E85 gas and my Tundra

First off, we don't care what your Silverado or KIA does on E85. Don't bother unless you have a 2.5 Tundra.

Mine only sees a 2 mpg reduction, from 13 to 11 mpg. A 20 gallon fill is $28.00 cheaper. At $2.50 a gallon that is still $23.00 a fill cheaper, when mileage is considered.

Yes, I live in the Cornhusker state of Nebraska. And yes it generates jobs here and better corn prices for farmers. Win win win.

Does it wear or damage your truck? I think that is all BS. Toyota engineering doesn't think so. And neither do I.

Again Silverado owners, no one cares what you think.

 

I am going to disagree with most of what you said.

1. It isn't a win, win, win. Sure, the farmers are making money off of the corn subsidies from the government, but those subsidies have to come from the tax payer's pocket. Not great. Also, because the farmers are paid by the government to grow so much corn, they aren't growing other crops, which, due to the laws of supply and demand, means that other crops have suffered in increase in price. Which is again, more money out of the the tax payer's pockets. If ethanol was so wonderful there would be no need for the government to have to subsidize farmers to grow corn. The free market would incentivize corn farming all on its own. As far as jobs go, I don't think government backed corn farming is creating jobs. It is just moving jobs from other crops to corn with no net increase.

2. Ethanol absolutely does cause corrosion. It is a corrosive alcohol, AND it is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts water, and water is also corrosive. And no, Toyota engineers do not think that it isn't corrosive. They know that it is. The real question is, how much corrosion are you willing to put up with? There is a maximum acceptable amount of corrosion the engineers decided to allow, and they designed the truck to be able to put up with that set amount under normal conditions, with regular maintenance, including the replacement of "minor components" at an accelerated rate. It is just like how the FDA allows a certain amount of insect parts and rodent hair in our food before they determine it is no longer safe to eat. The number is not zero and is higher than you would be comfortable hearing. Remember, all the Toyota engineers care about is the truck lasting through it's warranty period. After that, if the truck falls to pieces around you, they don't care. Maybe your truck will run for 200k miles on E85. But it would have run twice as long on just gasoline. And this is under "normal use". If you ever let your truck just sit for periods of time, the corrosion will greatly accelerate.

3. No, I don't own a Silverado. That being said, simply owning a Tundra with a flex fuel engine doesn't automatically make you an expert on ethanol, nor does not owning a flex fuel tundra mean that you don't know anything about ethanol.

 

Good reply Kur. Only thing I can add is you have to double your oil changes.

 

Toyota discontinued support for E85 in the gen 2.5. My 2021 is not E85 compatible and I am not sad about this.
This may be because of the alcohol density detection problem????? I ran into this when I tried E85 for a few tanks.
The truck doesn’t switch well. It runs great on E85 but going back to gasoline may be problematic. Here is the TSB: https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2019/MC-10170730-9999.pdf

 

My 2016 is FF and I wish it wasn't...








So I could SC it

 

Read your gen. 2.5 owners manual for engine oil change interval. If you run 85% corn you cut the oil change interval IN HALF. Say it again with me: if you run 85% corn Toyota commands you to change your engine oil twice as often. The whole kit-and-kabootle is blindingly stoophid.

 

I think FFV was and is a scam. I had a 08 Tahoe and did both gas and E85 mpg calculations at the time. And it was the same +/-. As it is right now E85 is hardly even seen at the pump here in Miami. I did a quick search, if the site is correct there is only 10 model vehicles that offer FFV. I also looked at the chart on the same site and lots of the previous FFV vehicle engines are no longer FFV. I am one of those that trusts the government as far as I can throw them. Just like there was/is talks about going up to E15.

 

We only use NON ethanol in everything, period. Unless we are out of town and can’t find it.

If I had a FF vehicle I would never put that corn crap in it either.

 

I love these monthly E85 posts

Search engine has plenty of conversations on this very topic.

 

And you have to add the additional oil changes into your cost calculations. Diverting corn to make ethanol causes feed prices to go up for people that feed cattle and wildlife.

 

Hitching your gasoline consumption to your food source is a bad idea IMO.

Stripping the dirt if it’s nutrients because it so profitable to grow for gas is a bad idea, it seems to lead to more red tide in the gulf from all the fertilizer flowing down the Mississippi.

Also seems like just a political honeypot for the corn farming lobby. I have read sugar cane is a better crop to use for E85, but the heavy lifters in the faming lobby grow corn so that is where the subsidy’s and refining tax incentives are.

Corn can’t compete with sugar cane so even if you decide to strip your dirt for gasoline it’s politicly inefficient.

 

Not to go too far off topic, but cattle shouldn't be fed corn anyway. grass fed/grass finished beef is much better for you anyway. And with a regenerative agricultural plan, you don't even need the feed lots anymore anyway. And if you care about CO2 in the atmosphere, regenerative agriculture sequesters atmospheric CO2 in the soil as well.

I wouldn't call corn "food". It isn't. We have almost 0 ability to break down and absorb nutrition from corn. Ever wonder why you bothered eating corn when it just ends up in your toilet looking exactly the same as it did on your plate? Corn isn't food. In fact, eating corn 100% blocks your body's ability to absorb nutritional zinc.

I guess I can claim this is on topic since it is about how ethanol subsidies cause harm in other areas.

 

I had a real E85 kit on my 2017 86 and got great power but lost 25% mileage (over a year went from 20mpg to 15) I also had to add
Lucas Oil 10576-12PK Safeguard Ethanol Fuel Conditioner

$94 Lucas Oil 10576-12PK Safeguard Ethanol Fuel Conditioner - 16 oz., (Case of 12)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009M1LAIE?ie=UTF8

to my gas. my 2013 Sequoia is FF and it was locked into thinking it had 85% E85 because it does not have a real sensor, tuning it out and disabling the high pressure pump solved that issue.

Also, here in Az, real 85% costs more than premium.

 

You aren't listening to what I said.

Yes, we eat it all the time, and it is in many, if not most, of the products we eat. But just because we can technically put it in our mouths and swallow it, doesn't mean it is food.

It provides zero actual nutrition to us outside of a few calories worth of sugars.

Also, wheat and sugarcane are not great food sources either. We can survive, poorly, off of them, but they are not what we are supposed to be eating. In fact, it is the consumption of all of these grains, seeds, and vegetable oils (which is 95% of the modern diet) that has lead DIRECTLY to the pandemic of modern diseases affecting society. Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's, many types of cancers, obesity, etc.. All of them are the result of our mostly grain based diets.

If you are genuinely curious what I am talking about, check out these videos.. they are a good place to start.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUADs-CK7vI&t=1s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY2v6AnEyuU&t=1s

Anyway, this is now off topic, so I'll leave it at that.. If you want more info, PM me.

 

I am curious of how you are saying cornbread or cornflakes are not food. The kernel isn’t digested the contents are.

I don’t care at all if they are not part of your custom diet.

You cannot argue that Corn is not a food source.

You have justified to yourself corn isn’t food and have taken another step to attempt to make it reality for everyone else that corn isn’t food.

Take a step back and remember it’s only your justification. In realty corn is food and a food source.

You were obviously being factious and instead doubled down on justification.

 

lol so you didn't bother to look at the evidence I gave you to justify my claims, and instead made some false assumptions about me, and then argued against the false assumptions that you made up.

I already provided the evidence you are asking for. It isn't my problem if you don't look at it.

 

Back to topic.

So if you don't believe it'll cause wear and damage to your truck. That's fine. Feel free to keep using it. If people don't want to, that's up to them. Why worry about what other people put in their engines?

 

My Silverado gets superior mileage....wut!

 

Good news. You still can! Prospeed in Houston tunes them quite well on whatever ethanol content you’re looking for.

 

Always read/heard it ain't a good idea

 

I have the ViktorG tune, he tuned FF out & I have much better drivability, and mileage since the ECU is not running crazy rich thinking it has 85% korn.

 

Man I need that. Gotta link with more info?

 

Here is his thread.
https://www.tundras.com/threads/viktor-g-tuning.89986/

 

Damn he's on break from tuning lol

 

Answer is NO! if you don't ask.

lol

 

Things have changed and it’s now an equally viable option to non FFV, some even argue it’s preferred. If it’s something you truly want to do there is no reason you can’t these days. Just food for thought.