how will ethanol affect my fuel mileage ?

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drivegreens

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[FONT=&quot]Hi guys,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]I'm planing to install the ethanol e85 kit from this French manufacturer ([/FONT][FONT=&quot]www.ecofuelbox.com[/FONT][FONT=&quot]) on my 2004 Dodge Ram 1500 and run it on ethanol.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]My question is: how will ethanol affect my fuel mileage ?
Could you share your experience ?

Regards,
Tommy[/FONT]
 
If I remember right it takes about 20% more e85 to produce the same amount of power as gas....around here there is one station that sells it...and it is about 45 miles from me....
 
If I understand correctly, The fuel mileage loss depends on your build. Higher compression engines run the e85 more efficiently than the lower compression engines. I have no experience and its been a while since i read about it. One of these I'll have the money to build an engine and get some learning experience on it for myself. Hoping someone that knows for a fact whether or not this is true will chime in and say so. Im sure Im not the only one that would enjoy seeing all the ducks in a row
 
Our unleaded here contains up to 10 percent ethanol.
We now have stations providing both pure gas & ethanol blend.
My wife's 300C will get 1.5-2 MPG better with the pure gas.

I also don't like the Biodiesel.
Put some in a truck stop, lost 3MPG & power on my truck towing a 5th wheel trailer.
It was cheaper.
Next stop, put in the reg diesel, my MPG & power came right back.
This was on a 700 mile trip.
 
According to this

http://www.ethanolretailer.com/flex-fuel-station-finder

There's one store in the Spokane area selling E85. I'm about 50 miles from there, so "no."

The closest one to me in Idaho is in Lewiston, even further away. I'd use a whole tank just driving down there filling up and coming back, LOL

According to this, unless you are a tree hugger and "want to help th environment" the overall cost will be MORE not less than gas

http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/e85-vs-gasoline-comparison-test.html

My opinion? E85 is bullshit for street use. It is NOT evironmentally friendly as it takes more power and resources and GENERATES more pollution to produce it. Worse, especially now that vast areas of the U.S. are in a drought, growing bio mass for fuel takes resources AWAY from food production
 
Don't forget those poor farmers that make a great profit from selling the corn to make it.
 
I am no expert but here are my thoughts. Ethanol has less BTU output than gasoline, thus you have to feed it more. Right off this tells me that it's going to cost more to drive the same distance. The other issues are to have the proper seals in the system to cope with the ethanol. Now if there was a significant price difference between E85 and gasoline (more than what it is around my location) you might would break even on cost. E85 can have as little as 73 percent of the BTU output of gasoline. Here's a link.
[ame]http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/fuel_comparison_chart.pdf[/ame]
Of course I base this on the assumption your trying to save money on fuel cost. Please don't take it as I'm busting your chops. Just trying to give you some information that is valid to help with your decision.
I do agree with Mopar Daddy that if an engine is designed for it it would be more efficient. But unless your going to set the truck up to maximize its use I see no benefit or savings.
 
The story gets worse. Farmers are repeating history. Corn hit 6.80 a bushel, so land prices went from 2000 an acre to 8000 an acre and up In my area. Now land prices are dropping, but the farmers have bank loans based on the high price, and corn prices are going back down. This all happened in the 80's, during the biggest farm crisis in recent history. So now the farmers are planting even more corn to make up the loss, planting in areas usually reserved for wildlife, further pushing down the corn price as well. What a mess!
 
They sell that same eco crap here.
Yep E85 takes from food production.

If you really wanted to make old engine eco friendly you could convert it to run bio or natural gas.

Bio gas CNG can and is made from cow poo :) and more you burn it better it is for enviroment, bio gas (CNG) is basicly Methane which is more bad than co2.




And for super hippies here is El Camino that runs for wood gas :)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZdPkrghUZM"]El Kamina - häkäpönttöauto - YouTube[/ame]
 
After buying that eco kit you can make up the milage loss by installing magnets on the fuel line, air turbines in the air filter, multipe ground strap sparkplugs, and finally draining all the engine oil after being treated with XR17 plus.
 
surfer121 said:
After buying that eco kit you can make up the milage loss by installing magnets on the fuel line, air turbines in the air filter, multipe ground strap sparkplugs, and finally draining all the engine oil after being treated with XR17 plus.
Click to expand...

Not sure, but is this a bomb recipe? LoL
 
I was told by Pat at the Carb Shop who builds them that you use approx. 30% more fuel. For me, race gas is $7.49 a gallon. E85 is $2.89. Add 30% and it's still only $3.75.
 
Fst73_360 said:
IDK about "significantly" but you do get less. Friend with STI 22 pounds of boost gets around 250 miles a tank
Click to expand...

Well, 250 miles off a WRX tank (over 16 gallons, 16.9 I believe), is bad. That's under 15 MPGs from a car that should get high 20s.

That is significant.
 
I've researched a lot because a gas station just opened up in town that sells it for .90c cheaper and I drive 300 miles per day in a non flex fuel dodge caravan . And I started using it in January.

From what I've found it had to be 25% cheaper to be worth it, and it is totally fine to run it in your non flex fuel vehicle as long as it's no more than like 25 years old. Since then all fuel lines have been made to cope with ethonol because they put 10% in almost all gas. The only thing flex fuel cars do is let's the computer know your running it so it knows why your using more fuel than you should be. So if I run 100% E85 my check engine light will come on and say my engine is running lean. Other then that no issues unless the temp drops below 0℉, then you will have to crank it longer to get it to start. I will admit that my van sputters on starting when I'm using straight E85 but never has failed to start. So my advice is to just pump it in no kit. I've driven 40,000 miles using it about 50% of the time and my van is still running perfect
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
Well, 250 miles off a WRX tank (over 16 gallons, 16.9 I believe), is bad. That's under 15 MPGs from a car that should get high 20s.

That is significant.
Click to expand...

Sti lol doesn't get high 20s it gets 21-24mpg highway, with gas. And he drives it hard everyday. Drives it like every light is a tree.
 
Fst73_360 said:
Sti lol doesn't get high 20s it gets 21-24mpg highway, with gas. And he drives it hard everyday. Drives it like every light is a tree.
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Just so we can move along.... Because this thread isn't about the MPGs of a Subaru.

It's still a loss of 5+ MPGs which is significant. That would be in the 20+% loss range, along the lines of what others here have mentioned.
 
I have an 04 ram with a hemi. I avoid ethanol like it's the plague! 10% in regular gas cuts my mileage by 10-15%. The truck doesn't run as well either. In the long run you would be better off running ethanol free all together. We have couple stations here that ethanol free. I have a 99 Toyota corolla that gets 5 miles to the gallon better on ethanol free!
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
Just so we can move along.... Because this thread isn't about the MPGs of a Subaru.

It's still a loss of 5+ MPGs which is significant. That would be in the 20+% loss range, along the lines of what others here have mentioned.
Click to expand...

It's about real life experiences. Have you had any with it? And that's mostly daily driven car in the city miles with some highway. My car with regular gas is lucky to get 250 with just city. Just depends how well your car is tuned also. 250 one tank highway and city is pretty good if your romp on it.
 
oldmopardude said:
The story gets worse. Farmers are repeating history. Corn hit 6.80 a bushel, so land prices went from 2000 an acre to 8000 an acre and up In my area. Now land prices are dropping, but the farmers have bank loans based on the high price, and corn prices are going back down. This all happened in the 80's, during the biggest farm crisis in recent history. So now the farmers are planting even more corn to make up the loss, planting in areas usually reserved for wildlife, further pushing down the corn price as well. What a mess!
Click to expand...
As a farmer I see this here also. Land owners almost doubled the per acre price for lease. I did not fall for it and am thankful. It was not just corn but winter wheat also. I see farmers getting foreclosed in the next few years because of this. Although in the early 80`s it was because of Jimmy Carter trying to punish Iran and killing the American farmer. Soybeans are still holding but falling also.
 
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