Friday, May 16, 2008

Exhaust from E85

Anyone else running E85 in their vehicle notice an increase in the amount of exhaust your car produces? I was was watching the voluminous vapor roll out from behind my car as I was backing out of my parking spot this morning... interesting, to say the least.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Increasing E85 Percentage

I fueled up the Grand Prix GT with six gallons of regular and eight gallons of E85 today, and everything is running fantastic. Does anyone else notice the engine runs smoother using this mix? Is it the higher octane rating - maybe the 3800 runs better on performance fuels?

Or it's the calm before the storm: my engine is going to die, and my fiancée is going to be none-too-happy, hah.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Looking for Damage

My soon-to-be father-in-law gave me the business about running 50/50 E85/Regular in my 2004 Grand Prix GT. He said until I've seen the damage caused by pre-ignition, I shouldn't risk it in my vehicle.

That said, I respect the heck out of him - he used to be a huge gearhead back in the day before he became a family man. Used to tweak out engines, snowmobiles, whatever he could to make it faster, stronger, like the Million Dollar Man, only machines. He knows way more about engines than I could acquire in the rest of my lifespan... so, needless to say, I'm a little more wary about running E85 in my car now.

Have you or do you know someone who has seen engine damage caused by running E85 in a non-FFV vehicle? Not 'might-have-been-E85' damage, but real damage that is directly related to running E85? Pre-ignition can be a really bad thing for an engine, but does this happen with E85?

I've given plenty of room to dispute the naysayers by starting a list of cars that have run E85 without problems - but now I want to give the naysayers space to show me the damage caused by running E85 in non-FFVs that aren't tuned for it.

Show me what you got!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

E85 Price: Getting Gouged

In response to my post regarding E85 price fixing, one anonymous person shed more light on the price to produce and transfer E85, in order to better determine if gas stations are price gouging on E85.

Here is the new equation:
(Current Ethanol Price - $0.51 Blender Credit) X 0.85
+ (Current Unleaded Price X 0.15)
+ 0.184 Federal Tax
+ 0.20 Michigan Tax
+ 0.03 Estimated Freight Charge per Gallon
= Cost to Gas Station

Let's run these numbers with the current price of ethanol (05/06/2008):
[($2.45 - $0.51) X 0.85] + ($3.65 X 0.15) + $0.184 + $0.20 + $0.03 = $2.612 per gallon E85

Anything above $2.612 per gallon for E85 is profit for a Michigan gas station. Do you think Meijer and other gas stations are gouging for E85?

50/50 E85 Gas Mileage

Controversy abounds on the internet when one discusses the differences in gas mileage when running E85 versus regular unleaded 87. In an effort to cut through such controversies, I test them out on my car.

I've been filling up with 50/50 E85/Regular, and on my second tank of the mixed fuel, I got about 21 miles per gallon. My average for the 2004 Grand Prix GT on regular unleaded was 24 miles per gallon. (3 mpg difference /24 mpg original) x 100% = 12.5% lower mileage using the 50/50 E85/Regular blend.

This means a full tank of 50/50 E85/Regular will get me 294 miles, while a full tank (14 gallons)of unleaded gas will get me around 336 miles, a difference of 42 miles. Is that 42 miles worth handing my money over to US farmers and businesses rather than OPEC? Undoubtedly, yes.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Proprietary Sucks

Having read that switching to E85 has a tendency to clog your fuel filter after the first 600 or so miles, I decided to be smart and replace my filter before problems arose. Imagine my surprise when I found out that Advance Auto Parts doesn't sell a fuel filter for a 2004 Grand Prix GT at any of their stores.

Nor does anyone else.

The kind woman at Advance Auto informed me that GM decided to put the fuel filter inside (or on top of) the gas tank on all new models - so if the fuel filter has to be replaced, you have to bring it into the dealership and pay them exorbitant amounts of money to do so.

Real lame. Fortunately, someone at the E85 forums told me the fuel filter clogging usually occurs on older cars that have been running cheap unleaded for decades. We'll see...

Friday, May 2, 2008

E85 Price Fixing

Accorting to QuoteEthanol.com (http://www.quoteethanol.com/), the Chicago Board of Trade price for a gallon of straight ethanol today is $1.965. To make E85, roughly one gallon of gasoline ($3.75 in my area) is mixed with seven gallons of ethanol. For some fuzzy math:

(1 gallon gasoline X $3.75 per gallon) + (7 gallons ethanol X $1.965 per gallon) = $17.505

This makes roughly eight gallons of E85, so then: ($17.505 / 8 gallons) = $2.188 per gallon

The current price of E85 at the local Meijer Station is $3.45 per gallon. Twenty cents in Michigan taxes are applied to each gallon, and nineteen cents of federal gas taxes are applied as well, so the gas station is getting roughly $3.06 per gallon of E85.

That is a $0.87 difference - does it really cost that much per gallon to manufacture and transport? Michigan is a midwest state, right? We do grow lots of corn here - and heck, we're right next to Indiana for crying out loud.

The question at hand is this: are gas station owners pegging the price of E85 to gasoline, making it just low enough to seem cheaper so that people will buy it? People aren't dumb - anyone who runs E85 knows that you don't get the same gas mileage, rather you end up with 10-30% less. You get the, "Wow honey, I have to fill up all the time running that E85 crap!"

Also, what does this do to the market for E85? If government subsidizes ethanol production and projects to make it cheaper, then the gas station owners are lining their pockets with the difference? In essence, it ends up being taxpayers lining the pockets of gas station owners.

If they are fixing the price just below unleaded, all they are doing is stifling demand for E85, essentially ruining a good opportunity for the market to make a change. If E85 isn't priced consistently 15-30% below regular gas, consumers know that running gas saves them more money in the long run (comes down to the almighty dollar), and they won't switch to E85.

I hope this isn't the case, and I like to give people the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell if E85 is around to stay...

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Filled Up Again

I ran into the fabulous "Holy sh*t you're running out of gas" warning today in the Grand Prix - so I swung into the Meijer Station (only one in the area selling E85) and put in six gallons of E85 and six gallons of Regular, resulting in a 50/50 mix.

Going to run through this next tank and watch the results. I also reset the trip meter, so when I hit the "ding-ding-ding empty!" again, I'll have a general idea of what my miles per gallon are running the 50/50 E85/Regular mix.

At the Meijer Station where I get my E85, I noticed that it trails Regular by only $0.30, which is an eight percent difference from the Regular. Do you think that gas station owners (Meijer in this case) fix the price close to gas, and perhaps are earning more profit from E85?

The List: Non-FFVs running E85

Are you running E85 in your unmodified non-flex fuel vehicle? Let us know what percentage E85 you are able to achieve without getting any Check Engine Lights, Errors, expensive repairs, or dead cars!

Last Update: May 3, 2008

** Note** If you choose to run E85 in your vehicle, you do so at your own risk. We are not responsible for any damage that may occur to your vehicle or any repair costs associated with your vehicle. This guide is compiled from others' experiences, and should not be construed as a guarantee that you can run E85 in your vehicle without problems.

100% E85
2006 Kia Sorento
1998 Toyota Rav 4

50:50 - E85:Regular
2004 Grand Prix GT (3.8L V6)
2001 Grand Prix (3.8L V6)

E85 and My Car

As I mentioned in my first post, I drive a 2004 Grand Prix GT, with the 3800 Series III engine. This is definitely a non-FFV (not "flexfuel"), but I would like to run E85 anyway, given both high gasoline prices, and I much prefer to give my money support local farmers than OPEC.

So it begins - two days ago, I put five gallons of regular 87 octane in my tank, and then pumped in five gallons of E85 on top of that, which ends up being about 50:50 E85:Regular in my tank (not counting the little bit of regular left in the tank).

Why 50/50? Because in my online reading, there were quite a few posts of people who run 50/50 without any trouble, no check engine light, etc - many more than the two or three that said they run E85 all of the time without trouble. From what I read, most non-FFVs can go up to 50/50 without throwing Check Engine Lights due to the engine running lean.

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) actually took apart a non-FFV that was run for 100,000 miles using almost all E85 - and it looked great. No cracked/rotten fuel lines, the engine looked great - anyway, you can judge it for yourself: http://www.ethanol.org/video/

As for my car, so far with 50/50 E85/Regular, I have had absolutely no trouble. It fires up fine every time, and runs like a top. I haven't gotten any Check Engine Lights, or any other errors. I want to say the car runs a little "peppier", but that's not really scientific, so take it with a grain of salt.

I'm going to pick up a new fuel filter and air filter, so I can replace those soon. One universal word of caution: running E85 in a gas tank that has run nothing but cheap gas will kick up all of the crud in the tank, which can start to clog your fuel filter after about 600 miles. I've read this a lot, and the general consensus is to replace the filter after running E85 for 600ish miles.

Going forward, I'm going to run a couple more tanks of 50:50 E85:Regular, replace the fuel and air filter, and then start checking gas mileage. Once I have a baseline for gas mileage, I'll begin increasing the amount of E85 until a) my car dies - hope not, b) I get an error light, or c) I make it to 100% E85 and everything is peachy keen.

Can non-FFV run E85?

Everyone has their own motivation for running (or trying to run E85) in their vehicles: less harmful emissions, green gas, sticking it to OPEC (my personal favorite), and while we recognize that E85 might not be the greatest answer to our energy problems, it is a step in the right direction.

Personally, I would rather give our local farmers (I'm a Michigander) the money, rather than handing it out to other countries, increasing our national debt. The problem: my car is not a flex fuel vehicle. I drive a 2004 Grand Prix GT, with the 3800 (3.8L) Series III V6. The owners manual says to use unleaded fuel - no mention of ethanol or E85.

So, like any other internet using person, I Google'd the issue. What I found is suprising - there are people across the spectrum, some saying "Naw, I run E85 in my non-FFV no problem! It's been 20k miles so far!" to others saying, "You idiot, you're killing your engine! Don't you understand cars?"

In my many hours of reading, this is what I understand: E85 requires about 30% more fuel injected in order to reach the proper ratio of air:fuel for combustion. Most non-FFVs do not have the proper programming, or even if the computer can handle it, large enough injectors to handle the increased fuel injection.

So the fuel injection maxes out, which is still not enough fuel to meet the proper fuel:air ratio, meaning the engine runs lean. Running lean can lead to pre-ignition (firing before ready), which can cause engine damage. On the flip side, ethanol is high octane, so it is resistant to pre-ignition ("knocking").

Most of the people who try to run high percentages of E85 end up throwing error codes, meaning the Check Engine Light (CEL) comes on, and the code is usually informing you that the engine is running lean.

Which leads to me, and my next post...