Why Is E-85 Fuel Used Only In Flex-Fuel Vehicles

Lets first start by knowing what E-85 fuel is.E-85 is an Alcohol fuel mixtue that contains up to 85% denaturedfuel ethanol and regular gasoline or some other hydrocarbon by volume. Corn, of course, is the primary source material for ethanol fuel production.

E-85 ethanol is used in engines that are modified from the manufacturer to accept higher concentrations of ethanol by lowering there compression to cylinder ratio so Flex fuel vehicles or FFVs experience no loss in power when operatimg on E-85, however since a gallon of ethanol contains less energy than a gallon of gasoline, typically FFV’s get about 20-30% fewer miles per gallon when using  E-85.

FFVs can operate on one or the other or both types of fuel at the same time by means of a sensor located in the fuel line that tells the engine computer what the mixing fraction of the alternative fuel is so it can electronically adjust the ignition and injector timing accordingly . FFV engines  are designed to have a low compression ratio/ cylinder pressure to be able to burn regular gasoline without the worry of detonation.

If you want to know if you own a flex fuel vehicle then simply pop the cover for the gas cap . There will be a label there to let you know if your vehicle was built with this option. Also special oil may be required for your FFV so check your owners manual and any fuel system replacement parts must be E-85 compliant.

Now the big question. What happens if I use E-85 in my non-FFV?  Well to put it simply, your vehicle will run extremely lean if it runs at all. When you come to a stop it will sound as if the engine is about to stall and will have a rough idle. Besides that ethanol is somewhat more corrosive than gasoline,and it may damage the fuel system of a vehicle not designed for it.

There are Pros and Cons to using E-85 but to simplify it E-85 Fuel is slightly cheaper to use but more is consumed, therefore operator economy is not a benefit. The up side is that E-85 produces less toxic emissions, a cleaner engine, less dependency on foreign oil, and a possitive impact on the economy of domestic agriculture.

I hope I have answered some of the questions you might have on this subject but if you want to learn more about alternative fuels, then send me a comment and I will try to answer it for you. Until next time, this is Jeff Williams saying thanks for stopping by.