E85 daily driving

[DailyDrvn6bolt]

I'm thinking about going e85 but i've read that it gives you worse mpg than regular pump gas. I'm going to daily drive this car but i want my car street fast. Is it worth paying less for e85 and losing mpg than spending about $0.50 more per gallon on 91 pump gas? I want to know if any of you are running e85 and daily driving your car and how is that working out for you? Thanks.

 

[hazmat6135]

Alot of Evo's run E85 in DDs and have no problems. If your worried about mpg's don't worry about power. You have to trade one for the other. But from what I've read and heard E85 is a few (like3-5) miles less for the same price of 93.

 

[WES_393]

I ran E85 for about 4-5 months in my Talon, but I'm switching back to gasoline for my new/bigger turbo. It's not "daily" driven, but driven as often as possible. Here's what I can tell you from my experience:

- Mileage really isn't too bad if you keep your foot off the gas. I could get over 20mpg cruising or 2mpg having fun. So your driving habits also play a big part in gas mileage.

- Price is pretty high, and only getting higher. The super low price used to make up for the decrease in mileage. Now that the prices are over $3/gal, the only benefit is higher octane fuel.

- Cold starts suck! I don't even bother trying to start mine if it's under 40* outside. Those low of temps might be less common in Vegas, but it does get cold there.

- Tuning is much easier. With pump I was constantly trying to squeeze in every ounce of boost and timing I could while keeping knock to a minimum. With E85, it's pretty rare to see knock as a direct result of boost or timing. That pretty much lets you tune to the full ability of your setup.

- The cost of setting up an E85 ready fuel system isn't too bad. You can keep the stock lines and filter, although I recommend changing the filter often. You'll need much larger injectors, a tuning system (you already have Link) and a wideband if you don't have one already.

It's also important to note that E85 doesn't produce power on it's own, it allows you to make more power by increasing boost and timing. Guys can typically get about 40-50hp more out of their setup by switching to E85. If you have a 14b then 50hp may seem like a lot. However, a 16g could also bring you that 50hp. So coming from someone who went to E85 and back, I wouldn't run it unless your trying to squeeze every pony out of your setup. If you want to make much more power and still run pump gas, then just get a bigger turbo.

 

[Riceburning101]

E85 here 45 ish cents less a gallon compared to 93 so after extra consumption 93 vs E85 at the pump usually costs roughly the same. Yes you wont be spending as much each fill up but you will be at the pump more. I personally dont run E85 yet but several friends are running it evo, gsx, 240 and i plan on switching to it. For the cold start statement yes its harder to start when running E. Ethanol doesnt atomize like gasoline does when its cold so its harder to get to ignite but usually with tuning and dumping a larger amount of fuel on start up and fine adjusting this can be overcome. So like WES said it will be allow you to get the most out of your setup. it really just depends on your hp goals and how much you want to push your current turbo. Ex: 16g at 30 psi to make 400hp or a HX35 at 25 psi making 400 hp. Its a flip of the coin and what your intentions are. I live in the midwest and a lot of people have corn fed cars and i plan on running so when i get the itch to crank the boost i can.

 

[ExtremeTurboSystems]

I am daily driving on E85. Here its actually the same cost and my mileage goes from 20 down to 16. The power and knock protection is completely worth it to me. I drive a minimum 30 miles a day too. If you like the added power all the time then go E85. The only thing I notice is that it doesn't like to cold start.

 

[DailyDrvn6bolt]

- Tuning is much easier. With pump I was constantly trying to squeeze in every ounce of boost and timing I could while keeping knock to a minimum. With E85, it's pretty rare to see knock as a direct result of boost or timing. That pretty much lets you tune to the full ability of your setup.

- The cost of setting up an E85 ready fuel system isn't too bad. You can keep the stock lines and filter, although I recommend changing the filter often. You'll need much larger injectors, a tuning system (you already have Link) and a wideband if you don't have one already.

It's also important to note that E85 doesn't produce power on it's own, it allows you to make more power by increasing boost and timing. Guys can typically get about 40-50hp more out of their setup by switching to E85. If you have a 14b then 50hp may seem like a lot. However, a 16g could also bring you that 50hp. So coming from someone who went to E85 and back, I wouldn't run it unless your trying to squeeze every pony out of your setup. If you want to make much more power and still run pump gas, then just get a bigger turbo.

Yeah I have and ecm link v3 and i just changed my fuel filter about a month ago. I also have a 255 wally, all i need now is bigger injectors. Im also waiting on my new turbo i just ordered which is the 71hta from fp. Another reason why i want to switch to e85 is because of the limited high octane gas available. Over here in vegas theres mostly 91, ive never seen 93 gas over here. Thats why im leaning towards the e85 so i can run more power but i wanna see if its worth the mpg loss. Thanks for your input btw!

I am daily driving on E85. Here its actually the same cost and my mileage goes from 20 down to 16. The power and knock protection is completely worth it to me. I drive a minimum 30 miles a day too. If you like the added power all the time then go E85. The only thing I notice is that it doesn't like to cold start.

Thats not bad at all. I would love the knock protection forsure as a DD ofcourse. How many cranks does it usually take to startup your car when its cold?

 

[TWOpointFORliter]

The availability of e85 in the surrounding areas would play a major role in my decision. Also remember if you ever plan to take your car in a road trip you are going to have to plan out a route where e85 is available and call each station ahead of time to confirm they still have it. I don't DD my Dsm but I do drive it as much as possible in the nice months and I will never go back to 93 pump. If the price of e85 ever skyrockets I will just switch to the 110 the station near me has.

 

[ExtremeTurboSystems]

Thats not bad at all. I would love the knock protection forsure as a DD ofcourse. How many cranks does it usually take to startup your car when its cold?

Well I usually have to crank it for a few seconds stop. crank it a little while longer and it will fire. This very well could be my tune. I never adjusted my cold start up settings in link for E85. Though most of the E85 cars I have seen still don't cold start very well.

 

[MY1GDSM]

I ran E85 for about 4-5 months in my Talon, but I'm switching back to gasoline for my new/bigger turbo. It's not "daily" driven, but driven as often as possible. Here's what I can tell you from my experience:

- Mileage really isn't too bad if you keep your foot off the gas. I could get over 20mpg cruising or 2mpg having fun. So your driving habits also play a big part in gas mileage.

- Price is pretty high, and only getting higher. The super low price used to make up for the decrease in mileage. Now that the prices are over $3/gal, the only benefit is higher octane fuel.

- Cold starts suck! I don't even bother trying to start mine if it's under 40* outside. Those low of temps might be less common in Vegas, but it does get cold there.

I won't get into too much outside of what you say above as I agree with all that for the most part.

Mileage is one of those things that is really up to the driver I can get 29mpg in my 1g on Gas and have got as high as 24mph on E85... Is the average driver or person going to get this on a regualr bases? Na not gonna happen we don't all drive Turbo cars for now reason

As far as price that is another thing to many factors to even put it into the equation at all either you are wanting to get the highest octane fuel and cost isn't a factor or you probably are not headed to a E85 pump as it is.

Up untill very recently in my area it has always cost less to run it Vs Gas pretty much in my experience as long as there was a $0.90 to about $1.10 difference I about always came out ahead getting E85 vs gas with Actual $ spend per mileage.

Even with the price difference getting smaller with the subsidiaries gone now that help off set the cost At The Pump I don't know one person that I've ever switched over to E85 that would go back to gas by choice. If they did it was because it wasn't available. And you would be surprised the lengths SOME people will go to keep running good fuel

Anyway, At it's highest and even with E85 having a lower BTU and requiring more the cost is going to be less then any comparable race gas and worth the extra end cost if it works out that way for anyone depending on priceing etc. So if it is in your area it's a no brainier.

I could give you a few pointers on Cold start there WES. But Anyone that has a pretty good Idea of what is going on there can get it to fire off not a problem with a little work. Nobody should have an issue above those temps or they are doing something wrong.

Even when we had a big cold spell out here a few years ago an it was 10* out forever. I could get my 1g to fire off after 2 turns of the key at it's worse if it didn't fire of on the first. I give you one small pointer, Priming the pump can be a big help.

Anyway for anyone wanting to get the most out of there car I'd highly recommend making the switch. Just take note that your normal tuning methods don't necessarily apply. But people have it pretty easy these days Lots of info out there.

EDIT: I came back to my Pc a bit late to post.

The availability of e85 in the surrounding areas would play a major role in my decision. Also remember if you ever plan to take your car in a road trip you are going to have to plan out a route where e85 is available and call each station ahead of time to confirm they still have it. I don't DD my Dsm but I do drive it as much as possible in the nice months and I will never go back to 93 pump. If the price of e85 ever skyrockets I will just switch to the 110 the station near me has.

Two words to solve that problem...

Dual Maps

Even then A lot of the county has it WAY more available then we do up this way and at the worse grab a extra 5gal can topped off is the most someone needs for a serious road trim to Stay on it depending where you are going. Some of the country there are stations Everywhere like MN or the midwest for example.
Bottom line it Most of this stuff is going to be really subjective and depend of where you are at.

Well I usually have to crank it for a few seconds stop. crank it a little while longer and it will fire. This very well could be my tune. I never adjusted my cold start up settings in link for E85. Though most of the E85 cars I have seen still don't cold start very well.

Play with the tune keep the pump on when keying on an I bet at least when above freazing, it will fire off at the worse on one longer Crank of the key

 

[TWOpointFORliter]

I actually just fired my car up yesterday in 30* weather after it had been sitting for over a month. It fired right up with no excess cranking with e85 and my FIAV blocked off as well. My friends evo running e85 doesn't even like to start when it is warm out. Every car and tune is different

 

[MY1GDSM]

Ewww... . Month old E85? I couldn't keep it in the tank that long

Though on a serious note, Ethanol is very hygroscopic. If storing a car for an extended period say 2-3 months.
I wouldn't leave it in and would use it before hand or if anything throw it in the Lawn mower. not that it will necessarily "damage" things like it gets a Bs bad rap for. But it will draw in any moister around over an extended time depending on the conditions around where it is stored and how it is.