GM E85-ready vehicles

[winterset]

I have been hearing alot about Ethanol ready engines. GM will be sending out yellow gascaps to the owners of such vehicles to encourage use of this little known feature incorporated in US vehicles. I am curious if anyone knows what's involved in having a NS made E85 ready - also known as flex-fuel engines.

[mikeal1892]

VERY FUN, i was just talking to someone about this same thing an or two ago. will my sls be able to burn this ? what years might they range from ?

[mikeal1892]

http://www.gm.com/company/onlygm/

it seems from what im reading only the lastest models can use this but i didnt see a caddy ill look it over again.

[caddypete]

I also was interested in this fuel,did some research on the web,Our caddys are not really setup for pure E-85

but found this interesting

Still, there is one Brazilian after-market kit available legally in U.S. states not subject to emission controls that will nonetheless permit the conversion of 4, 6, or 8 cylinder engines to operate from fuels ranging from pure gasoline to a mix of gasoline and ethanol to pure ethanol, including E85. It operates by modifying the fuel-injection pulses sent to the fuel injectors when in 'A', or alcohol mode instead of 'G', or gasoline mode. (In 'G' mode, no modification to the fuel-injection pulses is performed.) This conversion kit modification serves to extend the control range over which the ECU can adjust the air-fuel ratio to achieve an oxygen sensor reading measured before the catalytic converter that falls within nominal stoichometric ideal combustion limits. The general belief is that this conversion kit operates in its 'A' mode simply through lengthening the individual pulse-widths of fuel-injection pulses, thereby increasing fuel flow per injection pulse by roughly 30%, whereas in 'G' mode, it acts simply as a straight pass through for fuel-injection pulses.

Other than the one Brazilian after-market kit, no other pre-manufactured E85 conversion kits are known to exist. Nonetheless, it is still possible to modify existing non-FFV engines to operate on pure E85 without the use of this particular after-market kit.

Also Venezuela Dictator Hugo Chavez has vowed to bring down the U.S. government.

Chavez, president of Venezuela , told a TV audience: "Enough of imperialist aggression;

we must tell the world: down with the U.S. empire. We have to bury imperialism this century."

The Venezuela government, run by dictator Chavez, sole owner of Citgo gas co.

Sales of products at Citgo stations send money back to Chavez to help him in his vow

to bring down our government.

[JasonA]

Still, there is one Brazilian after-market kit available legally in U.S. states not subject to emission controls that will nonetheless permit the conversion of 4, 6, or 8 cylinder engines to operate from fuels ranging from pure gasoline to a mix of gasoline and ethanol to pure ethanol, including E85.

Quite a paradox, this. "Legally available in the US" and "not subject to emission controls" don't belong together in the same sentence. In fact, it's not really legal to try to "convert" a vehicle to be able to run safely on any concentrated blend of ethanol fuel, because of emissions issues. Not that emissions are worse -- no, in fact, it's often cleaner. But the car was not certified to run on an alternative fuel by the federal government, and unless the conversion kit itself has been certified as providing a vehicle that runs with clean emissions, it won't be certified after conversion. This is precisely why there are no conversion kits available in the US. It's just too expensive to get federal certification.

Besides, our Northstar cars are so complex, I wouldn't even care to TRY to convert my Cadillac, as much of a fan of E85 that I am. You really need to ensure there are no aluminum parts in the fuel system, nor any seals not compatible with ethanol. After that, you need to install a fuel blend sensor so the engine knows the makeup of the fuel in your tank. Then you'd need to get this sensor to talk to the computer correctly. Perhaps Mark can come up with a piggyback computer for E85 use as he has for his turbo project!

No, as much of a fan that I am, I wouldn't hack up my Cadillac to get this to work. Instead, I'd buy one of a number of E85 capable vehicles out there. Our Grand Caravan is one of them, and we're so close to getting AAFES on Fort Bragg to start carrying E85. We're also tied in closely with an in-town fuel retailer who is interested in renewable fuels, and he is interested in carrying both E85 and B20 (biodiesel). I'm excited to be able to start using E85 in our Grand Caravan.