Friday, May 30, 2008

Tank #9

I filled up at Meijer this morning. Here are the stats:

Price E85: $3.66 a gallon
Price 87 Octane gas: $4.16 a gallon

Gallons E85: 5.520
Gallons 87 Octane: 9.208
Gallons left from tank #8 (@~31.809% ethanol): 1.672

I'm assuming that the E85 is 75% ethanol, 100 octane.

Ethanol content of tank #9: 34.102%
Octane of tank #9: 91.821

Tank 8 finished with a mileage of 26.4. Average speed was 39mph.

I tried to increase the ethanol content a little bit. We'll see what happens.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Hard starting!

When I left work yesterday at 4:30 PM it was 47 DEGREES!!!!

My car actually was a little hard to start. It stumbled on the first turn, and I had to hit the ignition again. Not a big deal, but a little surprising nonetheless.

And that's only on 30% ethanol! I wonder how hard 70% ethanol would be to start, and when it's REALLY cold.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

E85 setting new price records...

...right along with gasoline!

It was $3.59 at the Meijer on Rt. 41 yesterday, when gas was $4.09. It was $3.55 at the Meijer on Indy this morning, with gas at $4.05.

I'm seriously considering getting the Scangage II. Amazon has it for $157 with no tax and free shipping.

It is obvious that the Saab can do fine at 30% ethanol without throwing any CELs, but it's about time to see how far we can push it beyond 30%. I'll get a CEL, but is it really causing a dangerous lean condition? Need the Scangage to find out.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Things I learned at Miejer this morning.

The pump at Meijer has a little sign above it that I never noticed before. It said that E85 has 105 octane. Also says "for flex fuel vehicles only".

Tank #8

I filled up at Meijer this morning. Here are the stats:

Price E85: $3.36 a gallon
Price 87 Octane gas: $3.86 a gallon

Gallons E85: 5.017
Gallons 87 Octane: 10.007
Gallons left from tank #7 (@~32.939% ethanol): 1.376

I'm assuming that the E85 is 75% ethanol, 100 octane.

Ethanol content of tank #8: 31.809%
Octane of tank #8: 91.365

Tank 7 finished with a mileage of 24.2. Average speed was 30mph.

After I filled up, on the way to work, I was briefly at 30.1 mpg coming off of Cline Ave. The car has excellent highway mileage. Turbos are amazing.

Friday, May 16, 2008

Van tank #2

Well, the stalling problem on the van only happened once. I had the van again yesterday, and it was at 1/8th a tank. I went and filled it up for my wife.

And I just can't resist mixing in a little E85! I'm an addict.

I got 5.067 gallons of E85, 13.769 gallons of 87, and there were 6.134 gallons from the previous tank.

That works out to about 26.6% ethanol in the tank. A little more than last time.

Using E85 saved a whopping $2.50 on this tank.

Mileage was maybe a mpg or two less than on 87, as you would expect.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

$3.50 for E85!

And $4.00 for 87 octane at Meijer.

Youch!

I'm almost at half a tank, and I'm at 23.5 mpg. Pretty consistantly getting that mileage.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

E85 kit for my Saab

There is a company that makes a CPU reflash for my Saab that allows running straight E85.

Bonus? Horsepower goes from 210 to 238!

There's a place in Yorkville, Illinois that sells and installs the ECU. I'm seeing how much it will cost now.

I might also upgrade the car to dual exhaust at the same time.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Meijer's E85 pump was busy this morning!

As I was driving by on the way to work, a restyled, first gen Dodge Caravan was fueling up. I'd guess that it was maybe a '93 or '94. Definately NOT flex fuel. Not OBDII either. I think it was a woman driving. I wonder how E85 is working for her.

Waiting to fuel up was a late model Impala. Could have been flex-fuel. Same color as the last, non-flex-fuel Impala I saw fueling up after tank #6. Could have been the same guy.

Meijer's E85 pump was busy this morning!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Meijer E85 pump gets a workout

The car filling up after me was a late model Chevy Tahoe flex fuel. Those are sweeeeet SUVs. I was surprised to see that it was a chick driving it. That's the first woman I've seen using the E85 pump.

Tank #7

I filled up at Meijer this morning. Here are the stats:

Price E85: $3.30 a gallon
Price 87 Octane gas: $3.80 a gallon

Gallons E85: 5.000
Gallons 87 Octane: 9.004
Gallons left from tank 6 (@~31.343% ethanol): 2.396

I'm assuming that the E85 is 75% ethanol, 100 octane.

Ethanol content of tank #7: 32.939%
Octane of tank #7: 91.629

Tank 6 finished with a mileage of 23.5. Average speed was 28mph.

After I filled up, on the way to work, I was briefly at 29 mpg at 45 mph average speed. I don't think highway mileage is any worse on E85.

Friday, May 2, 2008

What cars are E85 compatible?

I found a nice list here.

This is a great resource if you're looking for a used E85 compatible vehicle, because it shows what to look for in the VIN number. You can go to cars.com and look at VIN numbers to find the E85 cars.

I know that SUV values are dropping like a rock, but there's an E85 compatible Explorer and Moutaineer. You could get into one of those for $15k and run straight E85 with no worries. Of course, combined mileage on E85 is 11 mog, down from 15.

Another good choice is the Ford Taurus. They're dirt cheap. I found an '01 Taurus flex fuel for $6000 on cars.com. Look for the 8th digit in the VIN to be "2". They sold flex fuel Tauruses 'til '05.

Nobody is advertising these cars as flex fuel. Chances are the dealers don't know the difference. Go in there and steal one!

Is Meijer ripping us off on E85?

I've long suspected that Meijer's pricing of E85 is a ripoff.

Meijer always has E85 50 cents cheaper per gallon that 87 octane gas, just like gas stations always have premium 20 cents more than 87.

I know for a fact that there are times that refiners "give away" octane. Certain times of the year you can buy gas that is marketed as 87 octane, but that really has 91 or 93 octane. So the cost difference is artificial.

Is the same thing happening at Meijer? An anonymous commenter says:

Buzz- I pay $2.649 for E85. Colorado has stations selling it for $2.40. Meir is overpriced.


Damn! If Meijer had E85 at $2.69 when 87 is at $3.85, my E85 experiment would make a lot more sense!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Mid tank update

Halfway done with tank #6.

Mileage so far is 24 mpg, and average speed is 30 mph.

E85 was $3.35 yesterday at Meijer. Yikes! That's a lot.

It was $3.25 this morning. It was $3.15 two days ago.

There's a lot of volatility in the price of gas and E85 lately.