my 93 octane fuel costs $2.45/gal

[Exranger]

E85 is like death juice for your car…I know I’ll catch lots of flack for this…
Look at what it does to your mower and chainsaw…

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[Master Blaster]

30% ethanol is way over the 15% maximum that Ford says the fuel system is designed for. It might be cheaper but its not the correct fuel, just like diesel isn't correct. Expect interesting problems not covered under warranty...

 

[yamahaSHO]

E85 is like death juice for your car…I know I’ll catch lots of flack for this…
Look at what it does to your mower and chainsaw…

It's hygroscopic so a fuel leak (read: carb) will result in water absorption. In a proper fuel system that is sealed well, it's fantastic. I've been running E85 in many of my cars for like 15 years or so. Currently have two cars and one RZR on ethanol. If I had local stations that were guaranteed to have E30, I'd run it in my Ranger and wife's Maverick. I don't really want to bother with mixing for those.

30% ethanol is way over the 15% maximum that Ford says the fuel system is designed for. It might be cheaper but its not the correct fuel, just like diesel isn't correct. Expect interesting problems not covered under warranty...

@colinl is tuned for E30.

The hoses in the maverick are rated for E85. Not necessarily for any higher methanol content. Ii’s not necessarily just about tuning.

The OEM fuel lines are perfectly fine with ethanol, given there is already ethanol in most fuels. I've run E85 on mostly stock fuel systems (sans injectors and pump) from the 80's without issues.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

Costco is like 80c cheaper than other places

 

[Cherokee]

E85 is like death juice for your car…I know I’ll catch lots of flack for this…
Look at what it does to your mower and chainsaw…

I put 528,000 flawless miles on my 2008 2.7 ltr four banger Toyota Tacoma using regular gas. The ethanol never caused a single problem.
so I’m not afraid of ethanol or buying into the BS.
sure I get a bit more mpg’s on real gas but not worth the extra coin.
And that is that.
Never negatively affected any engine I had.

 

[Exranger]

I put 528,000 flawless miles on my 2008 2.7 ltr four banger Toyota Tacoma using regular gas. The ethanol never caused a single problem.
so I’m not afraid of ethanol or buying into the BS.
sure I get a bit more mpg’s on real gas but not worth the extra coin.
And that is that.
Never negatively affected any engine I had.

I know there are lots of opinions on this e85, I’m glad it worked so well for you…

 

[PNWMaverick]

A local Shell station has ethanol free 110 for ~$11.50 a gallon. We have a few events a year here at which point that station becomes very popular.

Costco is like 80c cheaper than other places

The fuel and hotdog are worth the cost of membership.

 

[yamahaSHO]

I know there are lots of opinions on this e85, I’m glad it worked so well for you…

Opinions don't matter. If you take the time to understand what causes issues, you can avoid them.

 

[kenict]

no, it's the ethanol subsidy. I'm in the middle of Kansas and we actually do have ethanol refineries relatively close, so it's possible the corn never had to go very far.

I just realized while technically correct, it might not be obvious reading my first post. E30 = 30% ethanol, this is a flex fuel. the E85 pump is even cheaper, it showed $2.30/gal today.

there are some E85 stations where I blend E85 and E10 87 pumps, but it's not cheaper than this station's E30 93 pumps and of course you can only make guesses about how much gas is in the tank and then use a blend calculator app.

 

[kenict]

no, it's the ethanol subsidy. I'm in the middle of Kansas and we actually do have ethanol refineries relatively close, so it's possible the corn never had to go very far.

I just realized while technically correct, it might not be obvious reading my first post. E30 = 30% ethanol, this is a flex fuel. the E85 pump is even cheaper, it showed $2.30/gal today.

there are some E85 stations where I blend E85 and E10 87 pumps, but it's not cheaper than this station's E30 93 pumps and of course you can only make guesses about how much gas is in the tank and then use a blend calculator app.

 

[Master Blaster]

The amount of alcohol in your fuel has differing effects on your fuel system issues. Below about 15% can be handled by normal fuel lines, fuel pumps, carburetors and fuel injector pintles. E10 is widely used in places where water can be entrained into your fuel from the air, with only a 3% mileage loss. The Mav allows up to E15, since some parts of the fuel system are zinc/aluminum castings. E30 will probably not cause dramatic failures for (say) 5 years, but it will most assuredly cause issues in the future, as the castings are slowly eaten and the fuel lines harden and crack. E85 rapidly eats zinc and aluminum castings, leaches the compounds out of plastic fuel lines causing them to harden. Just because it is partially paid for by your taxes in Kansas does not mean that you should be using anything over the E15 max that the Mav is built for. Those high-alcohol fuels are also not TopTier certified, and do not have adequate detergency to prevent carbon buildup on injector nozzles and intake valves, causing other huge issues later on.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

Maybe it is because ethanol is a very good cleaner by nature you don't need tons of silly, costly, and polluting additives to keep a clean engine clean.

Burning ethanol creates, get this...

Carbon dioxide and water.

Just like you my friend when you exhale.

 

[RR - All the way]

I don't support the ethanol subsidy but if it's there and you get crazy cheap gas, OK.

this is E30 93 octane. is it as good as mixing E85 and E10 93 octane? no, that should yield 95-97 octane depending on the ethanol % in the E85. but this is in a pump and you can see it's extremely cheap.

Colini, now a year later. What is the cost now? I heard a prominent figure say the other day that gas prices are down. Just wondering..............

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

The benefits of ethanol are multi-faceted.

Creates jobs in the USA.
Those jobs cannot be outsourced.
Cleaner to manufacture than fossil fuel.
Cleaner to burn than fossil fuel.
Renewable. What you burn this year 100% of it grows back next year.
While there is a limit to how much we can make in a year, there is an UNLIMITED SUPPLY over decades and centuries so long as there is rain and sunshine.

Ethanol IS SOLAR POWER for your car.
Crops, are in a sense sunlight batteries.

Sunlight "live" in real time is only about 1 horsepower per square meter of light.
And of course you can't collect sunlight at night.

But crops can and do store half a year of sunlight in their fruits and seeds. That via fermentation can be converted to liquid fuel you can use at night, or whenever, even in 1000 horsepower machines.

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