Posted by Don in Missouri [24.217.215.52] on Thursday, January 15, 2015 at 10:18:52 :
In Reply to: Re: I wouldn't be afraid to use it posted by gmharris [71.105.34.147] on Monday, January 12, 2015 at 13:41:47 :
E15 being 50% more ethanol than E10 is a meaningless way to quantify the difference. What your engine sees is that ethanol will lean out the fuel/air ratio. E10 leans out the mixture by about 6%. E15 lean out the mixture by about 9%. So this is a 3% difference, not 50% difference.
The tradeoff with this lean fuel is higher octane, which improves performance.
To go beyond E15, requires a computer to gauge the fuel blend in the vehicle and adjust the fuel injection mixture accordingly. Otherwise, your engine will run too lean. This computer cost about $10 to vehicle manufacturers if they chose to install it and market a flex fuel vehicle. Then they have to spend another $90 to upgrade the rubber hoses, tanks, vapor recovery systems, etc. on the entire vehicle to withstand ethanol.
You can build a carburetor to run on E85, but then you should always use a high blend of ethanol, or it will run too rich. Do you guys remember the fuel mixture adjustment on a Model A Ford. A Model A is a flex fuel vehicle.