E85 Conversion

I have a 99 xj, 4.0 I6 and I'm lookin to convert to E85 ethanol fuel. does anybody know of any kits for this? i have done some research, and www.flextek.com has a kit for jeeps but has very little info on the modifications required to do such a thing. If anyone has any info please respond. If all goes well i'll convert my 96 as well

From my understanding you start at the gas tank and move forward, replacing about everything with E85 safe components, I *think* that includes the injectors too..

Yea^^^you r right they r teflon coated or something, you have to replace all the items involved with the fuel. Other than that I have no clue. JOE>

Even if you swap out the tank, lines, seals, injectors, etc. I don't believe that the 4.0 will be happy with E85.

E85-capable engines typically use a very different metallurgy to gasoline-only engines. Essentially, ethanol (much like alcohol) is generally highly-corrosive when used in an engine not designed to burn it.

Given the effort it would require to switch over, you may want to consider an LPG conversion. It gives you the option of dual fuels, and LPG is way more available (at least in this neck of the woods; check here to see what's in your area) than E85; the conversion process is also relatively well-known. http://www.jeepclub.co.uk would probably be a good place to start looking around as there have been a LOT of 4.0 to LPG conversions done in Europe.

Why on earth would you want to switch to a fuel with 40% less energy per gallon that sells for the same price as gas? With the lower compression ratio of the 4.0l engine you're probably looking at half the miles per dollar spent in fuel. If you're really looking to do some sort of conversion to improve your fule economy then consider swapping in a diesel or going LPG.

Oh, and ethanol is not considered corrosive, which is a term usually applied to very basic or acidic. It does cause many rubbers, some plastics, fibreglass, and some metals to breakdown if the concentrations are higher than about 10% in the fuel.

lawsoncl said:

Why on earth would you want to switch to a fuel with 40% less energy per gallon that sells for the same price as gas?

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40% huh?

I call BS

id go with LPG, the wawas in my area are mixing ethonal and my jeep runs crappy with it, hot and rough...

Littlewhitexj said:

40% huh?

I call BS

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E85 = 83,263 btu/gal

1 U.S. Gallon of gasoline contains 114,132 btu

1 U.S. Gallon of no. 2 diesel fuel contains 138,000 btu
not quite 40%
100% ethanol would be about that, but e85 has about %75 the btu output of gasoline.

Thanks for posting the BTU numbers. Let me rephrase what I said earlier as it was slightly backwards. A gallon of gasoline has about 40% more energy than a gallon of E85 ( ie 83 x 1.4 = 116). The notion that you're paying more money for less mileage still stands. I've also even seen a few studies that show E85 engines put out more hydrocarbon based pollution per mile than gasoline, when you account for the components that are not tested by the standard emissions test.

go here
http://www.fullflex.com.br

lists injection harness for 4 and 6 cyl cherokees with info on things to look for
~SM

crunked said:

go here
http://www.fullflex.com.br

lists injection harness for 4 and 6 cyl cherokees with info on things to look for
~SM

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SPAM!

lawsoncl said:

SPAM!

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In the same way that anyone posting a link to a vendor's site is spamming?

Puh-leeze. I doubt there's a huge audience in North America of Portuguese-speaking XJ owners to spam to.