E85 mix (1 Viewer)

[Esther]

I remember reading a few of you folks used E85 to get thru e-check. What mix did you use for E85 and Gasoline to pass emissions? And what harm will E85 do to my stock fj60?
BTW, I searched "E85" and "passing emissions" and found nothing for the first, and alot for the second.

 

[lobo loco]

Since I'm in CA, I don't have access to E85.....but on my last smog check after failing twice I added three bottles of HEET ( the yellow version) to the tank of my 78 FJ40 and it passed with room to spare. HEET is methanol - E85 is 85% ethanol...both are combustble alcohols, so I suspect a couple of gallons will do just fine for you. As for damage, I doubt anything would happen from 'occasional' use, such as removing water from the tank or a trip to the smog check station. I wouldn't use it a a regular fuel, as it could cause damage over time to a vehicle not designed for it.

 

[S&S1stCruzer]

I remember reading a few of you folks used E85 to get thru e-check. What mix did you use for E85 and Gasoline to pass emissions? And what harm will E85 do to my stock fj60?
BTW, I searched "E85" and "passing emissions" and found nothing for the first, and alot for the second.

Hey it's Esther it's S&S (Blue 84), "we" used successfully several times about 5 gallons of e85 to 1/3 of regular gas, took the test and then refueled with regular gas and drove the FJ all week to run that tank down just incase. No problems yet, and that was 8 months ago.

 

[IndianDoc]

In the 70;s durring the energy crunch I was lucky and in an engineering school that converted all gas engines air cooled and water cooled to alchol as the only fuel. So E-100 after several months the engines were torn down and checked for damage. The results were amasing there was little or no damage to the engines from alcohol. Actually they were in better shape that the gas control engines. Seals and fuel pumps however were erroded. Seeing this I don't thind that ocasional use will hurt the engine, other parts however may fail with constant use.

 

[calphi27]

What would be needed to allow a 60 or 62 to run e85 all the time? It is about $1 or more cheaper here. Also what would be a ballpark cost on the mods?

 

[Esther]

Hey S&S, How's it going? I did the e85 thing and passed so well I think I'm good for the next ten years! This is what I did: I ran the tank down to "E", put in a gallon and a half of e85 and got tested. passed, then put six gallons of regular in the tank, ran that out and put more gas in like it was normal. Everything is fine.
What surprised me was I think I had less than one gallon of gas in my tank when I added the e85 so I think my mix was 2 to 1, maybe higher. I did not notice a bit of performance change in the short time this stuff was in my tank. I read the above posts and am curious about converting to e85. My question is, putting saving the planet aside, is it worth the cost of conversion if it can be done? I like the idea of going green with this stuff, but as everything it comes down to the initial outlay of cash.
A while ago, someone mentioned that they converted their 60's to propane. If anyone has a good link or info on this, I'd like to take a look.
J

 

[IndianDoc]

Don't really know for E-85 but alcohol (100%) is fairly easy. Jets in carb or injectors need to be enlarged 30% and timing advanced. But again the seals and pumps are not happy on alcohol all the time. Might need to change to the newer pumps and gaskets. But if converted the engine will run cleaner and from what I observed in the test we ran the engines should last forever. Many times when changing the oil in the test vehciles we would confuse the old oil with the new. No Carbon at all clean oil at ever change. I'm sure a web search would give additional information if you are serious. Good Luck

 

[calphi27]

I have been wanting to try e85. My old roommate puts in 1/2 a tank of e85 and the rest regular 85 octane. It saves him about $10 per fill up.

 

[gnomesliv]

I remember reading a few of you folks used E85 to get thru e-check. What mix did you use for E85 and Gasoline to pass emissions? And what harm will E85 do to my stock fj60?
BTW, I searched "E85" and "passing emissions" and found nothing for the first, and alot for the second.

Dont do it. I tried this and it caused my truck to fail for HC's at idle. Made the truck run ruf and way too lean.The easiest trick is using the air pump to blow air through your air rail.

 

[5280Hawk]

I run e85 in my Tacoma - see the link bleow in my sig. You can get the same converter as i have for any Fuel injected Vehicle. so no dice on a 2f, but a 3FE you're good.

Here's some info from the Fuel flex gold site regarding e85 use in a regular gas car....

I have an older car with high mileage. It runs well, but what things should I check to make sure they are OK?
Rubber – If your vehicle is old enough, it may have rubber components in the fuel system. We have found that if your vehicle was manufactured after 1990, it is probably free of rubber in the fuel system. If you are converting an older vehicle, you will likely need to replace the fuel line and the fuel pump with modern components. If your vehicle is newer than 1990 and it looks like it has a rubber fuel line, it is most likely made from neoprene. Neoprene looks like rubber but it is not reactive to ethanol and is fine.

I've heard that E85 will harm my engine. Is this true?
A definitive answer is, “it depends”. The 1973 oil embargo caused fuel shortages and prices rose dramatically. This spurred America to find both alternatives to gasoline and ways to extend the fuel supply. One thing that was noticed was that an engine could burn a mixture of alcohol and gasoline and the resulting product was called gasohol. There were a few problems that were encountered. First, the alcohol that was typically used was wood alcohol or methanol. Methanol is much more corrosive to many common materials than is ethanol and unfortunately most of the vehicles that were on the road in the 1970s were not designed to have alcohol in the fuel.
As a result, gasohol had a short duration on the market but congress was determined to reduce America's dependence upon foreign oil. Tax incentives for the production of ethanol were established and there were several executive orders to use gasohol in the vehicles that could safely utilize it. In 1982, another fuel shortage occurred and it was obvious that alcohol blended fuels were coming. The manufacturers changed the engineering of the vehicles to be more chemically compatible with the presence of alcohol in the fuel.
Ethanol is a much better alcohol to use for fuel than methanol. For most materials, it is less corrosive, it has considerably more energy, and is also far less toxic. For several years, it has been common to blend ethanol into the gasoline supply. E10, a mixture of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline is available at many vendors. Blending a couple of percentage points of ethanol into the gasoline is not only common practice, but in many areas it is being required.
What we have found is that if your vehicle was manufactured in 1990 or later, the fuel system and engine were most likely made with materials that are not sufficiently reactive to ethanol to be a problem using E85. If you have an older vehicle, you will need to investigate whether or not the fuel system can use ethanol. The most common material that was a problem is rubber. If you use E85 in a vehicle with rubber fuel system components, they will deteriorate fairly quickly and fail. This could cause fuel leaks and result in a significant risk of fire. If in doubt, older vehicles should have their fuel lines and fuel pumps replaced. Most auto parts stores should be able to supply you with the parts necessary to make this change.

I have run e85 for a year now, and the only problem i have had is starting in cold weather. In the Winter, I went to 50/50 gas and e85 and the cold starts were no longer a problem.

 

[Goldeneagle]

The magic of Heet

Couldn't find any E85 in the area.
But a $2.00 bottle of Heet did the trick.

1st time my CO and HC were high

Today
1/2 tank of regular unleaded
1 bottle of heet

10 miles later

HC-25
CO-0.00
C02- 10.96

Next time, I'll fill the tank up

 

[sdbrassfield]

What would be needed to allow a 60 or 62 to run e85 all the time? It is about $1 or more cheaper here. Also what would be a ballpark cost on the mods?

It may be cheaper but you will not go as far with E85 either. Your mpgs (much less energy/gallon) and seals in your fuel system will be damaged. There are plenty of flex fuel vehicles that can burn it now, but E85 has not really caught on due to the lower mpgs and availability. It is about an even propostion running it -vs- regular fuel in the flex vehicle.

Just saw this was an old a^& post....

 

[rover67]

One thing to think about is that if the motor is running too lean the cat will not work properly, HC's will go up as seen below. cats (at least old ones) were made to work with an engine running at exactly 14.7:1.

Couldn't find any E85 in the area.
But a $2.00 bottle of Heet did the trick.

1st time my CO and HC were high

Today
1/2 tank of regular unleaded
1 bottle of heet

10 miles later

HC-25
CO-0.00
C02- 10.96

Next time, I'll fill the tank up

 

[wengejor]

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/220820-propane-daily-driver.html

Some good stuff on propane. I did the conversion last summer when gas prices were high. I'm now running on gasoline, but just a carb change and timing adjustment is required to switch back.

Hey S&S, How's it going? I did the e85 thing and passed so well I think I'm good for the next ten years! This is what I did: I ran the tank down to "E", put in a gallon and a half of e85 and got tested. passed, then put six gallons of regular in the tank, ran that out and put more gas in like it was normal. Everything is fine.
What surprised me was I think I had less than one gallon of gas in my tank when I added the e85 so I think my mix was 2 to 1, maybe higher. I did not notice a bit of performance change in the short time this stuff was in my tank. I read the above posts and am curious about converting to e85. My question is, putting saving the planet aside, is it worth the cost of conversion if it can be done? I like the idea of going green with this stuff, but as everything it comes down to the initial outlay of cash.
A while ago, someone mentioned that they converted their 60's to propane. If anyone has a good link or info on this, I'd like to take a look.
J