E-85 and back to Gas issue

[kschumake83]

I am assuming that my issue is due to switching to E-85 for one tank and then back to regular gas, but I just want more opinions. Anyways I just bought the vehicle about a month ago and I wanted to clean the top half of the motor, it has 115000 on it so I thought a good E-85 tank would help with getting the carbon out. It sucked, it idled like it had a cam when cold and the lack of power very evident. So now it is time to switch back to gas, I filled it up and within 2 minutes of driving the check engine light came on. Drove about 20 miles and it remained on the whole time. Checked the light and it said bank 1 lean condition and bank 2 lean condition, I erased the trouble code and it has not been on since. Is this normal when switching between the fuels?

 

[Red_Raider]

My brother-in-law did this with his car, but he ran E-85 a lot. The car idles rough all of the time now and check engine light comes on intermittently.

 

[Labman2012]

When I run e85 I will run it for two full tanks then switch back to regular gas once the tank is almost completely empty. I have never had a rough idle issue and when I am running e85 I have a lot more power than regular gas.

 

[blairian]

E85 is supposed to give you more power and still run smoothly...

Are you sure your truck is E85 capable? If not it could have done some damage to it...

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[kschumake83]

Yeah it is a flex fuel, I think there is a sensor in the fuel system that tells the computer when there is ethanol in the tank, I wonder if that is bad and it is trying to run the ethanol like gas with the timing retarded, which would cause a rough idle and loss of power. It runs great now that it is back on real gas, I may just stick with that and use a regular dose of fuel injector cleaner.

 

[ezdaar]

Change fuel filter and runinjector cleaner.
Like you said you used e85 for its cleaning properties, well it didit and now your filters are clogged.
This is normal.
Change them out and repeat it a few times until filters stop clogging and you will have a clean system.
Might needntonchange front 02 sensors aswell due to all the trash being burnt and released from engine.

GL

 

[kschumake83]

Thanks for the advice, I will change the fuel filter this weekend. I will probably wait on the o2 sensors because the funds are a little tight right now.

 

[Stein2088]

E85 is supposed to give you more power and still run smoothly...

Are you sure your truck is E85 capable? If not it could have done some damage to it...

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When I run e85 I will run it for two full tanks then switch back to regular gas once the tank is almost completely empty. I have never had a rough idle issue and when I am running e85 I have a lot more power than regular gas.

E-85 will give you less power and less fuel eco.

 

[Labman2012]

The octane in e85 is much higher than regular gas therefore this should reduce knocking. The burn rate on e85 is much longer than regular gas therefore it creates energy throughout the piston stroke this causing the INCREASE in horsepower.

 

[Stein2088]

The octane in e85 is much higher than regular gas therefore this should reduce knocking. The burn rate on e85 is much longer than regular gas therefore it creates energy throughout the piston stroke this causing the INCREASE in horsepower.

So basically your saying E85 is slower burning but still gives you more power??? This confueses me but anyway, I'm still looking for a side by side comparison of HP numbers I've seen it before but cant find it, regardless if E-85 created more power why would it have a slower 0-60 than Reg. Gas? (http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/e85-vs-gasoline-comparison-test.html)

Dyno numbers on GM's brochure do show a 6HP increase over gas on a 5.3 (I stand corrected) LSXforum stated that is due to it being a cooler burning fuel basically pure alcohol aka legal moonshine. But i'm still lost at how a higher octane can be slower burning??? regardless your fuel milage will suck on E-85

Fuel economy comparison
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/bymodel/2012_Chevrolet_Silverado.shtml