Rant: Can't Get E85 Without A Flex Fuel Vehicle

[Keaton85]

I was down in Boston area today and wanted to fill up on E85 finally! went to fill up and the guy said he can't do it unless it was a flex fuel and that maybe the Gulf over by Logan would let it slid!

WTF! I'm pissed, I can't fill my vehicle up with the fuel that I want to? Has anyone else run into the BS?

[Fudge_Brownie]

I know very little about what makes a vehicle "flex fuel", but I didn't think they were that different of a car. What needs to be special about them? Different EVAP set up?

[Keaton85]

Different tuning, that's about it since ethanol runs leaner. I can give you a page run down but I don't have the patience for that right now!

I just don't understand why they regulate it like that or if it's just that station? I hope it's just that station! If I could run E85 or E100 in my car all the time I would pay $3 a gallon easy.

[Stormtrooper1]

I'm guessing they are afraid of getting sued if you have car trouble due to the E85 and your car not being "Flex"

Don't you need different fuel lines for e85 as well?

[Keaton85]

Nope, all vehicles after I think early 80's had fuel systems made to support alcohol based fuels.

[BurgerBob]

I'm guessing they are afraid of getting sued if you have car trouble due to the E85 and your car not being "Flex"

Don't you need different fuel lines for e85 as well?

That's the rumor.

[Tightmopedman9]

I'm guessing they are afraid of getting sued if you have car trouble due to the E85 and your car not being "Flex"

Don't you need different fuel lines for e85 as well?

Don't need different fuel lines, however new piston rings would be nice. Really all that is required is a tune and larger injectors. Ethanol is 'smaller' so it's more likely to make it past your rings and into your fuel. With our old ass cars you'd probably need to change your oil every 500 miles or so to make sure it doesn't get too fouled with ethanol.

[matt b]

Seems like a simple fix to me: Flex Fuel Emblem for $5

I doubt a gas station attendant would ask for proof that your vehicle has been retro-fitted to run on E85.

[Keaton85]

Don't need different fuel lines, however new piston rings would be nice. Really all that is required is a tune and larger injectors. Ethanol is 'smaller' so it's more likely to make it past your rings and into your fuel. With our old ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD cars you'd probably need to change your oil every 500 miles or so to make sure it doesn't get too fouled with ethanol.

Thats another myth. Ethanol burns more completely thus less bypass fuels into the crankcase. Where is the ring info from anyway?

[ozzimark]

Indeed, it's not smaller, or larger. It's more uniform in size, while gasoline varies a LOT from really small chains to pretty long chains.

[Keaton85]

If you do the research into the fuel you will find it far exceeds regular petrol. Once you understand both fuels as a whole it's amazing how much bad info is out there. We would have such clean running motors, with less oil degradation along with added power if E85 or E100 was used as the primary fuel.

I just wish I could get it locally as that would be all I would run in these vehicles.

[esundell90]

If you do the research into the fuel you will find it far exceeds regular petrol. Once you understand both fuels as a whole it's amazing how much bad info is out there. We would have such clean running motors, with less oil degradation along with added power if E85 or E100 was used as the primary fuel.

I just wish I could get it locally as that would be all I would run in these vehicles.

yeah, but e85 is terrible for the environment, its not a sustainable fuel. We don't have enough land out there to feed our growing global population and the fuel to move it all too. Nor do I want all land to be farmed. Hydrogen all the way.

And idk about you guys, but ethanol in my car while it may run cleaner gets me worse mpg.

f that. I'll stick to dead dinosaurs.

of course, that worse mpg could be tune related.

[Keaton85]

That is true if you are in a mono agriculture infrastructure like ours, but if you start thinking with a permaculture design then everything changes. We are looking at producing ethanol out of corn which is one of the WORST crops that can be used for this. Although before sending the corn to the feed lots we can process it into ethanol then take the dried distillers drains and feed that at the feed lots. This increases meet production as well as reduces vet bills since cattle can process dried distillers grains without issue unlike corn where they can not process the complex sugars....

I can go on and on! the info that is at your figure tips on the internet is the biggest croc that you could read. Dig deeper and the agricultural debate goes out the window.

I can get you the info on land use as well, it is well documented that there is enough land without issue to be used for ethanol uses.

As for the poor MPG, yes you will get around 30% less MPG with ethanol on a vehicle tuned for regular petrol. Although once you get your engine set-up to run ethanol properly you are looking at a 10-12% decrease in MPG. Which is still a decrease but is easily out weighed by the pros of ethanol as a whole. Keep in mind that Brazil runs mainly on ethanol!

I was of the same mind set that ethanol was mentally challenged and i didnt know why people would even bother with it! Then I got reading a lot about the fuel for my own interest and realized that most of the issues out there are things that have been manifested due to bad duplicity and so forth.

ohh and also, if corn was used as the main crop you can use the byproduct of making ethanol and return it to the fields. Once on the fields it stunds weeds growth and increases crop fertility by 10% annually. BUT once again corn is one of the WORSE crops that can be used.

Edit: yes hydrogen is a good idea BUT we already have the infrastructure for ethanol as a fuel, we have all the vehicles, fuel stations and so forth. With hydrogen we would need to redo all of that over again.

[esundell90]

I know corn is a terrible sours in terms of biomass for fuel use. They are looking into alge and other forms of grass and sugar cane ect. for a more efficient means of obtaining fuel material. I just don't feel that Ethenol is where we should be putting our emphasis for alternative fuel. Its a stopgap measure until we can get hydrogen or something else as a feasible fuel and get the infrastructure in place. that's where I would rather spend my tax money, personal money and hope my government would spend its money (tho I'm sure it has, seems to be able to spend money on everything else ).

I was involved in a bio fuels program for a few years at school, granted bio diesel, not ethanol, and there are differences, I'd like to think I know some things about this stuff. And like I say, for now its fine, but the world needs to move off of the Internal combustion principal and move to a different form of power to move our vehicles ect. (as much as it pains me to say that, I love gassers!)

[Stormtrooper1]

So... your saying I can swing by the local station and Stuff a Tank full of e85 in my 98 V70, and drive it with no issues besides possibly a little lower mpg because my car is not tuned to run e85?