E15 or E85 Fuel in Vortec Engines

[boy&hisdogs]

Wow. Hard to believe you got E85 that long ago. Here in SE MN I didn't see E85 pop up until around 2010. Thank god you were able to dilute the E85 and your truck ran fine afterwards. That would've scared the s*** out of me. Most people have told me that E85 won't work and your experience reinforces that. E15 should work though and my truck ran fine on 1/2 tank of E15 with no decrease in gas mileage.

Glad that you have non ethanol gas in your area. In my area we have 87,88,89,91,and 93 octane depending on the gas station. None of which are ethanol free IIRC. I know ethanol free gas is popular for boats, mowers, and special performance engines so yeah I would use it in my mower too if I could get it.

A gas station down my street has ethanol free 93. It's expensive, about $5.30 a gallon but only buying a couple gallons at a time for a small engine wouldn't be so bad.

It has a longer shelf life right? I could leave it in a can or seldom-used equipment longer, but how much longer?

 

[Boots97]

A gas station down my street has ethanol free 93. It's expensive, about $5.30 a gallon but only buying a couple gallons at a time for a small engine wouldn't be so bad.

It has a longer shelf life right? I could leave it in a can or seldom-used equipment longer, but how much longer?

Holy Cow! $5.30/gal is closer to NZ prices! I agree, wouldn't be bad in a small gas engine.

Yes, it should have a longer shelf life. Ethanol is Hydroscopic, meaning it will attract water from the air so less ethanol=less water attraction.

 

[454cid]

Glad that you have non ethanol gas in your area. In my area we have 87,88,89,91,and 93 octane depending on the gas station. None of which are ethanol free IIRC. I know ethanol free gas is popular for boats, mowers, and special performance engines so yeah I would use it in my mower too if I could get it.

It's around but not very common, here. You have to really want to run it, to run it.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Back when I had the old 350 and stock injection with only thebupgrade spider, I ran the tank almost empty, put E85 in the tank, reflashed the PCM to a file I had edited the stoichiometric ratio and timing table on at the pump and started driving. I drove for a couple of years on E85.

 

[Macs Garage]

I had a 97 GMC years ago and ran E85 in it. After few tanks of it the truck died. Took it the the GM dealership and they had to replace the injectors. They couldn't say if the E85 caused, but said not to use it again.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I had a 97 GMC years ago and ran E85 in it. After few tanks of it the truck died. Took it the the GM dealership and they had to replace the injectors. They couldn't say if the E85 caused, but said not to use it again.

The older fuel systems are not made to handle much ethanol. There's been a LOT of discussion about this on the GM squarebody forum, apparently the ethanol is deadly to Quadrajet and other Rochester carbs( their rubber parts anyway).
There's some chains that do offer ethanol free gas; in Texas, Buc-ees does, and some of the Murphy Gas locations near or at Walmarts. Murphy Gas is a division of Walmart.

 

[HotWheelsBurban]

I had a friend who had a 2011? HHR, and it was set up for flex fuel. Her mechanic told her that if you ran E85, you needed to keep running it. Going back and forth was not good for the fuel system....

 

[Boots97]

Back when I had the old 350 and stock injection with only thebupgrade spider, I ran the tank almost empty, put E85 in the tank, reflashed the PCM to a file I had edited the stoichiometric ratio and timing table on at the pump and started driving. I drove for a couple of years on E85.

This seems like the only way to get E85 to work in these trucks. Might do that someday, but not now.

 

[Boots97]

I had a 97 GMC years ago and ran E85 in it. After few tanks of it the truck died. Took it the the GM dealership and they had to replace the injectors. They couldn't say if the E85 caused, but said not to use it again.

Yeah that's what others have told me. I'm surprised that yours ran on a few tanks since one guy here ran only one tank and it ran horribly in his truck.

 

[Boots97]

The older fuel systems are not made to handle much ethanol. There's been a LOT of discussion about this on the GM squarebody forum, apparently the ethanol is deadly to Quadrajet and other Rochester carbs( their rubber parts anyway).
There's some chains that do offer ethanol free gas; in Texas, Buc-ees does, and some of the Murphy Gas locations near or at Walmarts. Murphy Gas is a division of Walmart.

That's what I'd expect. REALLY old stuff like squarebodies are carb (except 87-91 IIRC) and carb engines HATE ethanol. I remember reading a post on a classic car forum and a guy's first gen mustang ran like s*** when he tried E85 in his stock 289 with a carb. He did say though that regular (10% ethanol) works fine though. That seems to be what most people agree on in terms of ethanol percentage.

Buc-ees is a common gas station in the south. I've never heard of Murphy's before. Up here in MN we have Holiday and KwikTrip/KwikStar. They're everywhere but don't often carry ethanol free gas where I live. It may vary by location.