Can we run 85 ethanol in the Bronco?

[Jdyount]

I stand by my conclusion. You literally said,



Which post #13 contradicts with empirical evidence.

Ok, I get it, you want to take specific things I said out of context and not consider my larger argument. Fine, let me correct that one sentence for you.

Yes a Bronco will run and drive on E85 with a stock tune, but you really really shouldn't do it and here is why: Ford tells you specifically not to in the user manual because it can harm your engine. Voids your warranty. Runing lean is hard on your engine.

I wouldn't really call post #13 "empirical evidence" because I'm confident he didn't pull his engine apart to see if he caused any excessive wear on his pistons and cylinder walls. Just because it runs fine doesn't mean he didn't damage it...

Let's take this a step further and ask a question the OP didn't: When is it OK to run E85 in your Bronco? When you have a professional tune and can avoid lean operating conditions. Still voids your warranty so personally I would classify that as not a great idea.

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[swamp2]

All I can say is that silly men often do silly things.

In my opinion, Ethanol shouldn’t even exist for fuel; it’s literally adding sugar to your gas tank. That trash is bad in any 2 stroke motor, your boat, lawn mower, weed trimmer, and def my backpack blower. Well, putting sugar in your gas tank is equally destructive.

I understand the farm subsidy that created this additive, but high fructose corn syrup is also what makes us all fat and likely has killed many members of your family over the last 40 years.

Yes, modern vehicle engines are “engineered” to run a certain amount of the sugar additive, but it’s terrible on mpg, but I will admit that it does burn sort of clean other than the sugary residue it leaves in your engine and gunks it up over a few years.

Your best bet is to stick to burning Top Tier gas; whatever octane you prefer which means it has detergents in it that can help control all of that sugar gunk. And, switch to only full synthetic motor oil.

This is my first Ford, but in my previous number of BMWs and Land Rover products, good gas and high performance full synthetic motor oil have never let me down. So, if you plan to keep your Bronco as I do for basically forever, you want to limit the effects of the sugar gas and oil that breaks down quickly for something that’s cleaner.

All of the fool‘s logic, fake analysis, and BS expertise I’ve read over these pages on the merits of ethanol is almost akin to propaganda for the uninitiated which has become all to normal In this country over the past decade or so and it’s alarming as hell.

WAKE UP AMERICA!

Wow, you have some clear and fundamental misunderstandings here.

Ethanol is not sugar, period, it does not turn into sugar in your gas tank, in your fuel system nor during or after combustion, period. It burns simply, cleanly (as you actually admitted) and completely into CO2 and H20.

Perhaps you are thinking of decades old engines and fuel systems with rubbers and plastics that were not fully resistant to ethanol and could be damaged (made brittle) by them?

"Gunking up with sugar" is simply impossible from ethanol, period.

You are aware that ethanol has a very high equivalent octane and how good high octane is for developing high power typically with tuning?

Heck, ethanol production itself doesn't even have anything to do with sugar or corn syrup production. Sure both are made from corn but that's about it. The ethanol (alcohol) comes from fermentation which is not involved in the production of corn syrup.

Maybe you should be referring to it as whiskey fuel or vodka fuel?

 

[MadMan4BamaNATL]

Wow, you have some clear and fundamental misunderstandings here.

Ethanol is not sugar, period, it does not turn into sugar in your gas tank, in your fuel system nor during or after combustion, period. It burns simply, cleanly (as you actually admitted) and completely into CO2 and H20.

Perhaps you are thinking of decades old engines and fuel systems with rubbers and plastics that were not fully resistant to ethanol and could be damaged (made brittle) by them?

"Gunking up with sugar" is simply impossible from ethanol, period.

You are aware that ethanol has a very high equivalent octane and how good high octane is for developing high power typically with tuning?

Heck, ethanol production itself doesn't even have anything to do with sugar or corn syrup production. Sure both are made from corn but that's about it. The ethanol (alcohol) comes from fermentation which is not involved in the production of corn syrup.

Maybe you should be referring to it as whiskey fuel or vodka fuel?

Ethanol is 100% sugar dude. It comes from corn which is carbohydrate which is sugar.

I’m simplifying it because all the other fake news about the product is propaganda. This ain’t the first time we’ve all heard of ethanol so you’re not enlightening anyone; crap has been used since the 70’s.

Sure, it burns cleaner than gas, but mpg is low even with more octane since it has more energy per liter than gas, etc.

We’ll just agree to not agree here. I hate the stuff always have and always will until the make an engine that runs totally on it, but now I’m more interested in total synthetic fuel that has low to zero carbon, but the science has been suppressed for nearly 30 years at least.

 

[swamp2]

Ethanol is 100% sugar dude. It comes from corn which is carbohydrate which is sugar.
...
We’ll just agree to not agree here.

I guess so. Can't have a debate with someone who denies fundamental chemistry. I'll try to continue to help.

• Just because 2 chemicals are made from the same base material does not make them the same. One can make hydrogen gas and oxygen gas from water. Are hydrogen and oxygen the same?
• Ethanol is C2H60, it is NOT a ring structure
• There are many types of sugars many of the most common are hydrocarbon ring structures. They have the same constituent atoms as ethanol but C2H60 is not a sugar.
• Sugars and alcohols have fundamentally different properties and chemistry

 

[andrusoid]

Just asking cause it’s $3.79/gallon instead of the $6/gallon.
If not, why?

Just don't do it. I run Primo and get 4-5 MPG over reg.

 

[andrusoid]

Ethanol is 100% sugar dude. It comes from corn which is carbohydrate which is sugar.

I’m simplifying it because all the other fake news about the product is propaganda. This ain’t the first time we’ve all heard of ethanol so you’re not enlightening anyone; crap has been used since the 70’s.

Sure, it burns cleaner than gas, but mpg is low even with more octane since it has more energy per liter than gas, etc.

We’ll just agree to not agree here. I hate the stuff always have and always will until the make an engine that runs totally on it, but now I’m more interested in total synthetic fuel that has low to zero carbon, but the science has been suppressed for nearly 30 years at least.

Ethanol is evil. MPG vs. pure gas is atrocious.

 

[Lèòn]

We ain't got E85 in Jersey afaik, so don't get what all the "Fuss" is "About"

 

[swamp2]

Ethanol is evil. MPG vs. pure gas is atrocious.

Yes, ethanol has less energy per unit weight, but it's also cheaper per gallon. I haven't run the numbers to see how that plays out on mpg.

That said one doesn't generally run ethanol for efficiency but rather for performance and in that regard you can get a lot of performance from ethanol. Full stop, no debate.

 

[Gnomad]

This seems as good a thread as any to report my experiment with ethanol free "rec fuel" which has a 90 octane rating at the local pump.
Back in my LR days, I found that ethanol free was a nice treat for the LR3. It would act like some rocket fuel. Great performance and a 10-20% boost in economy....the cost was enough higher to cancel it out money wise but it was nice.
Filled the Bronco with some rec fuel and it not only didn't improve performance or economy, the MPG's took a slight hit. This I was not expecting at all. My best guess would be that the 2.3 is tuned for the standard 10% ethanol. In theory clean fuel should have more energy content and work more efficiently.
I've found that premium gives me a small boost in power but no real help in economy. My happy place is pretty much regular from any station but a BP, which seems to flow through my engine like diet soda through a 4 year old.

 

[Brnzbronc]

If your broke and cheap use 87 octane
If your like cleaner efficiency and little extra HP run 93
If your running high boost run E85 but you will need a tune to run E85 plus a higher flowing fuel system like Radium port injection kit or a new HPFP

 

[Brnzbronc]

This seems as good a thread as any to report my experiment with ethanol free "rec fuel" which has a 90 octane rating at the local pump.
Back in my LR days, I found that ethanol free was a nice treat for the LR3. It would act like some rocket fuel. Great performance and a 10-20% boost in economy....the cost was enough higher to cancel it out money wise but it was nice.
Filled the Bronco with some rec fuel and it not only didn't improve performance or economy, the MPG's took a slight hit. This I was not expecting at all. My best guess would be that the 2.3 is tuned for the standard 10% ethanol. In theory clean fuel should have more energy content and work more efficiently.
I've found that premium gives me a small boost in power but no real help in economy. My happy place is pretty much regular from any station but a BP, which seems to flow through my engine like diet soda through a 4 year old.

You can tune the stock fuel system to run E30 I believe a 50/50 mix of 91 octane and E85. There is substantial HP gains if you can swap to E85.

 

[Brnzbronc]

This seems as good a thread as any to report my experiment with ethanol free "rec fuel" which has a 90 octane rating at the local pump.
Back in my LR days, I found that ethanol free was a nice treat for the LR3. It would act like some rocket fuel. Great performance and a 10-20% boost in economy....the cost was enough higher to cancel it out money wise but it was nice.
Filled the Bronco with some rec fuel and it not only didn't improve performance or economy, the MPG's took a slight hit. This I was not expecting at all. My best guess would be that the 2.3 is tuned for the standard 10% ethanol. In theory clean fuel should have more energy content and work more efficiently.
I've found that premium gives me a small boost in power but no real help in economy. My happy place is pretty much regular from any station but a BP, which seems to flow through my engine like diet soda through a 4 year old.

The ecu will only compensate for 10-15% ethanol added fuels. I believe in the F150’s you could change that ethanol percentage with forscan but not much

 

[Laminar]

Just don't do it. I run Primo and get 4-5 MPG over reg.

Have a Fuelly account to share??

 

[Laminar]

The ecu will only compensate for 10-15% ethanol added fuels. I believe in the F150’s you could change that ethanol percentage with forscan but not much

The 2.7 is designed to run on E15 from the factory. The ECU's internal trims can add fuel to account for how lean even higher ethanol percentages run, but only up to a point i.e. you could see benefits running on E30 because the fuel trims are allowed to add enough fuel to keep it happy and the knock sensors would give you more timing and more power because of the higher octane.

Sugars and alcohols have fundamentally different properties and chemistry

I love that the dude yelling "Wake up America" is complaining about brainwashing, misinformation, and then also claiming that ethanol leaves a "sugary residue" in the engine.

 

[Brnzbronc]

The 2.7 is designed to run on E15 from the factory. The ECU's internal trims can add fuel to account for how lean even higher ethanol percentages run, but only up to a point i.e. you could see benefits running on E30 because the fuel trims are allowed to add enough fuel to keep it happy and the knock sensors would give you more timing and more power because of the higher octane.



I love that the dude yelling "Wake up America" is complaining about brainwashing, misinformation, and then also claiming that ethanol leaves a "sugary residue" in the engine.

What he doesn’t know is when you mix sugar and potassium nitrate you make rocket fuel. Sugar is also used in explosives as well.

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