MY truck also has a decreese in MPG when I put in 10% ethanol. I wouldn't want to see what happenens if I put in E-85. My understanding is that the Ethanon is rich in oxygen and as a result you have to burn more of it to get the same horse power.

 

now i'm really confused. that makes no sense. if i was a betting man, i'd bet tha east coast gas is up to 10% blend. regardless, now there are multiple people experiencing this, so now i'm really freakin confused cuz i run that blend every single day, that's all we have hear. i don't know, maybe the pcm just gets used to one thing and just can't adjust to the less dense gas. but that still doesn't make complete sense to me.

 

I have not run E85 in my ram but I have an 08, But it says that it can take regualr gas or E85.

 

I could be off on this but I do not think they have the 10% blend here on the east coast. At least in the location I am living. Every pump I saw in the midwest clearly labled 89 octane as ethanol blend. The price was also higher than 91 octane premium. Here 89 is cheaper than premium and not labeled as blend.

Since you are confused I propose this. Run350 milesof blend 50/50 city/freeway and then runthe same distanceof 87 or 91 non blend. Determine # of gallons used each fill up and hand calculate your mpg for each run. See if younotice a difference like we do. Do not worry about running 87 or 91 in you engine. Your engine will automatically pull timing to adjust for the octane diffference.

That is what I did when I moved from Washington stateto Maryland2 monthsago. All the way through the rockies to the midwest I pulled 19-20 mpg doing 75-80 mph average. Once I hit the midwest it took me 3 tanks of blend before I got far enough across the midwest to get back to "normal" gas. My average mpg at the same speeds was 14 mpg. After I went back to "normal" gas my milage went back up to 19-20 for the remainder of the trip.

 

If you have the 4.7L you can run E-85. If you have the Hemi or 3.7 you cannot. On page 367 of the 2008 ram owners manual there is a big *** caution that reads:

"CAUTION!
DO NOT use gasolines containing Methanol or E85 Ethanol. Use of these blends may result in starting and drivability problems and may damage critical fuel system components."

It further goes on to say: "Problems that result from using methanol/gasoline or E85 Ethanol blends are not the responsibilty of the manufacturer.

 

I just looked at my owenrs manual and do not have the warning in my book. This is a little confusing.

this is my gas cap




[IMG]local://upfiles/83304/32A08F6FB6934C05BAB4337BE00017BC.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/83304/ADCDE49FE20C417EB047ABD6259D3E07.jpg[/IMG]

 

Yes, we have a 10% blend here on the east cost, but it is 10% ethanol, not E85 ethanol, which literelly means that it is 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Right above that warning that Bones1274 quoted, it says:

Gasoline/Oxygenate Blends
Some fuel suppliers blend unleaded gasoline with oxygenates
such as 10% ethanol, MTBE, and ETBE. Oxygenates
are required in some areas of the country during the
winter months to reduce carbon monoxide emissions.
Fuels blended with these oxygenates may be used in
your vehicle.

So these blends are fine for our vehicles, but using E85 or gasoline with methanol is not. Of course if your truck says "E85" on it (like JRam08), you can use E85.

 

I am in southern Maryland and have not seen the blend here yet thank god....

 

The argument or debate over E85 or standard Unleaded gasoline is NOT about mileage. The purpose of E85 and other alternative fuels are to have renewable energy sources that burn cleaner.... Why do you think E85 is usually 80 cents cheaper per gallon--that price is suppose to account for the mileage lost by using this alternative fuel. A few minutes of googling can locate more detail. The next 5 to 10 years there are going to be many car manufactures that are going to try to put out different vehicles that use different types of energy sources. Which will be the answer? No one knows right now but, we are in an interesting part of history none the less.

This thread is a few months old but, came across it when I was researching E85 myself and is not suppose to cause animosity.

thanks

 

The closest station that I have seen E85 at from me in CT was in South Carolina. But even trucks designed to run on E85 have a dramatic reduction in MPG. So how environmentally friendly is it when you have to burn more to get where you are going? And it isn't like they just put straight corn into your truck either, there is an energy expendature when they extract the ethanol from the corn. And then you are paying for it when you are out buying groceries and what not, because all these old wheat farmers now plant corn instead because they recieve funding from the government to grow corn for the purpose of making ethanol. Now there is a shortage of wheat and flour for the producation of breads, pizzas and all that jazz. Buy a pizza lately, gone up quite a bit. Of course, because our govenment is *** backwards, we could be using left over sugar cane that is sitting on the docks in South American and some countries we really don't like to trade with, just rotting away. Sugar cane contains the potential for more ethanol then corn, since it is derived in part from the sugars (ethanol being an alcohol and alcohol is created by fermented sugar, so you would figure you would use sugar cane to manufacture ethanol). Using this sugar cane would utilize a resource, still renewable, that is being routinely discarded and allow the farmers to get back to what they were used to doing. Oh, and last rant, corn takes more water and pesticides (which are partialy a petrolium derivative) to grow then wheat. Sorry for the spelling... tired.