Anyone ever try E-85 Fuel in their truck?

[RON WOODGEARD]

This is something I have never done any research on,,, and don't care to, But if "THEY" are trying to make Corn into a fuel, They should find some "Moonshiners" to help them out... Both my Grandfather, and Great Grandfather Made Shine,,
It's not a secret, that shine made the vehicle run far better then Gasoline.. The smell in the fermenting, blending process is Nasty.. But so is the smell of a Paper Plant..( as anyone in Lewiston Idaho can attest to)..

[grayw0lf]

I think we all need to setup out own stills & save some cash & mixing our own ethanol/gasoline mix fuel! Does anyone have some copper tubing sitting around?

[Jeepster376]

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_...rth/meCh8.html

[Jeepster376]

If we had that stuff around here, I'd rejet my truck for it in a heartbeat.

[stelth2002]

RON, I lived close andc drove thru lewiston all the time for a couple years. I would never live there by choice because of that. As jeepster has found many good documents. At the university i had saw research of positive energy coming out of ethanol. In fact i helped out with some engines that ran off pure ethanol and they could scream. I surely believe that with some more research that costs and the inneffieceies will decrease. But in the near future i do believe fuel will drastically change forms.

[stelth2002]

Jeepster is that price of 86 cents for pure ethanol? I cant read the pic.

[68 Suburban]

Originally Posted by stelth2002

Jeepster is that price of 86 cents for pure ethanol? I cant read the pic.

That was for a promo a few weeks ago.

[Jeepster376]

Originally Posted by stelth2002

Jeepster is that price of 86 cents for pure ethanol? I cant read the pic.

I don't know about the promo, I just found the pic on the web somewhere. But it's E-85 fuel. I guess the .85¢ price is cuz it's an E-85 promo.

I don't know what ethanol costs dollarwise, but it's gotta be more than that. Last I knew I thought it was about $4. a gallon.

[Jeepster376]

Originally Posted by 68 Suburban

That was for a promo a few weeks ago.

So how much is E-85???

[68 Suburban]

I think it is a few cent cheaper than unleaded.

[cheyenne10]

Just bought new Chev sub. and 5.3 motor is setup from factory to burn this also. Dealer stated it was available in midwest. If I remember right fuel economy rating quotes were about 25-30% less.

[Bamm]

Help me here, if it's just a few cents cheaper thank regular, what would be the incentive to use it with a loss in power and efficiency?

[68 Suburban]

Originally Posted by Bamm 24

Help me here, if it's just a few cents cheaper thank regular, what would be the incentive to use it with a loss in power and efficiency?

You can run higher octane. Burns cleaner. In Illinois if you keep your reciepts and use it at least 50% of the time in a year, you can get a $500 tax credit. There are other incentives too. Depends on the state.

[flip66]

I did some research on this a couple of years ago. smitty62 is right about the cost that is why you do not see it every where. from what I remember it would cost us about 2.50 a gallon if it was not sup by the gov.

[grayw0lf]

Here's the crazy thing about ethanol fuels. It does Not mix well with gasoline. The ethanol they put into gas has to be at least 192+ proof. That usually requires laboratory conditions. Gasoline mixes well with alcohol. Alcohol mixes well with water. Alcohol also mixes well with water. Add all 3 together, & the water seperates out. Yeah, ouch!

What would be nice is if we went to alcohol fuels (no gasoline). Running straight alcohol, it only has to be 167 proof to run well. In fact, there is little performance difference between 167 & higher proofs. This would only require minimal fuel system modifications. Running a much higher compression ratio would really help. Alcohol does well on 13.5 to 15:1 compression ratios.

If they really wanted to, they could easily make alcohol as a low cost fuel & similarly priced alcohol burning autos. Look back at the Model T! Gasoline was hard to come by in much of the country around the turn of the century. The Model T ran just as well on alcohol as it did on gasoline. There were other alcohol powered vehicles as well.

Its just a matter of business. The world's economy is based on oil. Can you imagine the chaos in 3rd world countries if we quit (severly cut back) our insatiable thirst for the Black Devil Juice?

[68 Suburban]

Originally Posted by flip66

I did some research on this a couple of years ago. smitty62 is right about the cost that is why you do not see it every where. from what I remember it would cost us about 2.50 a gallon if it was not sup by the gov.

It is not as expensive to produce as it was a "couple" of years ago. As with everything. Price comes down with mass production.

[mrein3]

Originally Posted by grayw0lf

Here's the crazy thing about ethanol fuels. It does Not mix well with gasoline. The ethanol they put into gas has to be at least 192+ proof. That usually requires laboratory conditions. Gasoline mixes well with alcohol. Alcohol mixes well with water. Alcohol also mixes well with water. Add all 3 together, & the water seperates out. Yeah, ouch!

This is EXACTLY why I don't put the stuff in my smaller engines. I have read that if you leave ethanol blended fuel sit for a little as two weeks it will seperate and cause problems. Plus in some po-dunk little gas station the stuff in the tank in the ground could have already seperated. I have heard of folks pumping almost pure water out of the pump (after it seperated and the underground tank is near empty - remember oil/gas is lighter and "floats" above water).

I wish I had a nickle for every lawnmower I've seen thrown away "because it didn't run right after the winter". People leave that crap sit in their small engines all winter. The water seperates out. The carb bowl and needle and seat start to rust. The engine doesn't run right until somebody like me needs a free lawn mower and cleans up the parts.

I too can't figure out why some local governments specify the crap when you need to burn more of it to get from point A to point B.

Illinois has a $500 tax credit if you use it? A subsidy for using a product that is heavily subsidized to produce. Sounds like another winner of a government program.

[grayw0lf]

I don't know about it causing rust, it seems unlikely. Although, possible. Any ethanol blend is definately NOT recommended for smaller engines, especially 2 cycle. Any lawnmotor owner's guide will specify that.

I agree we have a long way to go before it is ever in mainstream use... Really, I don't think it ever will be in popular use. I think we will spend more to develop better diesel engines, until Hydrogen/electric hybrids start to take over.

Either way, I'll be old & grey before we move away from gasoline.

[57sailplane]

well i looked on a farmer web based page. and it cost about 2.35 cents for corn to make one gallon of 100% pure corn fuel. thats just for the corn. not the production. and this is from a web site that is for making fuel. this bights because i think it would be an extreamly great alternative. when gas reaches 3.00 a gallon look out.
i like the idea of running the e85. yes i does not produce as many btu. but and i do mean but. our engines are made to run on 87 octane. e85 is 100 plus octaine. got you thinking yet. what do you think alcohol dragsters run on? why do you think they run it. if you increase the compresion ratio to were the fuel likes to run you will see major gains in hp and more than likely mpg also. i know that it runs a lot cleaner i mean a lot cleaner and if the correct parts are ran that engine will last a lot longer. engine temp being one reason for cleaner parts is because of the less btu produced. anyway you may want to look at alcohol aftermarket parts. definately need a new carb or kit for alcohol. stainless valves etc...