Started burning E85

[ericher69]

Timber, I have read that there are big issues with switching between fuels (E85, E10, straight gas) on the recent GM trucks. Something about needing to be driven ~7 miles after getting fuel for the computer to figure out what it is and use the right parameters or things get messed up... very poor mileage and poor performance, etc. I read about it on the GM truck forum.

I am no automotive technician but from what I understand about auto computers;

Either

1. Flash the memory after any part change ie
O2 sensors, injectors, plugs etc

2. Disconnect battery for 10 min and reconnect

This will allow the computer to properly learn the new parameters of the hardware/fuel type

 

[Diamondpilot]

I am no automotive technician but from what I understand about auto computers;

Either

1. Flash the memory after any part change ie
O2 sensors, injectors, plugs etc

2. Disconnect battery for 10 min and reconnect

This will allow the computer to properly learn the new parameters of the hardware/fuel type

Would you want to do this after each refueling if you changed fuel types?

Chris

 

[DarkBlack]

I have a lot of reasons why I don't use gasoline but I have no interest in arguing my political views on the subject. The best way to stick it to the oil industry is to simply not use oil. The biggest oil consumption machines I have are my pickup trucks. The other reason is environmental and simply personal responsibility. I have a 2003 Silverardo with about 58,000 miles on it ann the 2012 is new. I ride a bicycle 23 miles each way to work and have been for several years. I agree that ethanol is not the solution, the solution is the mindset of people that are clearly addicted to oil just as a junkie is addicted to heroin. If you don't change the way you think then you are doomed to paying higher fuel cost as time goes or the planet dies.

The cost of ethanol production using the argument that it takes more oil to produce is not exactly acurate in the long run. It doesn't matter what energy we wind up converting to in the beginning it has to start out with the existing infrastructure. Tractors run on oil, bulk transportation is based on oil, new pipelines have to be built to transport ethanol. The same argument is used for any kind of alternative energy and is true on the short term. It isn't a matter of if it is a matter of when. The oil supply will either reach the point where dwindling supply will make it too expensive or global warming will become to important to ignore.

Global warming is a real event and the polar ice caps are receding much faster the original were predicted. When that happens the planet will die. Without the polar caps the ocean current stops moving and senses to exist. The air stops moving because the jet stream can no longer exist. With no ocean current and stagnant air because their is no convection the planet dies and it simply doesn't matter anymore.

You right ethanol isn't the answer, solar isn't the answer, wind, electricity, nuclear, are not the answer on their own. The answere is in our mindset and all these things are just the pieces we have available for us to save ourselves.

I do have a big problem with the oil industry. I have a problem with all big buisness buying out politicians and installing them into our governments to serve their needs. It happens in every government across the globe. I am in the trucking industry and I know exactly what it cost to transport comdity around the country. Oil dictates the cost of everything we use, it is the source of every bit of inflated prices of every single item we use or consume.

Change starts in the mindset, it will take time to change our infrastructure and it will happen sooner or later. We either do it while it is under our controled or it will happen on its own. The next century will see a time with no oil industry at least not based on fossil fuel. I might not see it but our children and grand children will. Let's hope they are better than us at fixing the mess we made in the last 100 years

"I have no interest in arguing my political views on the subject":laughing::laughing::laughing:

 

[varmint]

Interesting stream of facts, opinions and observations! I should say I agree with Timber's viewpoint of how the world we live in is changing, not for the better. I am friends with several marine biologists who travel the world's oceans doing research, and what they tell me is real discouraging. Here in Maryland, the small marine engine problems with ethanol in gas are well known and documented, and I sure have problems with my occasional-use small engines, like chain saws that I don't completely get all the fuel out of before storing them. When I can get straight gas, no problems.
I seem to remember reading something about the increased carbon that come with ethanol fuel, but I can't cite a reference. I did find the links on taxes, ethanol production, etc. interesting.
IMHO, the decreased milage, combined with fuel needed to grow and process ethanol, makes it an overall looser.

 

[Iowachild]

I Let's hope they are better than us at fixing the mess we made in the last 100 years

You are so right....and that 100 year disease is called PROGRESSIVISM!

 

[thompsjk]

Good read on ethanol.

CBO | Ethanol, Food Prices, and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions

 

[grsthegreat]

Oh no..heres another Ethanol thread. This is a crock of garbage ...it cost more to produce in energy than it gives back, It greatly reduced the MPG in your rig, it needed govt subsidies to break even (see article below...this cut in subsidy is hurting them big time), and it robs grains from livestock and consumers.

While all the good oil stays in the ground in Texas and Oklahoma.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ethanol-industry-aims-to-cut-glut-as-subsidy-ends-2012-02-21

 

[rambler]

I appreciate folks have different opinions and goals on a topic like this.

But - kinda preplexed, grsthegreat on where you are coming from?

Ethanol returns a small but positive energy return of 25% or so more btu's than it cost to make it, including the fert and energy to grow and transport it.

Different vehicles react differently, but several govt studies show most current vehicles run most efficiently on a 20-25% blend of ethanol. The E85 is for hard core use, the E10 is for helping clean up some of the emissions. But for best effect, an E20 blend would be the best bang for the buck efficiency wise. 'Here' E10 is $3.59, E85 is $$2.96, and pure gas is difficult to find, it's close to $4.00. Clearly an ethanol blend in my region is a real money saver. I waish we would get to E15 or E20 soon, people would see better miles per dollar with those blends.

As mentioned, the ethanol subsidy was discontinued, so that no longer is valid.

Ethanol produces about 17 lbs of higher protien feed from every 2.8 gallons of ethanol produced. Only the starch/sugar is removed, leaving a valuable feed source for cattle especially. We still have a surplus of grains in the USA, we farmers are still producing more than we ca consume, some of our exports look more like fire-sales to other countries to get rid of it.

Fine if you don't like ethanol - but the reasons you listed just don't hold up, perhaps you are invested in some of those oil companies that want all the govt money for themselves, no competition? Even they have now started buying the ethanol plants - Valero is big into it - so they see a future with corn ethanol.

Again, ethanol isn't the end all answer, but it helps us get from here to there. Works pretty good for now, see what we can develop down the road.

To those of us farming, the strange idea is using cornstalks or switch gass or tree trimmings to make ethanol - those items are too low in sugar, and the enzymes to convert it effectively still haven't been found. I hope it works out some day, but sure doesn't seem realistic right now today.

--->Paul

 

[crazyal]

While I may have different opinions on Ethanol I think the idea that you would want to try and make you're own gas sounds like an interesting idea. If costs were the only consideration then I doubt it would pay for itself. But the idea that you could set yourself up so that you can pass by pumps sounds great to me. I've often looked into growing a crop like rapeseed to make fuel. But I haven't found a good solution to dealing with the waste.

 

[Timber]

It is not the smartest or the strongest species that survive but the one that can best adapt to change. This is true in buisness as well as in life, it is the diference of who wins and who will fail.