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School me on this Flex fuel crap

pirranah

pirranah

pierced dingaling
VIP
According to the vin/glove box build numbers the Tahoe has the Flex fuel engine in it. I don't know jack about it. Do the pro's outweigh the con's? Other than the price I don't see any reason to switch and just assume keep running regular fuel and not mess anything up since it's a first year engine.
 
Hooligan

Hooligan

Employee of the Month
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Justin said:
Around here, E85 fuel is $0.10 cheaper per gallon, and IIRC it cuts fuel mileage by around 25% so the math sure doesn't work out.
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Bush subsidized the hell out of E85 in 2004, which made the math mostly work in terms of the fuel being cheaper at the pump but also much less fuel efficient. Except that corn prices went up for everything else. Obama let the subsidies largely expire a few years ago, so now E85 doesn't make any financial sense.

I would skip it if I were you. It's hard to find in most places outside of big corn-growing areas and there really aren't any major benefits to it. The way your car is formulated to run on it won't make any difference in performance.
 
GreenGeep

GreenGeep

Timber Baron
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e85 was about $1.20 compared to $1.70 the last time I found a station selling the crap. 30% cheaper. I honestly don't know if my 5.4 is one of the flex fuel models.
 
J

Justin

Damn.
VIP
About the only thing it has going for it is the fact that you can run one hell of a compression ratio with it.
 
pirranah

pirranah

pierced dingaling
VIP
Hooligan said:
I would skip it if I were you. It's hard to find in most places outside of big corn-growing areas and there really aren't any major benefits to it. The way your car is formulated to run on it won't make any difference in performance.
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It seems to be in every new station around here. This pig does pretty well with regular if I keep my foot out of it.
 
Hooligan

Hooligan

Employee of the Month
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GreenGeep said:
So it's like really cheap race gas.
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Don't think of it that way. If your car is FFV, it won't be formulated to run any differently on it. If you car is not FFV, the higher ethanol content compared to E10 will eat right through your fuel lines - among other things.

I found a station near me that has 0% ethanol fuel and that's where I fill up my '86 Alfa and '73 BMW. They both run better on it and I don't have to worry about the ethanol chewing up the inside of the motors.
 
BrandonM7

BrandonM7

MaMway Platinum Member
Staff member
Moderator
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Ultra-Premium
GreenGeep said:
e85 was about $1.20 compared to $1.70 the last time I found a station selling the crap. 30% cheaper. I honestly don't know if my 5.4 is one of the flex fuel models.
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8th digit of your VIN is either a 5 or a V -- V = flex fuel, 5 = not.
 
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