So, I assume we all know that the Croc wants 93 but here in CA we only get 91, even at sea level.
I saw an E85 pump the other day and blended a little into my truck for poops and giggles and thought...hm, this is a whole lot cheaper than putting 4 gallons of 100 octane at 8 bucks a gallon into my tank to get it up to 93.
Can the Croc handle 4 gallons of e85 per tankful?
Sure, if you don't care about your warranty.
Porsche
will void your warranty if it finds out you've been using more than 10% ethanol in your tank.
Ethanol makes less power than gasoline, so you'd be better off just using 91 non-Ethanol if you don't want to mix in a little race fuel. Ethanol is also very hard on your fuel system.
That just means fuel economy will be slightly lower. E85 has an effective octane of 105.
I'm of course concerned about the warranty issue, but is there any way they would know? This goes back to the question, would a tank of 25% E85 (that means ~21% ethanol) damage the system?
You might get more poops and giggles than you bargained for. Ethanol corrodes metal, eats plastic fittings and rots rubber hoses. Ducati has already replaced hundreds of motorcycle fuel tanks (while not admitting that they have a problem) because of ethanol. BMW motorcycles are beginning to show up with ruined injectors. The problem has been traced to ethanol. Check out any number of BMW car forums and you will see quite a few posters complaining about ethanol. And in just about all of these reports we are talking about 10% ethanol . . . not the E85 variety which is 15% ethanol.
Do you have any friends who are recreational pilots? Ask them how they feel about ethanol in their aviation fuel? They don't want their engines "pooping out" at altitude.
But it's your car. Run ethanol if you want to. :cheers:
Actually, E85 is 85% Ethanol. And I agree, even 10% Ethanol sucks (we've had it here in Colorado for many years).
I do that frequently, and there is a very noticable difference
At 7-10 bucks a gallon though, it gets expensive.
Interesting that it's so noticable. I live in Denver where there is no real difference in power between 91 and 93 octane, since the thin air reduces the compression (so 91 is plenty of octane not to alter the timing- no risk of detonation).
I heard people talkin' about runnin' their vehicles with 85% alcohol, so I thought I'd give it a try. I started usin' 190 proof Everclear, since it has a higher alochol content than the 85% stuff other people use. I figured that would make it go faster. Now my vehicle just swerves everywhere. It sure makes for an interesting drivin' experience.
