Useless Information

[kbuskill]

Well James...

I just filled up for the 3rd time today with E85.

And here are my numbers...

E85 @ $2.22 X 25.01gal = $55.75
269miles = $0.207 per mile
10.76mpg

About 65 miles of that was interstate with cruise set at 70mph. And probably more than an average amount of idling.

I should really probably run a couple tanks of 89 and get some good baseline numbers for that.

I noticed today that the place I have been getting E85 from has ethanol free 89 octane for $3.23.

I wonder what kind of mileage I could get on that... lol

I'm thinking I would have to get 400 miles out of a tank (25 gal average fill up) to get the same $0.20 per mile.

 

[swathdiver]

Ken, how's your back/injuries healing up?

I'll be refueling later this morning, this tank had a few hours of idling too. I'll get the numbers posted from it tonight or Friday. Yes, you'd have to average 16 mpg to basically equal the cost of running E85. Have you done it before on 89? I don't remember.

That's not a bad price for ethanol free I think. Might be worth a comparison but would take 3 or 4 tanks to get the alcohol content to zero. Down here, Gas Buddy is showing a Mobil station nearby selling 93 for $3.24. Last time I ran it, the gas from that station had 3-5% alcohol in it. I'd sure feel victorious if the highway average would be in the 19s, even 18s on gasoline! Surprised and glad that fuel prices are going down again!

 

[kbuskill]

Ken, how's your back/injuries healing up?

I'll be refueling later this morning, this tank had a few hours of idling too. I'll get the numbers posted from it tonight or Friday. Yes, you'd have to average 16 mpg to basically equal the cost of running E85. Have you done it before on 89? I don't remember.

That's not a bad price for ethanol free I think. Might be worth a comparison but would take 3 or 4 tanks to get the alcohol content to zero. Down here, Gas Buddy is showing a Mobil station nearby selling 93 for $3.24. Last time I ran it, the gas from that station had 3-5% alcohol in it. I'd sure feel victorious if the highway average would be in the 19s, even 18s on gasoline! Surprised and glad that fuel prices are going down again!

It's a slow process... more Dr's and neurosurgeons and physical therapy... I am about tired of all of it to be completely honest but I guess it's for the best.

I don't really have any good logs of fuel mileage on 89. I was using Mobil 89 on the recommendation of Lew from Diablew that did my custom 89 tune. He said that they are a top tier station and to stay away from Shell and Costco and off brands.

Prior to the tune I just filled up at the local Racetrac since they were convenient and cheap.

Mobil's 89 still has some ethanol in it and when I would calculate the fuel mileage per tank it would average about 13.5-14 mpg with mixed driving and idling... but the DIC always showed about 12.5 mpg average.

I have reset the DIC a couple times now and it is showing about 12 mpg average.

Still wish I knew the actual ethanol content but can't seem to figure out how to make that work.

 

[swathdiver]

It's a slow process... more Dr's and neurosurgeons and physical therapy... I am about tired of all of it to be completely honest but I guess it's for the best.

I don't really have any good logs of fuel mileage on 89. I was using Mobil 89 on the recommendation of Lew from Diablew that did my custom 89 tune. He said that they are a top tier station and to stay away from Shell and Costco and off brands.

Prior to the tune I just filled up at the local Racetrac since they were convenient and cheap.

Mobil's 89 still has some ethanol in it and when I would calculate the fuel mileage per tank it would average about 13.5-14 mpg with mixed driving and idling... but the DIC always showed about 12.5 mpg average.

I have reset the DIC a couple times now and it is showing about 12 mpg average.

Still wish I knew the actual ethanol content but can't seem to figure out how to make that work.

Can't help you with the alcohol content, don't know anything about that system. Stick with it, it's a long road to recovery, made longer by the creeps in Washington.

I've grown tired of my doctors and slow progress too but have to keep running to win, grow old with my wife and spoil our grand children. We're still raising rugrats too.

Your is rated for 14-20 and 16 combined on gasoline and 11-15 and 12 combined on E85. I'd say your doing good on both fuels. Just depends on which is the better value at the time.

I had some time to do some googling today. One kind of ethanol subsidy expired in 2012. But the federal government for 2016-2018 spent over $210 million expanding ethanol stations across the country. That's a subsidy in my book. Then I came across all these exhaustive reports written in BS further promoting it and came across the term RIN (Renewable Identification Numbers) that seem to be traded like a commodity. This is too is a subsidy in my book. But it is so interwoven into law, the oil companies, it would be quite a task to get rid of it but they should. I'll keep running it for now as long as it makes sense to.

 

[swathdiver]

Since the cats were replaced, the truck averaged 14.9 mpg on three tanks of Mobil and Chevron 93 and just over 17 mpg on a day trip to Marathon and back. The alcohol content was over 10% on 3 of those 4 tanks.

After that, she's burned through 3 full tanks of E85 and averaged between 12 and 13 mpg combined city/hwy driving.

This last tank, the alcohol content was 76% and she went 313 miles on 26 gallons which equates to 12 mpg and almost nineteen cents a mile. This included a couple of hours idling one day. Price went back up to $2.299. There are six E85 stations shown on Gas Buddy and folks have been reporting them less and less lately.

If I remember right, each of these three tanks included 200 miles on the highway. The highway speed on these last 4 trips was 75-76 mph where the motor gets about 13 mpg. If it weren't for those, I'd probably be in the 10s too!

 

[swathdiver]

Some more fun with numbers and excel. Truck has run through 25 tanks of fuel since October. 12 on E85 and 13 on 93 octane gasolina.

The average mpg on E85 has been 11.24 mpg.
The average cost per mile to drive on E85 has been $.19 cents a mile.
The average cost per gallon of E85 has been $2.17.

The average mpg on 93 octane gasolina has been 14.09 mpg.
The average cost per mile to drive on 93 octane gasolina has been $.23 cents a mile.
The average cost per gallon of 93 octane gasolina has been $3.24.

To travel 300 miles, it has cost $12 more to run 93 octane gasolina rather than E85.

Stated another way, for every 4.36 miles driven, a dollar leaves my pocket when running 93 octane gasolina.
Or, for every 5.49 miles driven, a dollar leaves my pocket when running E85.

Since the Y-Pipe and cats were replaced in March, the mileage on both fuels has increased to normal ratings even while running All-Terrain tires and the BlackBear tune with AFM disabled. Well, highway mileage on gasoline has not been tested yet since. Looking forward to that.

 

[randeez]

may want to try blending e85/87 and test fuel mileage. my truck loves the % the closer to 85% (highest ive seen from the pump is 82%, usually 70-80%) it gets but mpg tanks. i think having the ethanol over 50% should keep the ecu happy and in the high octane tables.

keep running solely pump e85 for a few months now, getting 210-240/24 gallons, dash shows 10.9 mpg, but i drive like a maniac most of the time

 

[swathdiver]

may want to try blending e85/87 and test fuel mileage. my truck loves the % the closer to 85% (highest ive seen from the pump is 82%, usually 70-80%) it gets but mpg tanks. i think having the ethanol over 50% should keep the ecu happy and in the high octane tables.

keep running solely pump e85 for a few months now, getting 210-240/24 gallons, dash shows 10.9 mpg, but i drive like a maniac most of the time

That's not bad considering! The mileage ratings on E85 for yours is 10 City, 14 Highway, 12 Combined.

Has Ken @kbuskill reached out to you about getting his App to show alcohol content?

 

[randeez]

? think i saw the question on it...said it was there but not highlighted (available?) i dont think i had to do anything special to get mine to work.

what bluetooth module are you using KB? mine is pretty old i was thinking about finding a new one but its just a generic ELM327 i think (chinese)

 

[kbuskill]

? think i saw the question on it...said it was there but not highlighted (available?) i dont think i had to do anything special to get mine to work.

what bluetooth module are you using KB? mine is pretty old i was thinking about finding a new one but its just a generic ELM327 i think (chinese)

I would have to go out to the truck to look at it... I'm certain it's a Chinese ELM327... it's something my brother gave me and he bought it off eBay or the like.

What year is your truck?

I thought that perhaps my 2008 doesn't allow you to see it for some reason.

I even tried logging with my Diablo and couldn't get it to show.