Like I said, you guys do what you want, I have tried it, and found that it works as well as 110 racing fuel which by the way makes no more power and is probably as bad for the car as a 25% e-85 / 75% premium mix. Oh, and I am by far not the only one, it is gaining in popularity among a lot of other turbo car groups. I have read through many other forums and researched it by reading a lot of long haired engineering articles available to anyone online who knows how to google about the pros and cons. Search it out. You will see a lot of "it might hurt this or that", but no actual "it will hurt this on your car" knowing that ethanol reacts with certian things is about all you will get. You will also see that high ethanol levels require substantially larger jetting. (I am only running about 18-20% ethanol when I do) What I determined is that YES, it MIGHT be bad for the fuel system if certian things are not designed for its use. Those things are mostly the rubber items to be concerned with. But knowing what I do about modern vehicles, they are using better materials than they did 20 years ago and I believe them to be more tolerant of such things like gas additives and what not. So seeing as how I am a mechanic and might have to work on my car if it breaks, I am willing to risk it on occasion. (I am fortunate enough to have a spare vehicle) Plus, I do not run it all the time. So far, I have had no ill side effects and I will post it if I do, but only if, I am fairly certain it really was a failure due to using an ethanol mix and not due to other abuses. Keep in mind, I run a very rich stage 2 and I do not run more than 16 pounds of boost. I might be able to get away with it better than someone running a big turbo and a fuel controller set to run on the ragged edge of lean. My car is a relatively mild tune.
No body here has to do this, nobody told me it was ok either, it's my car and I'm willing to experiment with it and I'm very happy to report, no problems so far.
Do what you want. Run leaded race fuel everyday if thats what floats your boat. Use octane boosters full of manganese. That's your business.

 

umm i live up near chicago in glendale heights. I just moved up here for school. and back down toward STL. my car never did this.

 

I guess all the engineers I work with, and all the engineers I work with at GM, Ford, and DC are wrong then... huh... too bad... I guess they should be reading more "long haired engineering" articles and browsing through forums full of peoples opinions and not test data...

E85 FTL...

 

Those were engineering reports that I read. The forums were not car forums they were forums for engineers. The information is very easy to get. There is a plethora of sites if you google it. It is a hot topic right now and the discussions I read were current ones. Do your own reading and make your own decisions, or not. Or you can just be sheep, I dont care. Do I have e-85 in my tank now? No. Does my car run ok? Yes, just fine. So whatever.....

 

Sheep... by following industry standards and information based on test data I've experienced first hand... sheep... gotcha

I suppose all the work we've done to outfit our dyno test cells to run E85 here has been in vain as well... I have done reading, i have listened and talked with development engineers at GM, Ford, and Chrysler... I have done testing on E85 vehicles (dyno and actual). I have dealt with dyno companies (AVL, etc) to establish what is needed to run E85 through fuel balances for dyno engines...

E85 eliminates (or reduces) knock characteristics (hence why HOM likes it). Mixing with "regular" fuel I am sure also reduces knock (again, makes HOM happy). However, there are other none disagreeable events occurring to the fuel system. there is a reason why you don't just throw E85 in your standard 1999 Full size Ford truck... if that were the case, everyone would be on E85 right now with no engineering needed...

 

but the self-proclaimed enginering experts on the internet said it was ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [sm=dontgetit.gif]

 

Nobody, not me, or anybody said it was just "ok." There are many potential issues. You WILL have certian driveability issues to start with. Most notebly the hard cold start. This is worse with higher concentrations. That is how this whole topic got started. Remember?
I did NOT say you should run right out and start running straight e-85 in your non flex vehicle, yet you continue to act as if I did. This is getting really old.
I chimed in on this topic because the issue was hard starting. I happen to know from my experience and what I have read, that this is probably the most common immediate complaint with e-85. That is what prompted me to talk about it. I was wondering if this person was using e-85.
However, many, many people are using e-85 and blending it with regular gas on thier non flex vehicles and most are reporting encouraging results. It seems as though vehicles built from the 80's on up, are able to handle increased levels of alcohol without troubles. Sure, some people have troubles like FPR's going bad, fuel pumps failing or hoses leaking and they often point to the alcohol they have been using as the likely suspect. Almost all that I have read were older vehicles to start with and even the people who admitted to having the problem could not prove it was the ethanol that did it. Fuel pumps fail, regular gas or not. If you are stupid enough to try to run your non flex vehicle on 100% e-85, the first thing that probably will happen is it will not run. Why? because a proper e-85 system needs to flow about 150% more fuel than an all gas system and your engine will be very very lean. The difference in spark timing is only 2-3 degrees. So that is not as much of an issue. You will also read many blanket statements by engineers who dont really want to get pinned down that say things like "it may affect rubber and plastic components" "it may lead to increased corrosion in the fuel system". Well duh.
While I'm sure all of this is true. It "may". I am willing to take the risk of running a weak blend of about 20% ethanol from time to time. You may not want to take that risk. However, I will say, I am not the only one, there are many people who are running vehicles 10 years or older than mine who are running higher alcohol levels DAILY and doing just fine. This is a nationwide experiment.
So why do I risk it? Well, for one, it allows me to hold HOM without detenation and therefore makes more power than 93 alone and it burns clean without lead and other poisons. Plus since I am running a rich stg 2, the slight leaning out that may occur at a blend of 20% is probably actually a good thing. Plus, plus, it is cheap and way more accessible than race gas around here. Lastley, if it breaks, I can fix it. (but I doubt it will)

 

At the moment, I still believe the blend is not a good idea, but if you are happy with it... rock on!

 

could the plugs need changed??? keep it simple when looking for causes.

on the other hand a 20-25% e85 blend does boost theoctane and on fuel injected cars the computer can adjust for timing and fuel requirements (limited range), i know of someone running a blend in a non supercharged 4.6 cobra with no ill effects to date. Press, you may want to check mixing with 87 octane, you are adding points anyway, why start with 93.