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I'm flexible

CaFordDude

Charter Member
7,748
464
Cali
First rule of a good thread.....good title that draws people in.

Now...I'm really not that flexible, but my truck is. My truck is a "flex fuel" vehicle. There is a local gas station that carries it. It is about .50 cheaper a gallon. Is it worth a$13 savings a tank? From a purely economical standpoint it is...what about mpg's, power etc...?

What about long term effects on the truck?
 

smokey

Hitech hillbilly
Staff member
Your mileage will drop with the E85. Had a friend try running it. He kept records and charts of the results a few years ago.

His conclusion was it is cheaper to run regular gas. He said he had less power and lower mpg with E85. Not sure if advances in the fuel systems changed any since he did the test.
I know E85 has less BTUs per gallon than regular gas.
 

Fellro

Moderator
Staff member
The biggest problem is that they are trying to run two very different fuels with very different properties in the exact same engine. If the engine runs a high enough compression to effectively use the E-85, the gasoline would ping. If it runs the proper compression for gasoline, the E-85 gets poor mileage, much like running premium in an engine designed for regular.

As a fuel, E-85 can do quite well, but the motor needs to be purpose built.
 

mrxlh

Oilfield Trash
5,904
430
Stigler, OK
My neighbor ran the actual numbers, (different brand truck) when you add the additional service costs, (more frequent oil changes) lower mpg, less power (hey, its a truck, not a yugo) it comes in costing more money to run the E85.
 

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