Flex Fuel Pros/Cons

davidsdurions

I am soon to be acquiring a 2000 Ford Ranger with a V6 that is one of the flex-fuel capable engines. I am just wondering what the pros/cons are for using the E85 fuel over various other octane fuels.

L Ron Howard

E85 is less efficient than regular 87 octane gasoline. You will burn more gas, because you get less power.
E85 is only sold at certain gas stations. It will probably be hard to find gas stations that have it, and it seems like most online resources aren't up-to-date with what has it.
E85 was also a fad, and it seems like there is a lot less support for it from the auto manufacturers, gas station companies, and aftermarket suppliers.

Jimmy King

The biggest immediate issue with E85 is that in many states you just can't get it, so it's a useless feature. I just checked the official .gov website listing E85 stations and the number of stations within 100 miles of me has increased from a whopping 3 private pumps to 5 (at least 3 of which were public) and none within 25 miles.

I'm not sure what current E85 pricing is, but the decreased efficiency over standard gasoline may not be a big problem, it's just something you need to pay attention to. Last I priced E85 it cost enough less than standard gasoline (which is frequently about 10% ethanol) to balance out the decreased gas mileage you'll get, assuming the gas mileage numbers I pulled off of a different forum were correct.

Ketar

Living in Chicago, availability was never an issue for us with E85. The mileage while using it was really terrible though, to the point that the increased frequency of filling up largely negated any tiny savings on cost. Then we had to take my wife's car in for something, and the head mechanic at the dealership told us that he advises everyone to avoid the E85 and stick to normal gas due to some issues they were seeing that he could only attribute to E85 use.

At that point we just said fuck it and haven't used E85 in years.

tinwhiskers

I have seen some cool stuff with people tuning their WRX STIs and Evos and other turbo charged stuff to run specifically off e-85 to good effect(cause it's way way cheaper than premium gas). But that doesn't really apply to your Ranger.

bowen

Don't they make it run off biodiesel outright instead of e-85? I remembering seeing a guy drive around town and collect grease and use that for biodiesel.

redx

It would take a lot to get a turboed high reving four banger to run on any sort of diesel. Like a lot, as in a whole new engine and transmission.

An e85 conversion for a gas engine is frequently not much more than replacing gaskets, seals and fitting with components the ethanol won't destroy and changing the engine mapping. Maybe a whole new fuel system.

Diesel engine work pretty differently from gas engines, and conversions between the two tend to not be possible.