Repercussions for running E85?

[Seabee1973]

Tons of misinformation here. E85 gets a bad rap as a "dirty" or gunky" fuel and it is anything but that. Ethanol is a great cleaner of your fuel system. This is where it CAN become and issue for cars with some miles on them. Any solids that have built up in the fuel tank from gasoline will be dissolved by the ethanol in E85. That can cause clogged fuel filters and injectors, if you have s new car without buildup this isn't any issue. Running e85 will keep your fuel system clean. Others will say that e85 will eat your fuel hoses and seals, but every vehicle built for the last decade and a half runs ethanol compatible fuel system components. It is the law. As far as how this applies to the 5.0 in the S550, there is enough fuel pump and injector to run e85 with the proper tune, as long as we are talking basic bolt on mods.

Ethanol mixed fuels are not that great... you will get crappy mileage along with the tendency of it mixing with water... which it does attract... good side of it will remove any water from your tank... methanol is not all that great either as it had higher corrosive properties that ethanol... Ethanol does have tendencies to dry up seals if the seals were not designed for it. Ethanol fuels got introduced back in 2006 shortly after I got back from Iraq.... that alone I suspect, destroyed my fuel pump in my 2001 audi TT.... NEVER had problems with fuel until then which I gradually lost fuel pressure from the main pump... The fuel may be cheaper but you definitely do not want to run it in any of the mustang.... e85 compatible engines also run a different oil filter as well... along with using it you will suffer a substantial power loss as well as the much less mpg... if I were you, I would definitely steer clear of that unless you have an engine setup specifically for that... it's not worth the time, money or extended cost of using e85 after any mods that have been done.. that alone is pretty expensive.... your trade off of using the cheaper fuel will in the long run cost just as much if not more than running regular fuel... if you decide to go that route... more power to you... it's going to void that warranty for sure

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[05yellowgt]

Ethanol mixed fuels are not that great... you will get crappy mileage along with the tendency of it mixing with water... which it does attract... good side of it will remove any water from your tank... methanol is not all that great either as it had higher corrosive properties that ethanol... Ethanol does have tendencies to dry up seals if the seals were not designed for it. Ethanol fuels got introduced back in 2006 shortly after I got back from Iraq.... that alone I suspect, destroyed my fuel pump in my 2001 audi TT.... NEVER had problems with fuel until then which I gradually lost fuel pressure from the main pump... The fuel may be cheaper but you definitely do not want to run it in any of the mustang.... e85 compatible engines also run a different oil filter as well... along with using it you will suffer a substantial power loss as well as the much less mpg... if I were you, I would definitely steer clear of that unless you have an engine setup specifically for that... it's not worth the time, money or extended cost of using e85 after any mods that have been done.. that alone is pretty expensive.... your trade off of using the cheaper fuel will in the long run cost just as much if not more than running regular fuel... if you decide to go that route... more power to you... it's going to void that warranty for sure

Funny I picked UP, power in every vehicle I have run E85 in. My 05 mustang when it was a bolt on car picked up 10hp and 15ftlb and ran on a 100% at I fuel system except for 39lb injectors. I ran like this for about 30,000 miles never once switching back to e10 gas. No black gunk buildup or any other ill effects. The tank looked brand new inside when I replaced the fuel system while I was building the motor and putting an F1 procharger on and I ran as much as 27psi of boost with E85. In boosted applications E85 will make more power than C16 leaded race fuel with a MUCH wider and safer tuning window. The Audi TT of that generation had notoriously bad fuel systems regardless of the fuel used. What likely happened is that you had varnishes built up in the tank from bad tanks of gasoline and general buildup and once the ethanol fuel was introduced it began to clean those deposits and that can and does lead to some of the issues you mentioned. It's not the fault of the ethanol fuel that it does what it does. I'll stress again that federal law requires all new cars sold after 1988 to be compatible with oxygenated aka ethanol fuels. Of a fuel system can handle e10 then it can also handle e85, from a materials standpoint.

 

[Seabee1973]

Funny I picked UP, power in every vehicle I have run E85 in. My 05 mustang when it was a bolt on car picked up 10hp and 15ftlb and ran on a 100% at I fuel system except for 39lb injectors. I ran like this for about 30,000 miles never once switching back to e10 gas. No black gunk buildup or any other ill effects. The tank looked brand new inside when I replaced the fuel system while I was building the motor and putting an F1 procharger on and I ran as much as 27psi of boost with E85. In boosted applications E85 will make more power than C16 leaded race fuel with a MUCH wider and safer tuning window. The Audi TT of that generation had notoriously bad fuel systems regardless of the fuel used. What likely happened is that you had varnishes built up in the tank from bad tanks of gasoline and general buildup and once the ethanol fuel was introduced it began to clean those deposits and that can and does lead to some of the issues you mentioned. It's not the fault of the ethanol fuel that it does what it does. I'll stress again that federal law requires all new cars sold after 1988 to be compatible with oxygenated aka ethanol fuels. Of a fuel system can handle e10 then it can also handle e85, from a materials standpoint.

That's possible.... I've been running exxon in it for the life of it till about that time when I went to race track... blah... after switching the fuel pump myself.. NEVER had the problem though as usual the fuel gauge is what I hear had issues... changing out the pump also replaces the fuel sending unit and still had issues...lol... that wasn't the only issues of the first gen tt either... wire a few more as miles racked up...other than that was pretty dependable but glad I have a less maint. Vehicle and for the most part, mustang handles way better side from the Quattro system... but Ford even says using e85 there is a power and mpg loss on the flex fuel vehicles... perhaps a tune can eliminate that but I hardly find that possible in a na engine vs supercharged or turbo

 

[FusionGT]

I ran straight E-85 in my old evo IX for a year straight and never had any issues with gunking or whatever. The HP increase with it is pretty substantial with the proper tune, but the fuel mileage absolutely sucks. There are a few threads on the evo forums where guys are using it for several years and the fuel system still looks like new.
http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52835
I'm sure when the aftermarket gets settled in for the ecoboosts we'll be seeing people switch to e-85. Personally I'll probably never use it in my GT.

 

[Reds197]

Myself and about 5 friends all run E-85 in 2011+ 5.0 mustangs with ZERO issues. You need 47lbs injectors and a tune for gains of 10-15 HP.

If you go FI I picked up almost 40HP and the same boost level.

 

[burntire]

It is an excellent fuel for for high compression and boosted applications. It won't eat your fuel tank, line, motor, filter, oil, valves or anything else. You don't need a special oil filter for E85. I picked up .2 and 2.5mph in the 1/4 mile switching from $11 a gallon VP109 to $2.50 a gallon E85. The stoich rating of E85 is less than gas so you need more fuel per part of air for the correct burn. You are looking at 30% more fuel at WOT and 15% cruising around. So you may need more fuel pump and injector along with a new tune.

Here is a good site for E85 info.
http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Page?template=Myths

 

[dubster99]

I've seen a lot of guys getting 20-30rwhp from e85 and tune on basic bolt on 5.0's. The hard part for me is finding it around where I live...there's only one station that I can realistically get to. But I guess that's why these tuners can hold multiple tunes, right?

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