Gas Guzzlers

[Hahnsb2]

No, I get 11 mpg with the 3.0L running pure gasoline.

I don't have any idea why the mileage sucks so bad. I am lucky to get over 140 miles before it gets under 1/4 a tank.

POS.

Under-revving it?

 

[Carlos Murphy]

foot print

I'll stick with my Suburban and Ranger, LOVE my carbon foot print.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I average about 14mpg with my F-150, which isn't too bad for a 5500lb truck about half in city traffic (that is ugly) and about half on the open highway (about 18mpg)

I put my duals on so while my footprint is bigger, it is less thick.

 

[SPARKEY83]

E85 has a higher octane than regular gas it has an octane level of 100-105. will make more horsepower but have to upgrade entire fuel system to run E85.

 

[rickcdewitt]

Sure E85 costs makes your food cost a little more, its not raising the price nearly as much as the rising price of oil is.

-Chris

good point although its more of a band aid than a real solution to the energy crisis

 

[jetcjcski]

Oxygen plays a very small role in this, What makes up the difference in power is the number of BTU's a specific fuel can create, and how much oxygen is needed to obtain a proper mixture to obtain the most BTU's. I could go on a big long rant about the optimum amount of BTU's and what losses need to be factored but im not gonna. Fact of the matter is, if E85 cannot obtain the number of BTU's that pure gasoline will, then it is not as efficient.

You are correct there isn't as many BTU's per gallon in ethanol, and no it isn't efficient. However the oxygen in the ethanol is the reason you need more fuel per air quantity to obtain the proper mixture.

Like stated in previous posts, the octane rating should speak for itself in power testing. How would you like to buy 110 race gas for 50 cents less than what the other schmucks are paying to get to the track with gasoline? Or more than a dollar less than what its cost a gallon to fill your diesel rig to haul the race car to the track?



I hope its the way of the future, my concentration in school is basically ethanol. Its all we do here in MN. In the next 5 years all of our pumps should be pumping E20 versus the current E10.

 

[rickcdewitt]

Damn. I'm one of those idiots back east that thought E85 was the way of the future.

There has to be another option besides the oil company's.

easy now jim,no ones calling you an idiot.its just much easier to sell the idea in areas where corn farmers and the local economies stand to gain from it(and the environment loses).out west here i don't know anyone who thinks its a great idea.i will admit that here the popular answer is starbucks slurpin yuppy fags drivin their hybrid "smug" mobiles.it blows them away when you tell them about the environmental disasters in canada and elsewhere that the mining for the battery metals causes.we have no good answers to the energy crisis but we have to try.i think from reading your energy efficient home thread that you know what i'm talking about

 

[hunt-n-fish]

Sure E85 costs makes your food cost a little more, its not raising the price nearly as much as the rising price of oil is.

-Chris

good point although its more of a band aid than a real solution to the energy crisis

In all reality the "costs of food" will not be all that much higher just because we start producing more ethanol. Its just a bunch of doomsday-greenies-naysayers bull sh!t. You take and round up all the corn that would be fed to livestock and process it (take out the alcohol). The distillers grain that is left over still contains the nutrients that it started with minus the alcohol, that DG is still an excellent feed source for livestock.

 

[Simple_serf]

The reason it raises food prices is because you have fields tha used to be used for wheat and soybeans being converted to corn...it isn't a little price increase....most of our prices have gone up at least 25% in the last year.

Also, soybeans are being used for biodiesel.

I still firmly belive that the only places where ethanol is a good idea is where you can get lots of it easily....and corn doesn't do that. In the Orchard, we get more apples than we can process for food use...the waste ones are perfect for fuel grade alcohol. Sugarcane...even better (granted it can't be grown in alot of areas, but it is much better than using corn).

I loose 4 mpg when I go between PA and NY gas ( I live 10 miles from the state line)....NY requires more ethanol. Sorry, but when I buy gas, I want the most BTU's per gallon. With high prices, I Don't want to be wasting my $$.

 

[Hahnsb2]

E85 has a higher octane than regular gas it has an octane level of 100-105. will make more horsepower but have to upgrade entire fuel system to run E85.

Octane has nothing to do with HP, it is just it's resistance to burn. It is harder to burn a higher octane gas than a lower octane and that's why higher octanes are used in high compression and forced induction engines to prevent detonation. E85 WILL make less HP than gasoline in the same engine.

 

[Jspafford]

Under-revving it?

I dunno, the fiancee drives it. It's an automatic. So unless ford designed the shift control basaqwards, it should stay in the right range for torque.

 

[SPARKEY83]

Octane has nothing to do with HP, it is just it's resistance to burn. It is harder to burn a higher octane gas than a lower octane and that's why higher octanes are used in high compression and forced induction engines to prevent detonation. E85 WILL make less HP than gasoline in the same engine.

E85's high octane level allows you to run higher compression therefore making more horsepower. somewhere in the range of 12:1 or 14:1 if memory serves me.

 

[jetcjcski]

E85 WILL make less HP than gasoline in the same engine.

Please read some of my previous posts. That statement is incorrect.

 

[Shoeboy]

its all about how u drive it aswell, when im driving like i normally drive, with my ranger lifted on the old 33" bogger i would get on average about 13mpg, if i babied it i could squeeze out 20mpg on this e85 shit vs 15mp and 23 on regualr gasoline.....sorry its late and i dont feel like correcting anyhting

That is if I drive it nicely, if I drive it hard I'm lucky if I get 100km out of a tank of gas, that would be about 3-4 mil/gas. This truck is just a pile of junk with a Dodge grill. Also, my overdrive is broken so thats not helping any.

 

[LearjetMinako]

So anything E-85 is a gas guzzler. I don't want E-85, just E-10 or E-15. All that cheap straight gas is carbonizing my valves on my lawn mower. And I don't want to pay 5 cents more per gallon at Shell.

Electric cars folks. If you can deal the limited range and speed. 20 cents to recharge is not bad.

Now back to the good acohol, the one you can drink.