Is there a programmer that will allow E85 to get as good of gas mileage as regular gas, while still havin' a performance increase in a Flex Fuel truck?

I ran one tank of E85 when I first got the truck, and the mileage sucked big time. I'd probably run it if I could get mileage about the same as regular gas.

And can you run E85 with a programmer for regular gas, or regular gas with a programmer for E85?

 

No. E85 doesn't have the same energy density as gasoline.

https://www.f150forum.com/f38/octane...x2/#post339143

Here is the math supporting the energy density of ethanol vs gasoline:
http://www.intota.com/docs/ethanol-pollution.asp

 

Yeah, I knew that E85 doesn't get as good of mileage. I was just wonderin' if there was a programmer that would boost that mileage, just like a programmer for gasoline will bump up the fuel mileage.

 

Don't know any tuner that currently supports E85. But I have a Superchips and the admin on their forum stated they are working on one. Not sure it'd ever bring home as good of mpgs and gasoline though.

 

Programmer doesn't matter. You can't get more energy out of Ethanol that is already there. I am sure you can boost mileage by changing the fuel mappings and so on. But really you can only lean out the AFR so much... since these are already lean, I would worry about the risks of damaging the engine.

It really comes down to the energy content just isn't there.

 

I have done the math and I with the reduced price per gallon and the reduced mileage it is about a wash. I'll go way out on a limb here and say if it was close to the same mileage it would be close to the same price.

 

I did the math for the cost of gas and E85 around here, along with the gas mileage differences, and the E85 actually came out more expensive in the long run. I figured that maybe E85 would come out cheaper if there was a programmer that would boost the gas mileage up to what gas gets. Doesn't sound like there is, though. And if I was gonna buy a programmer to boost the mileage of E85, I might as well get on that boosted the mileage of gasoline instead. Is it possible to run E85 while runnin' a programmer for gasoline? One thing I like about a Flex Fuel vehicle is that when everyone panics and gas starts dryin' up at the pumps, E85 is usually the last thing to run out. It's nice to be able to run both.

 

Not sure if it gets better mpg, but the gryphon programmer has a custom tune for E85 gas, I would imagine it would might help. You should contact PowerhungryPerformance and let us know what he says...would be interested to know too.

 

As of right now there are none that support E85...

 

Possible to run a tuner on E85, sure. But the truck might run like crap and who knows how bad it'd mess up the motor. It has a lot to do with the Air/Fuel ratio.

And I don't know any tuner on the market that supports E85 currently, but I'm sure others may know. Know a few that are working on a tuner or software update, just not released yet.

Like you, I enjoy having the option to run E85 or gasoline. When gas sky rockets, can always opt for the usually less expensive E85. All depends on the price difference to me.