E85

Has or is anyone using E85 ethonol in there XJ's??? any positive or negative effects?? Here in missouri its about 20 cents cheaper then unleaded gas...just seeing if anyone is running it...

As far as i know, you cant run it unless your vehicle was designed to do so...and if im not mistaken, no jeeps are. I had a Mazda B3000 that was the flex-fuel design and was able to run the E85...performance was every bit as good as regular unleaded, but mileage suffered severly! REgular unleaded i was getting about 17/21 city/highway...with the E85 it dropped to about 13/17. If your all about being green and keeping the enviroment clean, then use it...if your considering it for it being 20 cents cheaper and trying to save on fuel, look elsewhere!!

DO NOT use E85 in your Jeep. You will F it up. It is ONLY for use in vehicles designed for "flex fuels". Here's a list of vehicles that can use E85: http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/flexfuelvehicles.php
You can use E10, however, but that's it.

I ran E85 in my '86 Comanche with 4 cyl and Renix TBI. Except for having to replace the O-rings on the injector, it ran great and I averaged 20-25 mpg while loaded (6,000 lbs rolling over the scale) and that includes lots of mountain passes.

Its probably illegal to run any fuel other than unleaded gas.

E85 ain't worth a shit in anything. It's cheaper by the gallon but your mileage will suck to the point it cost more per mile.

I'll repeat my admonition... DO NOT use the E85 in a vehicle not designed for it. I work as a Materials Engineer for DELPHI; we design & manufacture the fuel systems (rails, injectors, etc.) for E10 & E85 vehicles for most GM vehicles. There is much more to an E85 "conversion" than just replacing a few F/I O-rings. There are more non-metallic parts in contact with the fuel than just the F/I O-rings. Many of those elastomers and plastics are NOT designed to handle E85 long term. We use different materials throughout the fuel system when we design for E85... And materials are not the only considerations.

You'd better read the FAQs on this website, starting here, before you make a big mistake: http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/faqs/conversion.php

cmotsvt said:

Its probably illegal to run any fuel other than unleaded gas.

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I can assure you, E85 is perfectly legal.

Jeffro600 said:

I can assure you, E85 is perfectly legal.

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Well, yes, E85 is legal for E85 vehicles, but... there are some legal hurdles if you use E85 in a non-E85 vehicle or get your car converted to use E85. But, I've never heard of anyone getting prosectuted for this. See legal-eeze minutae here: http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/faqs/conversion.php

In defense of carnuck, the '86 Comanche probably didn't have too many components that were susceptible to the high alcohol content of E85.
But yes, today's vehicles have plastics everywhere.
In school: converted a Chevy Malibu and Silverado to E85. I miss those SAE days.

Out of curiosity, where would one even obtain E85? I've never seen it offered at any gas station around here (western PA). It's always just 87, 89, 93, and diesel.

iroc86 said:

Out of curiosity, where would one even obtain E85? I've never seen it offered at any gas station around here (western PA). It's always just 87, 89, 93, and diesel.

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Go here: http://www.e85fuel.com/database/search.php

piperRonnie said:

In defense of carnuck, the '86 Comanche probably didn't have too many components that were susceptible to the high alcohol content of E85.
But yes, today's vehicles have plastics everywhere.
In school: converted a Chevy Malibu and Silverado to E85. I miss those SAE days.

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It's deceiving, because every O-ring, gasket, and seal from the fuel pump to the FPR (P-reg.) to the FPC (diagnostic P-conn.) to the fuel rail inlet tube conn. is potentially more susceptible to degradation. Of course, the standard E10 O-rings/seals will last awhile with E85, but if you use E85 fuel frequently, you're begging for it... The (current) GM engine design life used is commonly 150K miles, and elastomers that are OK for E10 don't make that if you run E85 fuel.

Here's a good paper to read on the subject: http://www.engr.unl.edu/~ethanol/unl2000.pdf
(note the fuel pump failure on page 6...)

Also interesting, in parts of New England, many of the boat refueling stations recently started using E10, and there were numerous (unforeseen) issues with carburator problems (jets clogging) on pre-1994 engines due to deposits (fuel tank/line sediments, oxidation, etc...) being "loosened" by the E10 fuel. And that resulted with a switch from "E0" to only E10! Of course, the boat mechanics were very happy about that...

FYI - fuel system components used in countries that have lower fuel standards (like in South America) also have different design/material considerations, because the fuel there can be more corrosive. Usually that means more stainless steel internals.

Interesting e-mail thread. Keep it coming...