I have a 2004 Toyota Carolla with 111,000 mile on it. I want to continue to use it for a long time, at least to 200,000 miles. Is there any safe way to use a blend of E85 and regular gas to run my car? I don’t want to hurt/ruin the engine or any sensors. Could this approach be made to work? And if so, would the use of Octain Boosters be of help?
Octane level isn’t the problem. If Toyota didn’t build the car to be flex-fuel capable, there is no cost-effective way for you to convert it.
Your car is good with 10% ethanol, so if you blend a little E85 with regular gas you should be able to lower the concentration to 10%. Add 1.5 gallons of E85 for every 10 gallons of regular gas and you will have a safe concentration.
I’m still not sure why you want to do this, since your mileage will drop, and you would be better off just tanking E5 gas.
Is your regular grade E5 or E10? As Docnick said, you will get worse mileage with E85; a Silverado gets 25% less MPG with E85 than E10. Why do you want to mix them?
Why do you want to do so? If it is to save money, I would think again. Alcohol has less energy than gasoline so you get less mileage. Also all the predictions I have seen indicate that it will cost more this fall unless the weather is prefect for corn this year. It was not a good start this year and end even with the increased acreage there will be a shortfall.
Octane boosters won’t help. Flex fuel vehicles deliberately don’t have rubber parts in the fuel system where they will be exposed to the fuel. Using fuel with too much ethanol will make these rubber parts disintegrate. Any blend of E85 might do damage. It isn’t worth it. You would need to modify every part that contains rubber or plastic and is exposed to the fuel. What happens if you miss one?