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Author Topic:   E85 Fuel Compatible Outboards
rbruce posted 03-14-2007 10:45 PM ET (US)   Profile for rbruce   Send Email to rbruce  
Are there any outboard motors which can run on E85 fuel? Will there ever be?
seahorse posted 03-14-2007 11:08 PM ET (US)     Profile for seahorse  Send Email to seahorse     
At present no outboard manufacturer has an E85 outboard.

Brazil has 23% alcohol in their better fuel (they have 2 types) and the Evinrude E-TEC and even the older FICHT motors run OK on that "E77" fuel, but it must be fairly fresh.

Because of attracting water and changing chemical composition, fuel must be used up within 60 days or be pumped out of the boat's gas tank.

rbruce posted 03-15-2007 09:32 AM ET (US)     Profile for rbruce  Send Email to rbruce     
Seahorse: Thanks for the curiosity. I didn't know Brazil had such a high gasoline content fuel, I thought they were all alcoholic by now! But it seems that ridding of gasoline is going to be tough!
jimh posted 03-15-2007 07:28 PM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
I thought that E85 meant 85-percent ethanol. So a fuel with 23-percent ethanol would be E23, not E77, right?
Whaler_bob posted 03-15-2007 08:08 PM ET (US)     Profile for Whaler_bob  Send Email to Whaler_bob     
What is E85?
E85 is a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% unleaded gasoline for use in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs). E85 is classified as an alternative fuel by the U.S. Department of Energy.
http://www.ethanol.org/e85.html
seahorse posted 03-15-2007 08:27 PM ET (US)     Profile for seahorse  Send Email to seahorse     
OOPS! Thanks, Jim, I stand corrected.
Plotman posted 03-15-2007 10:42 PM ET (US)     Profile for Plotman  Send Email to Plotman     
Many GM full size trucks (Including Yukons & Suburbans) are E85 compatable. Has anyone here tried it?
jimh posted 03-16-2007 06:50 AM ET (US)     Profile for jimh  Send Email to jimh     
I have only seen one gas station selling E85 here in Michigan, and it was priced about a dollar per gallon more than unleaded gasoline. I can't imagine it is sold in much volume.

Automakers are producing vehicles which can run on E85 fuel in order to receive special "credits" with the government for being "green"--but in this case I think the green has more to do with money than with ecology.

Hoosier posted 03-16-2007 08:06 AM ET (US)     Profile for Hoosier  Send Email to Hoosier     
Jim,

Meijer offers E85 at some of their Michigan stores and plan on rolling it out system wide (eventually). There's a cluster of Meijer stores that have it in the Warren/Sterling Heights area, also in Ann Arbor and Adrian. I would think that any EFI engine could be reprogrammed to run on E85 as long as there are no materials issues.

hauptjm posted 03-16-2007 09:50 AM ET (US)     Profile for hauptjm    
What's old is new again.

From Wikipedia:

[i]Historically, the first widely-sold flexible-fuel vehicle in the United States was a variant of Henry Ford's Model T intended for use by self-reliant farmers who could make their own ethanol. Surprisingly, it is capable even to this day of running on E85, or gasoline, as it was designed to operate on either ethanol or gasoline, at the user's choice. Henry Ford's subsequent 1927 Model A likewise was an early flex fuel vehicle. It, however, eased the driver's method of accommodating various blends of ethanol and gasoline through a driver's control on the dash with a knob that was turned to control air fuel mixture and pulled to choke the single-barrel Zenith carburetor. This dash-mounted control provided easy control of all the major adjustments required for easily burning ethanol and gasoline in varying proportions, including enough range for burning today's E85 blend of ethanol and gasoline.[\i]

Some things seem to reinvent themselves over and over: like the 4-stroke outboard!

hauptjm posted 03-16-2007 09:53 AM ET (US)     Profile for hauptjm    
The only thing old is my dyslexic use of UBB code!
Buckda posted 03-16-2007 01:46 PM ET (US)     Profile for Buckda  Send Email to Buckda     
As is the "invention" of turning headlamps on an automobile. I seem to remember a famous automaker in Northern Indiana who offered a central headlamp that swiveled into the direction of the turning front wheels. Seems. That Detroit automakers ran this innovative company out of business. The industry, with all of the current "innovations" has long resisted the winds of change.

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