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I think the problem is partly reaction to rubber, ethanol makes o-rings and the like swell, and partly a reaction with aluminum. I know (at least I think I know) I read that ôregularö gasoline was considered ôregularö with up to 40% ethanolàit may have been my owners manual in the fuel section. IÆll dig it up and double check.

Alcohol as an Engine Fuel

Lots of information here!
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How To Adapt Your Automobile Engine For Ethyl Alcohol Use

Back to the original post...

How did you figure 22% alcohol in your tank? Wouldn't 5 gal give you 4% alcohol?

Wow, talk about post resurrection.

Here's how I got 22%. Key assumptions:
1) 19.3 gallon tank
2) E85 is 85 percent alcohol

5 gallons of E85 is 4.25 gallons of alcohol.
4.25 gallons of alcohol mixed into 19.3 gallons total volume is 22% alcohol by volume.

It could be an even higher percent as our regular gas often has an unknown percentage of alcohol up to 10 percent.

How did you get 4%? New math? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I've gone through a couple of tanks now and I'm getting about 18.5 mpg (2005 Ranger 3.0) all city with A/C. Normally it woul be about 19-19.5 with the A/C.

So that's about a 5% drop in mileage but the price is:

(6 * $2.50 + 11 * $2.90) / 17 = $2.76 ave price

$2.76 / $2.90 = 95% of the cost or a savings of 5%

So a 5% drop in mileage and a 5% savings on price means, um, er, ah... you know my truck doesn't like the taste of beets actually... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shame.gif" alt="" />

You know, there are reasons to do things in life beyond price and short term payback. I'd also point out that most of us are only just into the experimentation with E85, so long term impacts haven't been analyzed (could be positive, could be negative). If shadetree hacks didn't experiment with things we wouldn't have the knowledge of all the great mods for our trucks. It's what makes America great. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/patriot.gif" alt="" />

Why do you hate America? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Just because I hate beets doesn't mean I hate America. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" /> I'll try to love beets more. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

I was just doing a little extra math that no one had done. If you hadn't tried the E85 mix we'd never know. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" /> I think it's a great idea. At least if comes out equal and that's a pretty good thing.

Now we have Rockcrawlers that run on propane and smell like a BBQ when they drive by and E85's that smell like a hospital. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />