installed ill update it.

 

Hey guys, ran across this page the other day... not sure how legit or how easily it is to convert your truck... but might check it out, some interesting things

http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Page?template=Ford2

 

Truth be told, you really don't have to "convert" your truck at all. I have been running straight E-85 for over 55,000 miles on a 97 F-150. The only mod I have is an Edge Evolution tuner. It helps to optimize E-85 mostly by advancing the spark. (something the stock computer WON'T do) I think any tuner on a high octane tune will do. I installed a XD-16 wideband to help me keep an eye on a/f's and you would be amazed at how well the truck adapts to it.

Any F-150 will run on a 50/50 mixture of the two with NO adverse effects. (except for a small decrease in fuel economy) But E-85 is over a dollar per gallon cheaper here. (it's $2.98 at last count) The only problem I've run into with pure E-85 is that the engine is hard to start when it is cold. I have to cycle the key a few times to get it to start. It always cranks, but not as easily as it would on gasoline.

I know a lot about running E-85. I would be happy to answer any questions related to running it. Know this... The truck WILL adapt to it. Yes you will get a CEL. NO you will not be running lean if you add it right. You can't just dump a full tank of E-85 and expect the pcm to trim it that fast. Start by topping off 1/2 a tank with ethanol, then do it again. It help the truck adapt. My truck on E-85 has no problems maintaing 9:1 a/f ratio all the way up to ~4,000 rpm @ WOT.

It has been said that the truck only trims the closed loop tables, but that isn't true. It also trims the open loop tables.

No it won't hurt the truck.

No it won't hurt any seals.

My engine has ~260,000 miles on it and it's doing fine. So.....

There are ways of increasing fuel mileage with ethanol..... You can trick the truck into thinking that the O2 sensors are faulty, by pegging them on lean. The truck then goes into a default rich a/f ratio. ~12.5:1 This ratio may be rich for gasoline, but it is lean for ethanol, so you get a slight jump in fuel mileage. But there are disadvantages.... The truck will be even harder to start in cold weather, idle rough (severe cam lope!), and there is a very noticable lack of power. Even at WOT. I ran my truck like this for a few thousand miles, but the lack of power irritated me alot. The truck is very fast when it's running stoich, so I changed it back.

These truck are very forgiving about what fuel you put in them. It's funny to see all these people freaking out about buying BP gas or Cheveron or whatever. These engines are not picky at all. They'll run on just about whatever you put in them. They'll run on anything from an E-85/water mix to diesel. Yes diesel. Been there-done that. It's a funny story if anyone is ever interested.

I could go on forever. I've done a lot of practical research with my truck. Some of it inadvertantly. I'm just lucky to have the wideband on board to let me know how things are doing. I hope this info is useful to somebody.

 

So you're saying E85 isn't caustic?

 

I'm saying that it doesn't hurt your truck. At all. That's a promise.

Now if you have a 1975 F-150 then... Maybe it will. But it won't hurt a newer one. Just take a look at Brazil.