Ry' N Jen
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Ethanol Now in Chevron Fuel!
- Thread starter LibertyTC
- Start date
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I think all stations including shell will have Ethanol 10% (mandated by 2010 Ottawa) if they do not already.
I tried to call a shell station today and no answer...
kb0nly
Full Access Member
Yep, i generally run 89 octane with 10% ethanol, basically what i have been using for years and years in all my vehicles. More than 10% isn't bad, you just have a few things to think about here....
Gas Tank... In our case its plastic, so no problem with rust there.
Fuel Pump... The oil companies in bed with the auto manufacturers like to claim the pump has to be different, but fluid is fluid and the pump doesn't care either way.
Fuel Lines and Filter... Most production vehicles are using rubber or stainless lines these days and they don't present any problems as they are made to withstand the use of ethanol anyway. Some argue you need to run a tank of regular gas now and then, but with E85 you are running 15% gas to maintain the flexibility of the rubber lines, thats why they designed E85 that way, if you had 100% ethanol you would have to build the production vehicles like top fuel dragsters with everything made to withstand its use. The other concern here is if you switch to E85 your going to have to think about changing your fuel filter after a couple tanks, because any sediment in the tank, pump, lines, you name it, is going to get washed out and into the filter.
Injectors... You don't need larger injectors, even GM admits to this, they vary the pulse length to add more fuel. The computer basically monitors the fuel coming to the fuel rail for what percentage of ethanol it is, and then adjusts the injector pulse so the engine gets the amount of fuel thats needed. Aftermarket conversion kits plug in between the vehicles harness and the injectors and the good ones add another o2 sensor or plug inline on the sensor as well, this way it monitors the exhaust and adjusts the pulse length to compensate for the higher ethanol content. FlekTek and FFI are two of the companies that i know of. There is a FlekTek dealer in South Dakota and they install these conversion kits for about $450.
There was a study done on a 2001 Trail Blazer i think it was, they ran for 100k plus miles and then did a complete tear down of the fuel system and engine. It was really impressive results, no appreciable wear, actually most stuff was in cleaner or better condition then compared to others at the same mileage. The fuel pump module looked like new, showed less wear, you name it. This was NOT a factory flex fuel vehicle, just a standard gas one off the lot.
I have often considered putting one of these converters on the KJ so i could run flex blends or E85 if i felt like it, maybe one tank of E85 a month to keep things cleaner. As for your question about alcohol and burning temp.... Ethanol is an alcohol, but it burns cooler than gas. I know this seems counterintuitive...
Ethanol does not have the BTU rating that gasoline has. It takes about 20% more Ethanol to equal the energy of gasoline. The octane rating for Ethanol is about 105. Which means that it burns for a longer period of time, and delivers more of it's energy to the engine. The reason that an engine "seems" to get hotter burning such high octane fuel is that the burn time is longer with such fuels as alcohol as opposed to gasoline, so the engine tends to retain more heat than with a lower octane fuel.
I have experimented with E85 and various other blends, my lawnmower was sputtering and spitting last year and i didn't have any seafoam but i had a gallon of E85 that i use for mixing, dumped about a half gallon of E85 with roughly a half gallon of regular pump gas in the tank and after about five minutes of driving it around it cleared right up. Plastic fuel tank so i just left it in. A few days later i replaced the fuel filter which was full of gum and varnish from the tank and fuel line, dropped the bowl off the carb and checked that, it was shiny as new.
So i'm convinced if used correctly ethanol is a good way to release us from our oil dependancy. Is it perfect?? No... But neither is gas.
FYI: I found info on a FlexTek KJ, he has nearly 100k on it now, i think its an 02, but looking at the pictures of it i do know for sure its an 02-04 because of the trim style. He reports no problems and runs E85 about 70% of the time, only switching to gas when he can't find a station selling it. Around here i could drive on E85 100% of the time as everywhere i go has a pump for it.
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twack
Full Access Member
hey KB if you dont want to pay the 400 look around the tuner word. if you wanted to adjust for the fuel yourself then you could use a piggyback fuel controller. you could get one for under 200 easy but it wouldnt be automatic like the flextek. Does anyone know what the libertys injector duty is at when your at wide open throttle, just wondering how much room we really have to add fuel
kbOnly, Thank You for that very informative write up. I was hesitant in wanting to use Ethanol fuels in the KJ before your reply, now I think that it may run better and cleaner with 10 %. I would hate to have to access the fuel filter, with skids on, hopefully no need for that.
kb0nly
Full Access Member
Hmm... That would be a possibility also, i imagine a guy could run E85 and then adjust the mix with a fuel/air gauge. But then your also going to have to stay on E85, well unless it has a quick way to select like two settings, then it could like flipping a switch to go between the two.
I think i saw something like that at a car show last summer, little Honda all hopped up and the dude had a fuel select switch on the dash and some aftermarket monitor in his return fuel line to display the ethanol content. It was really neat.
kb0nly
Full Access Member
No problem your welcome!
So you guys up North are just changing to 10% ethanol added?? We have had that down here as long as i can remember, since i was a kid driving without a license.. Hey it was on the farm anyway... lol
Back in the day we used to call it Gasahol because of the ethanol added, now its just regular.
Luke
Interloper
We have had it in our gas for a while ... in Ontario anyways .. who knows what those mountain boys are puttin' in their tanks from the still in the back yard
JeepJeepster
Full Access Member
Yeah, weve had ethanol in our fuel for awhile. Been giving us tons of trouble in our boat before we figured out what was going on. Had 3 engines that stopped running at the same time.. Gotta pump the tanks dry come spring. Evidently ethanol attracts water. It also separates from the gas.
kb0nly
Full Access Member
Stabil in the tanks is your best friend... I store all my stuff year round with Stabil and it makes all the difference. Put away my Snowblower last spring and never got around to running it at all during the summer to check on it, first snowfall it fired right up with the same tank of gas treated with Stabil. Same with my Lawnmower every fall... And my Generator, and even my Chainsaw. Does wonders...
ya cant you put it in your vehicle too?
kb0nly
Full Access Member
Yep you can... I know people running E85 in their flex fuel vehicles and they say if your not driving enough miles per week to keep burning off a tank full that you should put in Stabil or Heet to keep the moisture in check.
Marlon_JB2
Kombat Edition Jeep
I've run a few tanks of E85 in my non E85 WK.
Haven't run into any issues... been doing it for a while now.
Haven't run into any issues... been doing it for a while now.
kb0nly
Full Access Member
Helps keep it clean too in my opinion... Its like running Seafoam through it now and then.
