Has anyone ever mixed E85 with 93?

[Nedermeyer]

Like the title asked, has anyone mixed the two, even just a couple of gallons of E85 with say 12 0r 14 gallons of 93?
Results? Bad idea? Good idea?

I searched the forum for E85 and didn't really find an answer specific to the question.

Thanks in advance for you response.

[Manic Mechanic]

I ran E85 for a year in my '01 Silverado and now that the price has dropped I'm about to go back. Gas around Houston is already about 15% Ethanol (E15) anyways. They mix fine. Octane and power will go up, efficiency will go down. Operating temps will fall a bit. It will lean out your fuel mixture, be sure your WOT Air/Fuel programming will handle this. If you use enough of it your part throttle A/F will cause a check engine light. Make sure you have warm O2's and will be driving about 15 minutes after adding the E85 so your ratios will adjust and you won't have a hard start condition if you let it cool and then try to restart it without recalibrating.

Vernon

[Nedermeyer]

Thanks Vernon.

[08-4door]

i have an 08 chevy 5.3 not flexfuel but can i still run e85.

[Urban Legend]

I do it all the time. On my flex fuel Jeep Cherokee that is.

[rooster99ss]

i'm sure there's a threshold on non flex fuel vehicles for mixing it. i'm somewhat curious to what the max is. i know you can mix methanol with gasoline in your car too, but you can only use so much of it

[Manic Mechanic]

I just realized that I should have mentioned that I have installed larger fuel injectors in my truck. This allows me to run strait E85 without the potential leaning issues. On a stock engine you should only go so far. Biggest problem would be leaning out at WOT.

Vernon

[Gipraw]

what kind of mpg difference do you see between the E85 and the 93?

[Manic Mechanic]

I experienced a 15% drop in MPG, with an equal increase in torque across the entire rev range. If you were to rebuild with high compression you'd gain some efficiency and a lot of power but MPG will never better gasoline. Right now for my 8.1 liter Silverado it seems the break even point is about .55 a gallon less. Here in Texas Krogers recently dropped it to .50 less from .30 for all of last year. So for the benefits I'll buy it again. Up in the parts of the country where they produce Ethanol it can be a 1.00 less than regular, those guys can definately save money. Even though MPG is down it still costs less per mile to run it at that point.

Vernon

[Gipraw]

cool .. thanks

[mjcotroneo]

you do have to make sur you mix it right. cant be more than around 40% of e85. it will throw codes. i see that all the time. i mix it in my camaro and i love it. put it like this get somewhere in between half and a quarter of a tank of 93 then put urself some e85. i will say this it does burn quicker seeing as how its a higher octane based fuel.

[bigfatls6]

So basicly you can run 40% or less e85 with out any problems? Only draw back is a small decrease in mileage? Does the e85 have any effect on the injectors? does the car need to be tuned to run 40% or less mixed e85?

[rooster99ss]

Originally Posted by mjcotroneo

you do have to make sur you mix it right. cant be more than around 40% of e85. it will throw codes. i see that all the time. i mix it in my camaro and i love it. put it like this get somewhere in between half and a quarter of a tank of 93 then put urself some e85. i will say this it does burn quicker seeing as how its a higher octane based fuel.

this is interesting, i might try that. is it a very noticeable HP gain?

[86T-Top TA]

I have on 07 GMC with a 5.3 non flex, if I go more than a half tank of E85 it will turn on the check engine light. I dont know if it is that same where you live but in South Dakota where I live it is only actually 85% 2 months out of the year. strongest in june and july and about 60% in jan and feb. and tapers down between those months because 85% ethanol would not start very good and -20