Barnstormer

UPDATE:

I just finished my first tank of ethanol-blend. If you remember from the beginning, I ran about E30 for this go-around.
I just refilled yesterday. Here's the info:
193 miles on 13 gals of E30.
Thats just under 15mpg.
Or, its 193 miles on 8.66 gals of GASOLINE, or22.4mpg (GAS)

I was averaging about 18-19 mpg on normal unlead before this experiment.

Cost:
at 18mpg (normal unleaded, at $3/gal) 1 mile costs about 17 cents.
at 15mpg (E30, which costs $2.67/gal) 1 mile costs 17.8 cents.

As far as I can tell, driveability is unchanged. I noticed no change in power, starting, etc...
I drove about half in town, half on the highway.

One thing that affected this test is that this tank was burned during some pretty bad weather here, in 4wd almost the whole time. I think that my mileage would probably have been even better, given "normal" driving conditions.

My conclusion, at this point, is that, at E30 anyway, that I'm gonna keep running a mix. I figure if nothing else changed (which is how it seems) I have reduced my reliance on GASOLINE without any drawbacks.

Seems pretty good to me.

More will follow, as I learn more.

B

mayfield

keep an eye on those fuel lines...E85 will eat them...if you wanna do this the right way get a stand alone engine management system..bigger injectors..supporting fuel pump..and a tune..i'd doubt that you can pull of a safe tune with stock injectors maxing out at peak efficiency....you save at the pump with E85 but you lose with mpg...

E85 also has a wierd wood glue smell ...no, i don't sniff my exhaust!

DupermanDave

I know this is an old thread, but I have a few questions relating to e85 and the 22re. I was doing the head a year ago and was examining the fuel lines on the truck. I didn't see any rubber lines except for a return line to a charcoal canister and one on the fuel fail. Is this it? If this is all that needs to be replaced, then what's wrong with running e85? If the engine runs it and it still gets worse gas mileage, I don't care that much.

Also, does anyone know where to buy larger injectors for the 22re? Or is there at least some way to trick the computer into leaving the stock injectors open a little longer to inject more ethanol?

On a side note, e85 was all the rage a year or two ago because gas hit an all-time high. I think now that gas has gone done, that doesn't mean people should stop being environmentally conscious.

yoterr

its also gives us less dependency on the towel heads

Mrbikerman

Going to do this on my s/c 4runner with 318 injectors, 255walbro, and map-ecu2. I live in southern Colorado and e85 is a full dollar cheaper than the premium I normally have to buy. I have a bunch of friends running it in their cars, hondas and Subarus mostly. It's all about having the right tune. Since e85 burns cooler than gas I figure it'll be good for the supercharged motor. Besides, if I need to go on a road trip and run normal gas again I can change the fuel maps with a laptop.

DupermanDave

Did you do any other modifications to your fuel lines to run the e85? Or are the ECU and injectors the only things changed?

MudHippy

You can buy e85 conversion kits now.

It's all plug-and-play, no changing the ECU or injectors.