Flex-fuel poll

...since 1986 for me.

We've got it here in Los Angeles area but I've never used the stuff. It's been my understanding that you lose power and gas mileage by using it and the price difference is nil.

I could be wrong about all of that though.

B.

BEAR5oh said:

We've got it here in Los Angeles area but I've never used the stuff. It's been my understanding that you lose power and gas mileage by using it and the price difference is nil.

I could be wrong about all of that though.

B.

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Your understanding is incorrect. You don't lose power but you do lose some of the energy so in turn your fuel economy is down. Most people say it goes down 20% I am seeing more like 30% on my end. E85 really shines if you are running a FI engine. I would highly advise anyone to build themselves a E85 tune and run it, I would say you can get up to 40 plus RWTQ and 35 plus RWHP out of the tune alone vs 87.

My 2012 Escape is flex fuel. It has never been filled with E85- bought it brand new. A couple stations around offer it. It's cheaper but the miles/tank is less so your $/mile is really about the same or close enough to not worry about.

Frankly it's so heavily subsidized that we the tax payers really get screwed on it. Maybe if enough people stop using it, it'll go away. We produce lots of shale oil in this country- let's use that.

ExplorerTom said:

My 2012 Escape is flex fuel. It has never been filled with E85- bought it brand new. A couple stations around offer it. It's cheaper but the miles/tank is less so your $/mile is really about the same or close enough to not worry about.

Frankly it's so heavily subsidized that we the tax payers really get screwed on it. Maybe if enough people stop using it, it'll go away. We produce lots of shale oil in this country- let's use that.

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They are not going to stop subsidizing the production of ethanol too many bigger players involved. Might as well get some of your tax money back after all.

As to the economy you really have to compare the results to premium. You are getting an octane rating that is actually above 93 so if you see performance gains from premium (not sure if the escape supports premium) it wouldn't be hard to be ahead. For example our QX80 uses premium so even with the hit on fuel economy (about 25%) we are still way ahead using it. Now a bi fuel CNG option would be wonderful!

Nope. The Escape runs on 87 (or 85 here in the higher elevations). Now since it can run on the higher octane fuel, it might be able to run retarded timing (I think that's the way it needs to go.....) and be slightly more "performance".

But it's my wife's car. I've changed the wheels on it before and she didn't notice.

ExplorerTom said:

Nope. The Escape runs on 87 (or 85 here in the higher elevations). Now since it can run on the higher octane fuel, it might be able to run retarded timing (I think that's the way it needs to go.....) and be slightly more "performance".

But it's my wife's car. I've changed the wheels on it before and she didn't notice.

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Advance - more power (till knock)
retard - pulls timing to prevent knock.

Increasing octane, to a point, will allow for advance and more power. If it runs on E85 too it should adapt to premium. A tune will net much more but it's a start.

montecarlo31 said:

Your understanding is incorrect. You don't lose power but you do lose some of the energy so in turn your fuel economy is down. Most people say it goes down 20% I am seeing more like 30% on my end. E85 really shines if you are running a FI engine. I would highly advise anyone to build themselves a E85 tune and run it, I would say you can get up to 40 plus RWTQ and 35 plus RWHP out of the tune alone vs 87.

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What do you mean by building an E85 tune and run it?

I have no doubt you have the knowledge but I'd love to see what the bottom line is on running E-85. I'm now driving for Uber and Lyft with my Expy and would love to find a way to extend my gas mileage and/or cut my gas cost.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

B.