E85 anyone?

[John SD]

Well I got brave and decided to try out a more concentrated brew of those corn squeezin's! Pulled up to the pump and put in 6.7 gal of E10. Hung up the hose and got the E85 hose from the other side of the pump and put in 6.7 gal of E85. Car ran good, although maybe a bit weak on the top end, mostly highway, interstate, and a bit of town driving. Topped off the tank with E10 again before going home. Made 18 mpg which is about as good as the car ever does. I'll do it again next chance I get and try to keep a 50/50 ratio of E10/E85 in the tank. This is a '78 Impala 305 2bbl carb. YMMV!

 

[BRG]

Just a thought. Di you happen to check if that car was rated for E85. I was going to do the same thing and my neighbor told me that you better check it out because he did it and a few weeks later his fuel pump went out. They said it is because it burns so hot.

I hope it works great for you though. Their should be more of this type of product out there for us to use. :!:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

John would it pay to keep a extra inline fuel filter with you. Just in case that extra alcohol loosens up or carries water from the tank?

 

[nenmrancher]

As a person who used to work manage a convience store in a area that required blended fuel in the winetr I would say yes. Every year within a day of having the ethonal added to the fuel and in the tanks for the station, I would have to change every fuel filter on every fuel pump on the station lot. After the first time unless I got a load from the plant that was near the bottom of the ethonal tank I did not have any more problems until spring. So I think having a spare inline fuel filter for your car could save you some trouble, more so if you are driving a older car.

 

[DOC HARRIS]

John would it pay to keep a extra inline fuel filter with you. Just in case that extra alcohol loosens up or carries water from the tank?

In My Opinion - Yes it would pay to have an extra In-Line fuel filter - and as one who has replaced LOTS of in line filters - locate it in an easy and convenient place to get to - not on the INSIDE of the truck frame next to the headers or the muffler! Not having to 'creep' under the vehicle in mud and/or snow would be nice!

DOC HARRIS

 

[John SD]

I've owned this car for 12 yrs and have run E10 pretty much exclusively putting about 40K miles on it in that time. Car has about 112K on it now so it's fairly low mileage for a 27 yr old car! Might dump a can of Sea Foam in the tank before storing for the off-season as the last few years I have parked the car from Oct-May. Only drive it in the months I figure I'll need the AC! (BTW, the AC still can freeze me out with good ol' R12. I got the AC serviced right after I bought the car.)

I figure the fuel system has to be pretty clean from continuously running E10 already. There can't be much junk to cut loose in there unless I ran into a bad tank of fuel somewhere.

I have changed a fuel pump or two before on this car, along with my other Chevy small blocks. I blame poor quality fuel pump mfg, not ethanol for premature pump failures I have experienced. Very seldom has a mechanical engine cam driven fuel pump left me stranded, most times they just leak gas externally. An internal leak into the engine would be a problem but fortunately I've never had that happen. My '79 Impala once left me sitting along the road when the spring on the fuel pump cam lever broke. Certainly not the fault of the fuel.

Of course this car is not rated for E85. I doubt E10 ethanol fuel was even widely available as a commercial fuel when this car was manufactured. It would be easy to carry and change an inline fuel filter on this car as there is already is one installed between the fuel pump and carb. The factory filter is where the fuel line goes into the carb.

 

[Cal]

I heard on a radio interview this morning that most vehicles should have no problem on a mixture up to 30% alcohol. Should just take a few quick calculations at the E85 pump to estimate how much you can get by with.