We just purchased a fairly new 2008 T&C with the FlexFuel option. Weren't necessarily looking for a FlexFuel vehicle but we liked it and so I guess I consider it a bonus.

I've heard all kinds of stories and advice about switching to E85, running E85, when to, how to, what not to do, etc... it's a blizzard of information and like a blizzard I can't see what I should be paying attention to.

Can anyone offer any advice or point me to a reliable source of information about Chrysler FlexFuel vehicles and proper use of available fuel sources?

 

As far as I am concerned E85 is BS. Being a level 4 master tech I have seen what it does when U have e85 U use more fuel because the computer has to use more to get the same power as 89 octane.

 

Hey there,

apologies for my ignorance but what is E85 fuel? I don't think we have that over here?

 

ethanol based gas.

 

ah right, is that a cheaper option then?

I make my own Bio-Diesel over here in England,

both my vehicles run fine on it, no probs, good for the engine (well good quality bio anyways)

there are some companies over here now making bio-ethanol but i dont know much about that as mine run on diesel! lol

 

So... you're telling me it's crap and don't ever let the nozzle near the filler?

Which brings up another question based on your reply... you mention 89 octane...

I live at an elevation of 6500'... just south of Denver and we put 85 OCTANE (not E85 fuel) in the van. I've been told that vehicles at higher altitude can run this octane just as well as 87 or 89 octane at lower altitudes.

Should we be running a higher octane? I just looked in the manual and it states 87 octane is required?!

 

use 87. Here is what I have seen first have and U can do the match for yourself as well.
Tank one full tank of E85 drive say 250 to 300 miles what ever u want. then fill the tank back up see how much u use. do the same thing to 87. U will find that the E85 will use roughly 25% more to get to the same 250 or 300 miles. The computer using E85 has to use over 30% more fuel adaptive then the normal 2 to 10% with reg gas.
If the E 85 is cheaper which I have been told by some people U can still see the math there will be a point to where u are spending more money filling up even when it is cheaper per gal. Here is what I also say to the environmentalist out there U think E85 is so much better for the air go read up on what has to be done to even make it. Over 50% more coal has to be used to brake it down chemically to be used in cars and on top of that burn more to work in the cars. Kinda like the water bottle bit hey look I am drinking water good clean for ya but the bottle will take what a million years to degrade in the ground. Ba humbug to E85 just another ploy by hippies to save the world.

 

dunno about the whole water bottle thing nowadays, i know a couple of years ago then yeah nobody cared what the bottle was made from, how it was made, or what happened to it when they were done with it...

but not so with all companies now, some are even making water bottles that are made from corn oil! around as bio-degradable as sugar!

things are going the right way in some aspects.

but back on the fuel side of things it sounds as though E85 is either still in its infancy or it's just plain crud,

My bio gives my engine around 2% less power, but lubricates the engine better and cleans as it goes plus couple that with the fact that the emissions are lower and it's carbon neutral (ergo any carbon it puts into the atmosphere is equal or less than the carbon it took from the atmosphere when the crop was growing in the first place). In my other vehicle (Rover 220 SD, high milage, and used every evening for takeout deliveries i get around 450-500miles outta a tank of derv and around with bio i get around 425-450miles)

Don't get me wrong, I ain't here to save the planet, Just my wallet! lol

but it does make me smile everytime i fill the tank knowing i get near equal performance and more longevity outta my engine for less than half the price of Derv (currently £1.02.9 per litre here at the mo and poised to increase as well! bio cost me £0.35 max per litre)

and considering the oil i make it from was just gonna be landfilled I see a win win situation lol

 

Ok... back on topic here... =)

Part of this bizzard of information I was mentioning earlier was that you had to (or it was best practice to) mix E85 and regular gas in intervals before just switching cold turkey?

So, for example, run a regular tank of gas down to 3/4 then fill with E85... run that down to half a tank, then fill with E85... run that down to 1/4 tank and fill with E85.

It's almost like weening it off gas or something (which just seems silly to me) then do the whole thing over again except with gas. The idea here is (I guess) to get the computer used to different ratio's of fuel by building fuel mix tables throughout this whole process.

Given that I'm a software engineer, this doesn't seem too far fetched to me, but on the flip side of that coin, it' makes me do that dog-head-tilt thing. =)

What I'm really after here is information about the vehicle I purchased so in the event I HAVE to run E85 - like this summer if gas skyrockets again and E85 is half the price of gas - I'd like to have some knowledge of all this.

Thanks!

 

The computer will know if U have E85 or 97 U can just get it down to 1/4 or below fill up with E85 and away u go no need to mix or anything like that its like switching on a light bulb. Mr software engineer if U would like for me to give it to u in terms that U would fully understand I can do so.