Hello agin all In my reasent visit to this web site I anounced that I bout a 2005 GMC ex cab truck 1/2 ton 5.3L Flex Fuel with a cast block. Soo far I like the ruck a lot my question is What do you have to do to the engine to make it run on Ethonal and where do you get Ethonal? I was also wondering if a truck that runs on Ethonal gets better mileage and performance and is Ethonal expensive? Thanks for all your time hope to here back from you all soon Thanks.

 

If you can find it....just pump it in....it will know its there.

 

Yep, the flex fuel trucks have a fuel sensor that lets the computer know the percentage of ethanol in the tank.

Here are the pump locations in Michigan, not many.

http://www.e85fuel.com/database/locations.php?state=MI

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't ethanol burn with less energy, meaning worse gas mileage. That's off set by the fact that it is renewable, but the fact that it cuts down your range would be a downfall.

 

Ethanol has less potential energy than gasoline but, you burn more of it for a proper A/F ratio so you actually get more power of course at the exspense of your range. From what I've been reading the range differences isn't TOO bad.

http://www.e85fuel.com/faqs/range.htm

www.e85fuel.com

That is a good site with a nice FAQ that answers all kinds of questions.

 

Most gas available in the US already has "up to 10% ethanol" in it. Just pay attention at the pump and read the lables. In Canada there is a few stations that have had it for a while, Sunoco is one of them. Ethanol is cleaner burning but requires more fuel to get the same power. Ethanol is VERY corrosive and will eat most seals and some metals in a surprising amount of time. Manufacturers do get a tax break for building these flex fuel vehicles but I'm not convinced this is going to be the fuel of the future?
Jim

 

this is why most of the manufactured vehicles now are equipped with e85 safe fuel systems....

 

fuel economy is decreased alot when using e85. hwy is like 14 and in town is like 11.

 

is e85 cheaper than gas?

 

yes. here in nebraska it is around $1.25, but if you go to fueleconomy.gov it shows that it actually costs more a year to drive e85 then regular gas do to the milage decrease.