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It never really took off around here. I’ve only seen a handful of E85 pumps in my time.
*Edit*
There are only 31 gas stations in Texas that offer it, and TX is pretty big.
It's plentiful in my area and I have been running it for years. I add lucas E85 stabilizer once a year and change the oil more frequently. Never have had any issues. The sludge in the video is from not changing the oil soon enough. Everybody waits till the computer says change the oil and many ride it out past that. Big mistake, especially if running E.
I've been running pump E85 in my 1000 rwhp mustang for about 4 years now. Never had a single issue. I even let it sit with fuel in the lines and injectors for 2 years while the engine and trans were down. I did have the injectors cleaned but they were barely dirty. Not enough to get worked up over at all. I do put E85 stabilizer in each winter on a fresh top off of fuel just for precautions. But I think a lot of the E85 horror stories are for people who let their vehicle sit for a very long period of time. Like 4-5-6-7 years with it in the system. Or simply don't have a fuel system set up for it.
It's plentiful in my area and I have been running it for years. I add lucas E85 stabilizer once a year and change the oil more frequently. Never have had any issues. The sludge in the video is from not changing the oil soon enough. Everybody waits till the computer says change the oil and many ride it out past that. Big mistake, especially if running E.
The guy in the video states he changed the synthetic oil every 2000 miles. That's a pretty short interval.
I've been running pump E85 in my 1000 rwhp mustang for about 4 years now. Never had a single issue. I even let it sit with fuel in the lines and injectors for 2 years while the engine and trans were down. I did have the injectors cleaned but they were barely dirty. Not enough to get worked up over at all. I do put E85 stabilizer in each winter on a fresh top off of fuel just for precautions. But I think a lot of the E85 horror stories are for people who let their vehicle sit for a very long period of time. Like 4-5-6-7 years with it in the system. Or simply don't have a fuel system set up for it.
Originally Posted by kinglt-1
It's plentiful in my area and I have been running it for years. I add lucas E85 stabilizer once a year and change the oil more frequently. Never have had any issues. The sludge in the video is from not changing the oil soon enough. Everybody waits till the computer says change the oil and many ride it out past that. Big mistake, especially if running E.
It looks like Lucas E85 stabilizer is Naptha which is the same thing that is in Seafoam. Lucas SDS
I think one might be better using something like Gumout Regane which uses naphtha as well, but it also contains PEA which is supposed to be able to withstand combustion temps to allow it to clean pistons. Regane SDS
Last edited by Y2K_Frenzy; 11-28-2023 at 11:37 AM.
It would appears so from locations in our profiles. Depends on your definition of corn belt but I'm in Omaha, NE and the other poster is in Indiana. It is at probably 25% of stations in Omaha and Lincoln. One of them is only about a mile from my house.
It would appears so from locations in our profiles. Depends on your definition of corn belt but I'm in Omaha, NE and the other poster is in Indiana. It is at probably 25% of stations in Omaha and Lincoln. One of them is only about a mile from my house.
Y’all are deep in the heart of the belt. I was curious as to why E85 never became more mainstream than it did and Google said a big part of it is transporting it via trucks only where as “regular” gas can be transported via pipeline.
Next time I’ll make sure and look at your profile. You can check mine if you’d like but there’s not much to see
Y’all are deep in the heart of the belt. I was curious as to why E85 never became more mainstream than it did and Google said a big part of it is transporting it via trucks only where as “regular” gas can be transported via pipeline.
Next time I’ll make sure and look at your profile. You can check mine if you’d like but there’s not much to see
I'm not sure about ethanol. I have been told that the soybean oil portion of biodiesel is so corrosive it can't be pipelined and has to be shipped in stainless tankers.
The guy in the video states he changed the synthetic oil every 2000 miles. That's a pretty short interval.
I have never seen oil that nasty in that short amount of time. I change mine every 2-2500 miles in my 6th gen. It's been running nothing but E85 since 2017... No issues. Now I haven't pulled the pan to verify there is no sludge, but I would bet a blue bill that there isn't any by what the oil looks like when I drain it and how clean the valvetrain looks under the valve covers. Also, a friend of mine who purchased my old 4th gen Z28 back in 2017 has been running E85 since 2019. The engine was pulled last week and it was clean internally. It was a SBE H/C LS1 with a D1x.
It never really took off around here. I’ve only seen a handful of E85 pumps in my time.
*Edit*
There are only 31 gas stations in Texas that offer it, and TX is pretty big.
That list is defiantly not accurate. There are more stations with E85 than shown.
That list is defiantly not accurate. There are more stations with E85 than shown.
Ha yeah, not correct. It also said there were only 5 in CA and 31 in NE.. Another article from 2018 said that there were 232 stations in TX that has it. At any rate, an E85 pump is a rare sighting down here. Inaccurate E85 “locator”
Another article said Minnesota has the most at 450 & IL the 2nd most with 290, but I’m not sure if the data is recent and or accurate.
Yeah most every gas station has E85 in MN.
But and it a big but you need to run a sensor to determine the level of alcohol. One off my car buddies runs a 89 Camaro 6.0 turbo drag car. When they started 5-6 years ago they ran pump gas E85. Found out the hard way it was more like E65. Killed their 6.0.
What I don't get about E85 is it's about .30 cents a gallon cheaper then regular unleaded. But E85 get's about 30% less gas mileage due it's lack of energy compared to regular gas.
Yeah most every gas station has E85 in MN.
But and it a big but you need to run a sensor to determine the level of alcohol. One off my car buddies runs a 89 Camaro 6.0 turbo drag car. When they started 5-6 years ago they ran pump gas E85. Found out the hard way it was more like E65. Killed their 6.0.
What I don't get about E85 is it's about .30 cents a gallon cheaper then regular unleaded. But E85 get's about 30% less gas mileage due it's lack of energy compared to regular gas.
You need a sensor and know how to tune for e85(the sensor will scale the tune) so that's a case of not knowing what you're doing.
As for the cost difference... E85 is like race fuel in comparison to 93.
Yeah most every gas station has E85 in MN.
But and it a big but you need to run a sensor to determine the level of alcohol. One off my car buddies runs a 89 Camaro 6.0 turbo drag car. When they started 5-6 years ago they ran pump gas E85. Found out the hard way it was more like E65. Killed their 6.0.
What I don't get about E85 is it's about .30 cents a gallon cheaper then regular unleaded. But E85 get's about 30% less gas mileage due it's lack of energy compared to regular gas.
I'm not an expert here but have a big turbo 1000 hp E85 car so I've done a bunch of reading on this. My understanding and everything I've seen and read is that for all intents and purposes anything over 50% ethanol content is the same. Is it technically, no. But the differences are so minute you would not need to tune for it differently. There is already a great thread on this HERE. Specifically see post #30 and the chart with MON, RON, and AKI highlighted at the bottom. The numbers are so close unless your buddy has his tune on the ragged edge there is no way he blew up his motor going from E85 to E65. It's like saying you blew up your motor because you went from 93 octane to 92.5 octane.
I'm not an expert here but have a big turbo 1000 hp E85 car so I've done a bunch of reading on this. My understanding and everything I've seen and read is that for all intents and purposes anything over 50% ethanol content is the same. Is it technically, no. But the differences are so minute you would not need to tune for it differently. There is already a great thread on this HERE. Specifically see post #30 and the chart with MON, RON, and AKI highlighted at the bottom. The numbers are so close unless your buddy has his tune on the ragged edge there is no way he blew up his motor going from E85 to E65. It's like saying you blew up your motor because you went from 93 octane to 92.5 octane.
This is correct. E65 is still 105-106 octane. And if you run a flex sensor with an OS that has a flex spark adder table, the difference in timing would only be 1 degree. 95 % of the builds out there don't "need" more than E40 which is still 99-100 octane.
Originally Posted by LS1 TJ
Yeah most every gas station has E85 in MN.
But and it a big but you need to run a sensor to determine the level of alcohol. One off my car buddies runs a 89 Camaro 6.0 turbo drag car. When they started 5-6 years ago they ran pump gas E85. Found out the hard way it was more like E65. Killed their 6.0.
What I don't get about E85 is it's about .30 cents a gallon cheaper then regular unleaded. But E85 get's about 30% less gas mileage due it's lack of energy compared to regular gas.
My guess is the majority that would consider running e85 probably have setups that need at least 91-93 octane pump gas. So you would compare the cost of premium to e85. Premium fuel is about 1.30 more per gallon. So in a performance application E85 is cheaper to run and makes more power. Now for your daily driver that runs 87 octane just fine, it doesn't make sense to run E85...it's not economical.
This video is misleading. He starts out stating that "E85 burns slower" which is absolutely WRONG. The laminar flame speed of ethanol is actually faster than gasoline. This is why OEM flex fuel tables subtract timing at part load for ethanol. Yes, you can run more timing at WOT, but that's because the knock limit is moved out of the way. MBT is still a lower number on ethanol.
His whole sludging problem is tied to repeated cold starts, not the fuel. He doesn't mention what temperature thermostat that car ran either. If you run a stock thermostat and let the engine warm all the way up to normal temperatures, it boils off a lot of the stuff that causes sludging in the oil. That 160* stat is not your friend. I run a stock thermostat on almost everything. Also, proper PCV ventilation under boost is another possible issue. Simply venting to atmosphere or running a catch can is not enough.
11-27-2023, 10:43 AM
I was curious as to why E85 never became more mainstream than it did and Google said a big part of it is transporting it via trucks only where as “regular” gas can be transported via pipeline. 
