Run a tank of E85 orleave well enough alone ?

[intheburbs]

No.

The only time I run E85 is when I'm on a road trip and I'll be burning the entire tank. Not gonna let that shit sit in my tank.

 

[petethepug]

We’ve run it 24/7 for over two years since we found it local. Milage drops in town about 20%. Highway milage maybe 5-10% less milage. Overall e85 gives our 30gal 6.2L about 225 mi per tank local. On trips about 250/60 mi per tank.

It’s literally 1/2 the cost of our 91 and at least 100 octane. It idles the motor like it’s electric and hits the downshifts quicker. The oil stays cleaner longer and leaves no carbon deposits in the combustion chambers.

I change out my e85 by driving the vehicle til almost empty every 8-12 days. Both the e85 and the brake fluid are hygroscopic but the e85 gets changed much more frequently. I’ll, of course, report in if there’s issues with it.

 

[mikez71]

I can't say I notice a power increase, but have been conservative on the throttle.
Being it's 100 octane, I hope it won't trigger knock retard, whereas before I have logged upto 5 degrees of knock retard on 91 octance.
Mainly ran it just to test it out, heard it keeps the motor cleaner. It is cheaper despite the reduced mileage. Roughly 60% the cost while getting 85% of the mileage

 

[Vladimir2306]

When I traveled around Europe, I constantly poured E85. It's twice the price of petrol. Drove a lot on it. There were no problems with it, except that fuel consumption increased by about 10%, and there was a feeling of a decrease in power. But nothing critical. And so the periodic use of E85 is an excellent tool to remove water from the tank. In Russia, unfortunately, there is no E85. Because we have introduced a minimum cost of ethyl alcohol of about $ 1, while Gasoline costs about $ 0.6. So we have no point in E85 fuel. And that would be cool.)

 

[Marky Dissod]

It’s literally 1/2 the cost of our 91 and at least 100 octane.
It idles the motor like it’s electric and hits the downshifts quicker.
The oil stays cleaner longer and leaves no carbon deposits in the combustion chambers.

If it keeps the engine cleaner, as you say, then I'll need to find cheaper E85 - which may not be possible in the 5 boros of NYC.

 

[belair62]

Itsalmost a dollar cheaper in Chicago

 

[wjburken]

In Iowa, it is heavily subdivided by the state so it is usually significantly cheaper per gallon. The only thing is when you get E85 at the pump, it can be anywhere between 50% and 85%. It just depends on what’s in the tanker truck.

 

[Fless]

I run it almost exclusively in my L59, although I do have the physical alcohol sensor. My local station is pretty consistent at around 68% alcohol. Runs around $0.70 to $1 less than regular (85), and a lot lower than 91 (which is our premium).

I don't have any problem with it sitting in the tank, mine sits for a week or two at a time.

 

[swathdiver]

2011 5.3 flex hasn't run E85 in a couple years. Was thinking of throwing a half tank in as a cleaning agent. Truck runs perfect now. Should I throw the dice or leave it the hell alone ?

I was wondering about doing the same thing.

If you guys have fairly new OE oxygen sensors (under 100K miles), run it! If they are old or aftermarket, they might screw up the virtual calculation and may cause driving issues or may not.

E85 is like cheap race gas, the motors love it! Put 5-6 tanks through the motor and the computers will fully adjust for it, even the transmission runs better in ours on that stuff.

There are no issues leaving it in your tank for a time, I've sat parked with only 5 gallons in the tank for over a month many times without issue. We have plastic tanks and everything else is made to come in contact with it in our fuel system.

It is an excellent cleanser so if that's what you want to do, who cares how much it costs. That's not the reason you're running it.

Driving around town and out to about a 50/50 mix of city and highway driving the 5.3 will burn a 1/2 gallon more per hour on E85 than 93 octane gasoline. On the highway, about a gallon more per hour.

These are my truck's stats since late 2017 and 220+ fill ups:

 

[belair62]

If you guys have fairly new OE oxygen sensors (under 100K miles), run it! If they are old or aftermarket, they might screw up the virtual calculation and may cause driving issues or may not.

E85 is like cheap race gas, the motors love it! Put 5-6 tanks through the motor and the computers will fully adjust for it, even the transmission runs better in ours on that stuff.

There are no issues leaving it in your tank for a time, I've sat parked with only 5 gallons in the tank for over a month many times without issue. We have plastic tanks and everything else is made to come in contact with it in our fuel system.

It is an excellent cleanser so if that's what you want to do, who cares how much it costs. That's not the reason you're running it.

Driving around town and out to about a 50/50 mix of city and highway driving the 5.3 will burn a 1/2 gallon more per hour on E85 than 93 octane gasoline. On the highway, about a gallon more per hour.

These are my truck's stats since late 2017 and 220+ fill ups:

View attachment 401996

This is great info thanks. P.O. Put new cats and o2's in mine but not sure what brand he used. He is a BMW tech so hopefully he used decent stuff. Im gonna put a half tak in tomorrow and see what happens.

"EDIT" Just talked to previous owner. He thinks he used Denso or something other than OE