Of course it can be done but should not be done. Drag racing had/has an alcohol class. In the mid 70s when I could attend USAC (Indy Car) races they were 100% methanol. Aside from racing applications converting a E-10 or earlier vehicle to E-85 is insane! Why??? There is no advantage!
All I can tell you is the manual for my flex-fuel Caravan states oil changes and most other routine maintenance need to be more frequent with the use of E-85. I have had the calculator out many times and I am yet to see a price difference that pays for the more frequent upkeep and the lessening of MPG. So I have yet to put a single drop of E-85 in the vehicle.
I think the law should require those who use E-85 in their vehicles be required by the.government to put an indicator of some sort on the fuel filler door that the tank contains E-85 fuel. This would let us gas siphoners know to bypass that vehicle so we wonât damage our fuel lines.
I canât speak for ALL vehicle manufacturers, but I can tell you that some of E85 vehicles in our fleet . . . we do NOT have E85 at our fleet filling stations, BTW . . . have a yellow filler cap. Thatâs GM
But I can tell you that a regular black cap with the same threads will fit perfectly
I believe the Ford E85 vehicles also have a filler cap thatâs labeled as such. But itâs not yellow. And a regular cap will also fit, provided the threads are the same
personally, I think ethanol in fuel is a farm subsidy . . . I wish Uncle Sam would just come clean and admit what we all strongly suspect, anyways
Caravan cap is Yellow as well.
I agree that E85 is really just a farm subsidy. I personally think the economics of this conversion are not worth it. You pay about the same reduction in price for this fuel but reduce mileage by about the same amount. This is a cheap octane booster for racing purposes but that is about it if you ask me.
If we could start making the stuff economically out of trash and agricultural waste such a corn husks and saw dust, I think it would be a great way to reduce our need for oil. I really think it needs to stand on its own in a competitive market. This MIGHT happen with the right process now but this seems to be a big ag subsidy right now. It is also a renewable form of energy but I understand that it also takes a lot of energy to make it as well so that is a wash.
Then you have all the fertilizers used to grow the cornâŠ
Yes, I think there could be some benefit to this if they can make it from waste products but I am not a fan at this point.
For saving money in a daily driver, DONâT DO IT! For boosting octane in a racer on the cheap. Go for it!
The oil companies receive billions and billions in subsidies⊠so maybe they could start âstanding on their ownâ.
Much like electric cars, it is another chicken-and-the-egg problem. Electric cars canât go cross-country until there are enough super-charging stations across the country in evey direction you need to go. So, you canât build cars that really exploit the high octane capabilities of E85 to recapture some of that lost fuel efficiency until you have E85 available at every gas station. So we build flex-fuel vehicles and subsidize the fuel so it becomes somwhat economical to use in vehicles designed for E10. There arenât enough Greenies willing to put their wallet where there ideology is so the price has to make sense to the buyer - below cost.
After seeing these E85 posts, I did some investigation. If I install larger injectors into my Mustang, I can install a calibration (or tune) that can run on E85. The problem is, it ONLY runs E85, it canât read the concentration of ethanol so you canât use gasoline. That doesnât work for me!
A friend that actually did development work on engine calibration pointed out that the firmware in flex-fueled vehicles âlearnsâ much faster than gas-only vehicles so it can recognize any mix of E10 and E85. He was surprised to hear early E85 cars had a fuel sensor (he wasnât doing fuel systems back then). Apparently they are still being used on many models.
I would assume that feedback from the oxygen sensors would be extremely important in running E85. I am sure the sensors would be quite sensitive and have a wider range of values than on a traditional gasoline engine.
I know of people who have run up to 30% e85 on occasion to help clean out or serve as an octane booster. I understand that when e10 first came out that there were lots of issues with plugged fuel filters and such. Sludge that stayed harmlessly in the tank was dissolved by the alcohol where it went into the filter. It would be like putting a detergent oil into an engine that had been run 100,000 miles on non-detergent prior. All the gunk would start to come loose rather quickly.
I would assume those who ran with fuel injector/carb cleaner in their tanks every so often would have fewer issues with this problem.
Some cars come from the factory with wideband O2 sensors. It would seem like that feature would be extremely useful in recognizing a rather drastic lean condition when a fresh tank of E85 hit the engine. As long as the ECU could quickly react to that big a change, it would seem to be OK. If not, the lean condition may result in burned pistons.
Race car drivers have been converting cars to run on alcohol for a long time. They often buy a alcohol carburetor and upgrade fuel pumps and fuel lines. Older cars all had steel tanks so that likely was not swapped out. Running on E85 will work with the correct modifications. E85 is likely very corrosive to all rubber components in your fuel system and that will have to be changed out with something that is E85 compliant. Regular fuel lines and rubber o ring seals will swell and breakdown very quickly with E85. Failure to do so may result in fuel leak and fire.
From what I also recall alcohol burns at much lower temperature and this was a benefit to the race car drivers that would frequently not run a cooling system to save on weight. This lower temperature could cause your engine to run at a lower temperature and your OEM computer may constantly believe the engine is in warmup mode.
Another consideration will be your valves. Gasoline will help cool and lubricate the intake valves. Changing out the valves maybe be necessary.
The size of the gasoline injector was designed to run the BTU density of regular fuel. The density will be different and the piggyback computer is going to compensate by holding the injector open longer to allow sufficient BTU into the cylinder for combustion. If it works similar to my propane conversions, it is a really slick system.
Ethanol and methanol have a higher octane rating, so racers can use higher compression ratios = more hp.