E85 in Non FFVs?
Monday May 21, 2007
E85—it’s the choice of fuel for FFVs (flex-fuel vehicles)…or is it? Traditional wisdom holds that the high alcohol content of E85 makes it unsuitable as fuel for a standard gasoline engine … it’s too caustic and it will damage the fuel system … it’s too “dry” and won’t provide enough lubrication to the “top end” (valve train) of the engine. But are these widely held beliefs actually true?E85 is generally much less expensive than gasoline and folks are quite tempted by the $5, $10 even $15 savings on a fill-up. Should they—should you—do it?
ACE (American Coalition for Ethanol) wanted to know, so they commissioned a study to find out. A 2000 non flex-fuel Chevrolet Tahoe that accumulated 105,000 miles almost exclusively on E85 was the subject; how well it held up was the object. Watch the video and see what ACE found out. The results may surprise you.
photo © Scott Gable
Comments
So? Can I use E85? Should I?
Good question Brooklyn Bob, but I can’t answer it for you, it depends whether or not you think ACE’s findings are legit. I will, however, give you my opinion.
If I had a new non flex-fuel car that was under factory warranty, I wouldn’t use E85. But as soon as the warranty expired, I’d experiment away. I’d start off mixing E85 and gasoline in slowly progressing increments (say 10%) and pay attention to any changes in how the engine ran and performed. After about 5000 miles I’d pull a couple sparkplugs and the fuel filter and look for potential misfiring, detonation and corrosion problems. If it all looked good , I’d keep running higher concentrations of E85 and keep checking for problems.
Thanks for reading our blog and taking an interest.
Scott–Alternative Fuels Guide
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