E85?

[dranger21]

Well i have a few questions. Could be stupid questions but what the hell, i'll ask them anyway. I have a 99 with a 3.0 and I know it is supposed to be able to run on ethanol but the previous owner has done some engine work and i dont know what they did. I am a college student and that means one thing, I'm broke. I do a lot of driving and since E85 is about 55 cents cheaper a gallon it would help. Does anyone know whether anything at all could go wrong since i dont know what has been done to it. Also I was wondering how well it would even run with E85. I'm assuming not as well but hey its a 3.0. How much slower could it get?

 

[Jim Oaks]

I think my new F-150 is suppose to run on it as well, but I don't know where you can even find it.

 

[iangoround]

If its a flex fuel engine it will work. BUT...E85 will net you about a 25% decrease in fuel economy. (your 20mpg gasoline truck will get about 15mpg on E85)

Unless price difference is greater than 25%, you won't actually save any money.
Also, E85 is somewhere between 100 and 105 octane.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85

 

[JFA_Spyderman]

Yo,
The downside of E85 is that you get worse MPG. In fact, most people end up spending more because they go through more E85 than they do regulat unleaded. But they don't realize that because of the sticker shock and because most people don't calculate their own MPG.

 

[shadetree]

I think my new F-150 is suppose to run on it as well, but I don't know where you can even find it.

http://e85vehicles.com/e85-texas.htm

If its E85 it will have a green leaf somwhere on the truck.

shady

 

[dranger21]

Well i know its a flexfuel. I think all the 3.0's in 1999 were but you dont think I have anything to worry about with the engine even tho I have no idea what it was taken apart for?

I live in central pa and as of last night gas was 3.09 and E85 was 2.59. I might give it a try just see how it goes even though it probably wont make up for the 25%

 

[AllanD]

E85 will NOT save you money.

It's cheaper when you fill the tank, but you have to fill the tank
far more often, so in the end it's more expensive in terms of
miles per dollar which counts a whole lot more than miles per gallon

Out further west Illinois, Nebraska Iowa, kansas
where you find E85 cheaper (under $2/gal some places)
it's an ok deal, but at $0.55 less per gallon it's a "please screw me"
to buy it.

Added to that the only reason the price of E85 is as low as it is? Government Subsidies.
So you are actually paying for it.

And you pay for it again in the grocery store when you buy a box
of cornflakes, Grits, cornmeal or any other product made from corn
which are ALL more expensive now because the fuel distilleries
are drying up the surplus supplies of corn.

The problem is everyone is yacking that "it's green" and glosses over
the fact that we are ALL getting SCREWED, but people who buy the stuff
are getting screwed more than the people who don't.

AD

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

if something was done to the engine to make it non-e85 compatible, it wouldnt be running properly even on regular gas.

ffv 3.0's and standard 3.0's have completely different fuel delivery systems and computer strategies. swapping any of these components between the two motors would cause it to run poorly all the time.

that said, one thing to look out for is the flex fuel sensor (not sure of its technical name). this is the gizmo in the fuel system that senses the fuels ethanol content and allows the computer to adjust engine parameters accordingly. these have been known to fail....and usually fail in such a way that the engine wont sense ethanol and so will assume theres pure gasoline in the tank....with poor-running results.

your best bet is to just run a tank of e-85 through it and see what happens. at the worst...your truck will run badly untill you burn the e85 up and refill with gas.

 

[wizkid00104]

You need to do a little comparison. E85 produces less BTU than straight pump gas. You need to do a little research. If you calculate how many gallons E85 you will need to produce the same BTU as one gallon of straight gas, and then take (1 gallon gas)/(gas price) and compare it to (x gallons E85)/(E85 price) this should give you an idea on which should be better. This would give a more hypothetical situation, but if you do highway driving, I think this will work fairly well.

 

[AllanD]

I think it's easier to run a tank of gasoline through and measure the mileage
Then run two tanks of E85 through the truck
and measure the MPG on the second tankful.
(to flush out the surplus gasoline)

Starting from a full tank divide total miles by fuel required to refill the tank.
But also divide total miles by dollars to fill.

AD

 

[Chic N Stew]

my 86 2.9 runs it very well, you should have no problem

 

[rangernotlifted]

dud 3.09 for has its like 315 here and im about to rip my hair out im a high school student which means im broke too it costs me 100 every fill up

 

[ZMan]

dud 3.09 for has its like 315 here and im about to rip my hair out im a high school student which means im broke too it costs me 100 every fill up

you have dual tanks?

 

[kunar]

it never takes me more than $40 even at 3.19/gal

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

my 86 2.9 runs it very well, you should have no problem

howd you get a 2.9 to run e85?