being that I am down to one vehicle again, my Dakota, and the area I now call home has E85 gas stations (where I come from did not) that sell it for like $1 cheaper per gallon then regular gasoline. I am wondering what would be required to make my 5.2 92 Dakota "flex fuel" compatible, where I could run E85 instead of gasoline when I want to. Or can I already? I searched but found nothing useful.

 

A computer tune.

E85 has an octane rating of something like 105. Your computer won't be able to tune the ignition timing to ignite it properly. Even a mopar performance computer is tuned to run only 93 octane.

 

Are there any options? I was planning to get a Mopar PCM eventually anyway. Can it be set up to provide E85 ability? I would still want to be able to run gas when I had to though

 

I'm really not sure if thats all there is to it or not... I've never done much research, but that is one big thing that will need to be done. I'm not sure if injectors and spark plugs need to be changed or not, so I'm not going to say that they will.

But if you set up your vehicle like any flex fuel vehicle is set up, you will be able to run both.

 

The money you spend on the conversion and the horrific drop in gas mileage you will experience will more than offset any savings at the pump. Skip it.

 

Yeah, +1 to what Applehugger said! There is actually less energy per unit of e85 than an equal unit of gasoline, which is where the drop in milage comes from... it takes more e85 to produce the same energy as gas. Also, it burns cooler, so you'll notice a drop in horsepower.

 

I ran about 30-35% alcohol in my OBD-I Jeep and it ran fine. I wouldn't go to much more than that unless you can tune for it.

 

Tuned properly you will not lose HP from E85 you will gain some. I have read about several JDM cars running more aggressive tunes on E85 and making a fair amount more power than what's possible on 94 octane (I'll take a peek tomorrow and see if i can find a reference for this I know I have it in an old magazine somewhere). Now getting a dakota tuned like that is beyond my knowledge.

I remember a few months back I saw an episode of xtreme 4x4 I believe they were working on a scout international they ran fuel injection that could run E85 or normal gas or even a mix I would try and find that episode it had a bunch of info on a wiring harness and ecu.

 

I would look at the mpg rating in comparison to newer engines, it would probably be better to work off of an engine that already has a good mpg rating.

 

IMHO I wouldnt even waste my $ and time. E85 pumps will be gone eventually anyways