Useless Information

[gooffeyguy]

I've never noticed mine sputtering at first startup in cold weather with E85, but I remote start it most of the time also, and it's a different engine (6.2)

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon XL Denali
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

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[gooffeyguy]

Damn server!

 

[kbuskill]

Sorry on the delay but here is a pic of the 88 gas I mentioned. Looks like it is just e85.View attachment 211271

E15....

 

[kbuskill]

I've never noticed mine sputtering at first startup in cold weather with E85, but I remote start it most of the time also, and it's a different engine (6.2)

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon XL Denali
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I have never noticed this either. I remote start almost every morning. Never had it stall. Mine is the 5.3L.

 

[Fless]

Not E85. The 88 octane is on that pump is E15. 15% ethanol, 85% gasoline.

Sorry, late to the party. @kbuskill called it.

Ethanol octane will be something north of 100, maybe as high as 113. Mix it with gas and the octane rating comes down a bit, but 85% ethanol should be higher than any E10 gasoline mix.

 

[iamdub]

So, E85 returns reduced MPG but has a higher octane rating (higher than needed in our engines, but still cheap high octane) and regular gas or even E10/E15 returns considerably better MPG but at a higher cost.

Would there be any benefit to mixing E10/E15 87 with E85? Get X amount at X dollars of the cheapest Top Tier E10 gas you can find, then fill the rest with E85. Our engines need only a few points higher octane than 87, but not necessarily mid 90s+. I wonder if the balance of cost per mile could be significantly dropped just by filling up with a half-assed calculated blend of the two fuels. You'd benefit from the price savings of E85 and the improved economy of regular gas while not running on TOO high of octane fuel.

I know fuel prices fluctuate a lot. But, if someone calculated their average MPG to come up with a general ratio to blend the E85 and E10/E15 at a station that had E85 at the same pump as the other grades, they'd just have to stick to that ratio and not have to re-calculate every time the price changed and the only extra work would be to swipe their card twice.

I'm not the greatest with math and I don't drive enough to worry with it, but I had to spell out my thoughts.

 

[gooffeyguy]

That's kind of what is done in this pic of a pump I took last month in central Missouri.

As E rating goes down, price and mileage goes up, octane and % of ethanol goes down....



2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon XL Denali
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[gooffeyguy]

Also, calculate fuel as cost per mile. I've found that E85 price stays pretty constant around here, only ranging from $1.99-$2.14 per gallon. When premium prices are $2.89 or more it's cheaper to run E85, but when premium prices are below $2.69 it ends up being cheaper to just get premium. When prices are around the $2.79 mark it's a wash.

Now each vehicle will differ on this depending on what kind of mileage it gets on each fuel type.

Earlier this week premium (93 octane) was $2.39 and I filled up with that, even though I had a 3rd of a tank (10 gals) of E85 left

2001 Yukon SLT
2012 Yukon XL Denali
2011 Yukon Denali RIP 5/20/18

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[Fless]

That's kind of what is done in this pic of a pump I took last month in central Missouri.

As E rating goes down, price and mileage goes up, octane and % of ethanol goes down....

Reminds me of the old Sunoco pumps where you could set the dial for your choice of maybe 6 or 7 octane ratings.

I haven't seen those pumps in Colorado; they apparently mix at the pump. I'd be surprised if they had separate underground tanks for each type. I've done what @iamdub suggested and mixed E85 with E10 from time to time, but E85 isn't very convenient for me in the Denver area. The nearest station with it is about 15 miles away and not a direction I usually go. They have only a 250 gallon E85 tank so, when I go, they may have it or not. Not worth a special trip but I'll stop in if I'm in the area.

I do tend to avoid it altogether in winter as I've experienced cold start issues with E85 only.

My '08 Fusion is not Flex Fuel and usually gets non-ethanol 87 octane, which is mid-grade around here; 85 octane is the regular grade at this altitude. But I've found only one station (Murphy Express) that offers it, and it's the same price as E10 87 octane. Go figure.

 

[swathdiver]

Sure, you can mix it up for cost savings but would have to drive it and see how performance is affected. At a certain percentage, which I do not know, the computer shifts from gasoline tables to the Flex Fuel tables or maybe there's a table for each percentage of alcohol content? Don't know. I do know the motor makes more horsepower and torque burning E85 and runs great on it.

My truck's combined average for both fuel types over the last year is 10.9 mpg on E85 and 14.2 mpg on 93. E85 costs $.22 cents a mile versus $.25 cents a mile for 93 for the last 13 months. The truck's most efficient tank was $.16 cents a mile on FlexFuel.

I think that E-30 would be interesting to try but the pumps around me only offer E85 and E15.

I've lost my train of thought and forgotten the point... I think!