How Can You Help Keep Gasoline Prices Low?
If you own a fuel injected vehicle that was made in the year 1983 or newer, you can safely fill up with a mixture of E85 and gasoline. As of this writing, gasoline prices have fallen to around $2.80 while E85 is around $2.30ish and, E85 is a big factor in why gasoline prices have fallen so low. If we stop using E85 in favor of cheaper gasoline, gasoline will surely start it's slow rise back to that $4.00 a gallon plus price. OPEC felt this decrease in demand for crude and drop their prices so they could compete with Ethanol (E85). They plan on keeping us in their grip by diverting our attention away from other means of powering our vehicles.
If everyone who has that type of vehicle that I previously described (and most everyone does) would fill their gas tanks with at least a ratio of 70% gasoline to 30% ethanol, we could totally rid ourselves of the need for foreign sources of oil!! I have been filling up my 1994 Chevy G20 V8 Van with over 140,000 miles on the engine with 50% gasoline and 50% E85 for over 15 months now with no negitive effect on performance. The van actually runs a little smoother and quieter with excellent cold starting even in sub freezing conditions and it performs even better than before with greater acceleration. A 50/50 mixture (gasoline to ethanol) is as far as one can go without noticing a decrease in performance and that's because your cars computer will not adjust to the proper fuel/air ratio. There is an electronic device that you can purchase and install yourself in minutes that would allow you to run any ratio of gasoline to ethanol. If you install this device, you can fill your tank up with straight E85. Or even 100% ethanol if you can find it!
E85 for those of you that don't know is a mixture of 85% ethanol to 15% gasoline. For example, if you have a gas tank with a capacity of 14 gallons and you fill it up with 7 gallons of gasoline and 7 gallons of E85, your ratio of gasoline to ethanol would come out to be 57.5% gasoline to 42.5% ethanol. That ratio is less then a 50/50 mixture and your vehicle will run just fine.
The more E85 you mix in with gasoline the further decrease in your cars harmful emissions because ethanol is a clean and green fuel and you'll be helping to ease air pollution. Plus, ethanol helps keep your engine cleaner and will increase its overall life span. Ethanol will also clean your fuel tank of waxy deposits left over from gasoline and in those deposits are dirt and such that will be freed but will be trapped by the fuel filter. The wax will pass thru the filter and won't do any harm at all. So after running several tankful's of ethanol thru, your fuel filter might become clogged and need replacing. Don't worry, you might start to notice some hesitation when you step on the gas and that will be a clue so just go out and get a new fuel filter and replace it. They're very cheap and easy to replace.
If you can but aren't mixing in some E85 on every fill up at the pump, you are part of the problem to increasing gas prices and you may be indirectly supporting terrorist activities!!! So make it a point today and start mixing in some E85!! I pull into the gas station and right next to the Unleaded pump is an E85 pump. I know by my gas gauge how much gas I'm going to need so I split the fill up 50/50 and I don't even have to move the car to get to the other pump because they're both right next to each other.
It's such a small amount of extra work on your part to mix in some E85 with your gasoline but it's going to make all the difference in the world!
Note: Do not confuse the Octane ratings on gasoline pumps like 85 for Regular Unleaded Gasoline with E85 ethanol. E85 stands for 85% ethanol/15% gasoline. ARCO sells E10 gasoline which is 10% ethanol/90% gasoline. E85 has an Octane rating of 105, Regular Unleaded gasoline is 85 octane, mid-grade gasoline is 87 octane and premium is around 89/90 and 91 if you're lucky. As you can see, E85 will give your car better performance than even Premium grade gasoline can and will eliminate knocking in any vehicle.
05-24-2009: E85 is now around $1.98 whereas Gas is around $2.43. So fill up with E85 and save money, lives and more. It's the Patriotic thing to do!!