Well, they did something similar on Mythbusters, running several cars on moonshine. The old carbureted car actually handled it the worst. The most modern car which was not flex-fuel actually seemed to handle it with little problem, just a few quirks. So if a modern vehicle could digest moonshine and run well, you could probably get away with running yours on E85–a few times maybe. But your fuel system components aren’t meant to handle nearly straight alcohol and your engine controller isn’t programmed for it. So it’s likely that repeated use of E85 would cause some expensive damage to your fuel system and possibly your engine too.
Seems like a pretty stupid way to try and save a few bucks, plus you get much worse mileage out of E85, pretty much offsetting the cheaper price.
To the OP, whoever has been telling you these things is either totally clueless about automobiles and is trying to sound knowledgeable or is “punking” you. Or perhaps simply has a grudge against you and is intentionally trying to hurt you.
I actually did this on a '98 (non FFV) Contour. Eventually, you “run out of trim” (i.e. the car lacks authority to order more fuel flow to compensate for the change in stoich ratio), you set a code, and the car runs lean.
This happened around E 40%, IIRC. I did not notice driveability problems, and it did not cause running issues until the car was scrapped for other issues (I only ran about 3 or 4 tanks’ worth). The ethanol gas was ALWAYS a bad deal economically…the loss of MPG always exceeded the per-gallon discount.
Did you use 85% on your Contour? Can I assume by the “40%” comment that you were mixing it with half full tanks of regular gasoline?
IMHO the whole “flex fuel” vehicle push is simply another example of the power of lobbyists in Washington, in this case the Ethanol Producers’ Lobby. Ethanol is, IMHO, a scam, pure and simple.
With the reduced energy density of ethanol, E85 would have to sell for 2/3 the price of pure gasoline to save money. The way it is priced, E85 may be cheaper than E10, but it will cost you more per mile to use it, even if you have a flex fuel vehicle.
The gasohol phenomena is a political marriage arranged to mutually benefit the corn belt and oil states. The rest of the country is paying all the bills for the young couple. Who could ask for more?
corn is at a historical high for price per bushel, this leads to higher cost per bushel for competing grains like barley and even soybeans. this higher price artificially inflates price of farm land, as that price is determined by production $. higher costs of farm land equates to higher cost of ranch land, thus increasing cost to meat producers. meat producers have to pay higher costs for feed corn, and grain screenings. most of this inflation is supplemented by higher tax dollars to allow for the subsidy to farmers and also to ethanol plants. tax payers lose, certain people win, but really everyone loses.
Corn prices are down a little now but I thank thee all for your support. I’ll spend it wisely but I don’t use ethanol myself if I can help it. Actually with the high price of corn, some of the ethanol plants had to close but are opening again with the lowered prices. Lots of farmers lost and made lots of money on the ethanol plants. I’d have to say its probably time to knock it off.
I will repeat what I said and what @oblivian has alluded to. Many modern cars are flex fuel ready today but are not certified and warranted for it. That is where the problem arises. I am seeing storage problems with lower level ethanol concentrations in storage for small motors in just months. If e85 becomes the norm, it will hit cars when they are stored for just a few months without expensive additives. The rest of us will be looking propane powered lawn mowers and power tools and backup gasoline powered generators will slowly disappear. Our representatives to Washington are vehemently against it because of it’s affects on the fishing, small engines and recreational marine industry, all of which affects tourism. It’s BS !
@dagosa : “Many modern cars are flex fuel ready” How do you know this?
“If E85 becomes the norm” Since our current E10 use is taking up over 40% of the total corn crop as it is, I don’t see how we could use a lot more E85.
http://hybridvehicle-s.com/what-is-a-flex-fuel-vehicle/ http://www.autousa.com/content/flex-fuel-vehicle.jsp @texases
I keep getting the same statements (paragraph two) in my readings that leads me to believe that manufacturers don’t make two separate vehicles in the same plant. They make them differently in other plants or they may label them differently to get you to pay a little extra as an option but it agrees with an interview with an auto engineer on PBS I heard arguing in favor of flex fuel cars in general and non petro producers creating competition for gasoline.
E85 dose not have to be mandated everywhere and use much more of our corn crop to be mandated or common place in some states…namely perhaps, on the east and west coast.