have a 1997 2500 360 cid...

can I run E85 in the truck or will it ruin the motor or fuel lines or injectors, are there conversions that need to be done?
its pretty cheap here in spokane, $2.99 vs. the $3.54 for regular...

 

Nope. You cannot use it. I do not believe that your truck is a dual fuel vehicle so don't try it. Your current engine/fuel system cannot handle the E85 fuel.

 

thank you, Ive seen a lot of issues with the stuff, as to a conversion kit will it work in a pontiac montana?

 

Why would you want to run it? E85 has less energy than regular gas.
You will get less power and worse MPG

Ya It's cheaper but that won't last...

 

I am not sure about using it in a Montana. Check inside the fuel door. If the cap is yellow, or there is a sticker inside that states "Dual Fuel Vehicle" or "E-85 allowed" then you could use it. We did some comparisons with the wife's 2002 Dodge Caravan that is designed to use normal gasoline and E-85. While the E-85 is generaly 75% of the cost of regular unleaded, her MPG's reduced by about the same amount (24%). She also experienced greatly reduced power due to the lower Octane of the fuel so she actually made the decision not to use it. She didn't feel safe driving in Minneapolis traffic with such a "Slow turtle" using her words. There is actually no benefit to using it based upon our personal experience with her Caravan.

 

if you want to use alternative fuels try findin an old mercedes diesel and either use svo (straight vegie oil) or you can make biosiesel ive seen it cost from .46 to .70 to make per gallon

 

Any diesel engine will run on that stuff. After all, the Diesel engine was originally intended to run on peanut oil.

As far as E-85 -- as was posted, it produces less energy and you will spend more on fuel and time at the pumps. If you want fuel prices to go down, start lobbying your local Congressmen and Senators to end this stupid self-imposed fuel crisis and open up the US for drilling. We have *PLENTY* of oil on our own land to sustain our needs.

 

If I didn't know for a fact that our entire govenment could never do anything efficiently and correctly, I would say that they are purposely having us use the remainder of the worlds oil until they run short and will then allow drilling here in the US so we could control the world's oil market.

But that is just a pipe dream cause everybody knows our government could never do anything that smart.

[sm=happybounce.gif]

 

Where are you guys getting your information from? E85 is actually a higher octane rating than unleaded withsomewhere in the area of 100! There are MANY street legal drag cars here that have switched over to running this fuel all the timecuz of its better burn rate and higher octane levels! It has been dyno proven you can make more power running E85 over some race fuels! All you need is something to adjust the fuel. Yes you need a little bit more fuel to keep stoich so there is no gains in MPG but the octane levels will help keep down knock and ping.

Do a quick google search for "E85 octane rating" and the first few hits all state that its around 100-105 some say even up to 110!

But to the original poster yes you can run E85 with your stock lines and fuel tank! You would just need something to adjust the amount of fuel being injected into the motor and/or maybe slightly bigger injectors(about 30% more fuel is needed)! There are at least 5 cars I know of (early 90's) running it on stock lines and fuel tanks for over 30k miles now! They have not gained any MPG nor lost much to write home about!

 

My information about running e-85 came directly out of my 2002 Dodge Caravan Dual Fuel Vehicle Owners Manual and our experience with running it. The van is a dog that can't get out of it's own way whenusing E-85 and the MPG is 24% less than regular unleaded. Those are facts. Since the van was designed by the builders to use E-85 it should not need "something to adjust the fuel".

If you want to use it in your vehicle, have at it. Fuel systems in todays cars are either set up for it or not. E-85 fuels are 85% ethanol. I'll give you that the octane rating is higher than regluar unleaded, but it takes more ethanol to reach theair/fuel ration that regular unleaded will do.

The problem with burning E-85 in a vehicle not designed for it is that non-dual fuel vehicles require the lubricating properties in the unleaded fuels for maintaining seal qualities throughout the fuel system. E-85 has NONE of those properties and actually washes the entire fuel system dry. This wil lcause a breakdown of the fuel system parts that need the lubrication they would normally obtain from regular unleaded fuels.

As my original response stated, do not run E-85 in a vehicle not designed for E-85 fuel.