e85. Some basic questions.
 

So I wanted to ask some knowledgeable guys a few things;
We know ethanol helps with "cooling", can be used to get more power and has some benefits over normal petrol/gas.

1) if it has a cooling effect then would it naturally help engine longevity? E.g. Same car driven under same conditions for 50,000km on e85 should (all else being equal) last better than a car on normal gas?
Is that a fair comment?

2) apart from higher fuel consumption & possible water issues (if you leave the car standing) what downsides are there to ethanol?

3) if no.1 is true, would it be magnified for FI applications? So under an assumption that added power doesn't damage the engine parts, e85 is better than normal fuel for boosted cars?

I'm not looking for heavily scientific answers... just summarised versions :-)

Cheers,

E85 has higher octane rating than most petrol especially petrol available at the pump for a reasnoble price . I think in south africa best is 95 ron most e85 will be between 105-107 ron

So its much more knock resistant means you can run more riming na and more timing\boost if your fi without running into knock issues.

The energy content per volume of e85 is about 25% less than petrol so you use about 25% more fuel to produce same power. The extra fuel helps with cylinder cooling again helping with knock and efficiency.

Knock is a big killer of engines so it definitly helps in that area.

But its still the same limits on engine components power torque and load wise no matter what fuel you run. But in general it usually safer to run e85


Modern fiel systems in xars are sealed not open to atmosphere so moisture absorption is not a problem unless you leave your fuel cap off all fhe time.

Ivd stored e85 for months no problem in sealed containers.

3 years pliss on e85 , 50,000 km plus no problems, compldtly stock fuel system

If you have access to e85 there's no reason not to use it.

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Except fuel consumption

It's overall cheaper to run than Premium.

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Not really, it all depends on where you live and the price of e85

Plus factor in oil changes as with E85 they do need to be done more frequently.

I pay more to run E85 in my car than I do if I just ran 93. I get about ~14 average with E85, this is a combination of City/Higway, getting on it here and there, not being "concious" of my MPG just driving the car and having fun.

FYI My car is Turbocharged.

Versus the ~26 average I had when I was 93 only, pretty much driving the car exactly like I do now

E85 where I live is 2.05 a Gallon
93 Where I live is 2.75 a Gallon

It costs ~35 to fill a tank with 93 that previously would get me ~350 Miles to a tank of mixed driving

It costs me ~26 bucks to fill a tank with E85 that gets around 180 miles of mixed driving (if I drive all highway and take it easy, I can stretch about ~260 out of the tank)

I'd need to fill my tank twice to get the same mileage I get from 93, which ends up costing nearly 20 bucks more to get the same distance.

I'm with you. I am JRSC and get about the same mileage as you. When I got the flex fuel kit last year 91 here was about $3.05 and E85 was $1.20. Now 91 is $2.79 and E85 is $2.29!! I don't need to do the math to know running E85 is more expensive.


However, there is a 70HP difference between running 91 and E85. E85 = more fun. I switch between the two depending on what I'm doing.

That's crazy. My e85 is $1.57 and 93 is $2.89. Sorry.

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Not to answer OP's questions, but my experience with E85 is great. Over 50k miles, no problems, 1.80 per gallon, and i get about 33mpg. It's not too bad, i have other mods too. Great for power, but on long trips is use 93.

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Aren't there some cold start problems?

There are, but not too bad. You can mix a gallon of 93 in to help the issue. The car starts but dies, after a couple tries it should work without problems. This is only in cold weather though, not on cold starts.

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All depends on where you live and the demographic I guess.

I live in upstate new york, the cheapest E85 around me right now is 2.05. The one right by my house is currently 2.78, it costs 2 cents more than 93!

I go down to NYC/Long Island a lot, and I can get E85 down there for about ~1.80 a gallon.

I just deal with the added cost because I no longer drive the car everyday and you can't put a price on smiles.

Ok, filled up again today. E85 at $2.39 now! WTF?

Do you live amongst the corn fields?