Another visit, another dime less for E85

Stopped at the GetGo station in Wexford for another fill of E85. This time I put in 1.74 gallons of E85 with 5.7 gallons of E0. I saw two other vehicles filling with E85 while I was there. It was busy. On the way home, I drove the same route but stopped at three places opposed to a straight drive home. My Ford dash reported a 27.9 mpg average on the way home. It was no higher than 21 F on the way home with little or no wind. Driving out to the ski area on Sunday and will report back on my mileage at the nearly 25% ethanol blend.

GetGo E85 pricing continues to be 10 cents less.

On the way back from nordic skiing in the Mountains East of Pittsburgh, I made a slight detour to stop at the Wexford, Pa. GetGo for E85. Ethanol pricing remains 10 cents less than E10 ($2.69) and this was true last month when I stopped. I filled a red Jerry can of E85 and took it home for splash blending. The trip home with an E20 blend yielded 32.2 mpg on the Ford Dash. This is similiar to other readings I have obtained.

Trip thru Michigan fueled by E25-30 blends.

I stopped at the Iron Mt. Michigan Freedom Express station on US2, Meijer stations in Gaylord, Traverse City and Birch Run for splash blending of ethanol. Most of my splash blending attempts resulted in upper E20 blends as reflected by the scanguage values of lft of 13-14. My mileage varied depending upon a variety of factors. I had readings of 29.8 and just under 28during this trip. The price spread at Iron Mt. was 11% while the Meijer's stations offerred a 14% spread. No cold start issues or other. I have to travel 27 miles miles one way to find the nearest E85 pump in southwestern Pa. I will bring home a red Jerry can filled with this so I can continue E20 blending.

Fillup prior to leaving Wisconsin for Pennsylvania

I just added 2.5 gallons of E85 to 5.85 gallons of E10 to my tank. My Ford Dash readout reported 28.4mpg while the scanguage reported 29.7 mpg for the last tank. This was in 11-22 degree weather and about 90% of it on two lane state highways (traveling to nordic ski areas) with a 55 mph speed limit. The local E85 pump carried a price of $2.39 while E10 was $2.79. I leaving on Monday for Pa with a likely stop in Michigan.

Good (mpg) mileage report

Today's high was between 18-22 degrees when I was driving to and from a nordic ski area. Total trip mileage was 55 miles and my scanguage reported 30.7 mpg today while the Ford dash reported a 29.8 mpg average since I fillup the other day. All this on a low E20 blend of fuel. A similar drive during warmer (60 F or above) and no snowcovered roads would likely net a 3-6 mpg improvement. I almost always can exceed the 30 mpg figure running E15-25 blends of fuel.

New fillup at station with 20% price spread.

Coming back from a nordic ski outing just south of Rhinelander, WI I stopped at the Trigs Shell station and was presented with a surprise; 20% price spread. E85 was $2.24 while E10 was $2.79. I promptly filled 1.72 gallons of E85 to 5 gallons of E10 and my vehicle now has a low 20% ethanol blend in it. I averaged 29.8 mpg on the 39 mile trip to the family house. I had averaged 27.7 mpg on the previous tank of fuel.

Long drive brings weather issues and poor mileage

A long drive that brought a wide range of weather conditions. Lite drizzle in Pennsylvania, freezing rain for a section in Ohio, dry blowing snow in Indiana, sunny skis in the Chicago area, subzero temperatures and snow in Northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The one constant was the 20 mph north and northwest winds. This killed my mileage and produce worst ever "mpg" figures. This induced an additional 300-500 rpm in my vheicle at similar vehicle speeds. Never before have I had long interstate drives with sub 25 mpg. During this trip I began with around a 30% ethanol concentration. 60 miles into the trip, I added 1 gallon of E0. 220 miles into the trip I added 7.5 gallons of E10 and the mileage (MPG) dropped an additonal 1.5 mpg! Nearly 400 miles into the trip, I mixed a blend of E85 with E10 to obtain an added fuel blend of around E20. My mileage actually increased nearly 1.3 mpg. I later stopped where one could add premixed E20 (Renew Station in Cedar Grove, WI) and my mileage increased another .3 mpg. Finally, in Northern Wisconsin, I returned to a 27 mpg+ figures despite temperatures dropping below zero. The heavily forested land blocked the winds and my rpms returned to near normal levels.
One might conclude from this report that my vehicle runs well on the E20 mixture and produces improved mileage when compared to E0 or even E30. My sweet spot must be E15-E25 mixtures. The Renew station's E20 pump sure makes life easier to mix ethanol blends.