Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

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Flexifuel SA
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Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by Flexifuel SA »

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN RUN YOUR 4X4 ON ETHANOL?

We have a Land Cruiser Prado 4.0Lt 4x4 and we have installed a management system that allows our car to run on 50% Ethanol and 50% Petrol. It runs smoother with better consumption and costs an average of R6.75 excl. per litre.

It must be the cheapest Prado on the road in South Africa!!

check out http://www.flexifuelsa.com for more inf
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by BenHur »

Hi Welcome to our forum.

Please provide us with more info on your system. How does it work? I once spoke to a guy who does oval track racing and he was using either Ethanol or Methanol cant remember which. He said that it is a water based liquid ( or something to that effect) so he had to take precautions to prevent rust in the motor. Is this the case with your system as well and how do you prevent rust.

At the prices you quoted this looks promising and we have a few people here on the site that is investigating alternative fuel sources.
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by blom »

:mrgreen:
Methanol oom Bennie
Wonderlike Methanol :mrgreen:
die goette laat somme die groen mamba fofff al innie rondte
MAAR GLAD nie goedkoop nie, ja dis goedkoper as petrol ,maar jy jaag dubbeld soveel in

as ons meth gebruik : 3x petrol pompe
4x 3.2mm jets
Dan staan jy wyd want hy KOM :twisted: :twisted:
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by BenHur »

OK but this thread is then about Ethanol. Is water an issue with it as well?

Who has a skelm mampoer kettle so we can start making our own?
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blom
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by blom »

Bennie hoe MAAK man ethanol ?
dis nou sonner om in die tronk te slaap? :roll:
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by ThysdJ »

blom wrote:Bennie hoe MAAK man ethanol ?
dis nou sonner om in die tronk te slaap? :roll:
Nie te moeilik om te maak nie Blomma... moet dit net nie verkoop of drink terwyl jy bestuur nie, dan SAL jy in die tronk loop sit.. :shock: :shock: :shock:
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by dalkill »

I agree with blom

Ethanol , Methanol or LPG has less energy than petrol, thus even at a cheaper price, you have to do the calc before spending that kind of cash.
I went with the LPG, based on the fact that government is going to regulate the price of gas to almost half that of petrol. Last week I filled up with gas at R6.50. only after I filled up, the oke told me it might come down to R5.50 :evil: At that level I will be saving about 50c / km.

The indi car racing in USA used to run on methanol. But methanol burns with a clear flame. So you could be on fire and nobody would know. Thus they have switched to ethanol. With ethanol, one can brew your own. It just a labour intensive effort. much more so than biodiesel. And you have to change the injectors / jet on the carb. On the one site, http://www.journeytoforever.org/, there is alot of info on alternate fuels. On here they say you have to add 40% more ethanol to have the same power as petrol.
If you can make you own, that's fine, but at R6.75 EXCL, that just not worth it. And if you have a carb, once the jet is changed and you driving petrol again, well, your savings will be chowed up soon.

I did alot of research on alternate fuels, and BD is still the way to go. No mods needed. Just to get hold of the used oil. If I can sort me out a supplier of used oil, I be buying a oil burner for sure. So now I have settled on the LPG kit. cost me R6000, and if governemtn brings in the gas regulation, I will be covering this cost in about 12000km.
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Flexifuel SA
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by Flexifuel SA »

To answer some of the questions we run the prado on a 50/50 mix of Ethanol and Petrol, the 4.0L is naturally a bit thirsty but here is what I have found, we pay R6-20 per liter for our Bio Ethanol ( made from Sugar cane ),

Petrol consumption according to the Electronics

Around town - 16,5 lt - 100km x R9.24 = R152.46
Highway - 13,2 lt - 100km x R9.24 = R121.87

E50 consumption according to the Electronics 50% at R6.20 + 50% at R9.24

Around town - 17,6 lt - 100km x R7.72 = R135.87 ( saved R16.59 per 100km )
Highway - 13,7 lt - 100km x R7.72 = R105.76 (saved R16.11 per 100km)

Enviromental savings of 40% over plain petrol. Much more power on foot.

These are actual readings in real life no B.S., Petrol burns 30% hotter than Ethanol, meaning its a less efficient fuel turning more energy into heat not power. I have run the car up to 85% Ethanol with no problems, but its a very sophisticated car, my Mazda 2,6i 4x4 seems happier on 50/50 so that is why I recommend the 50/50 blend for all cars, we have only used it on Fuel Injected cars having collectively run over 40 000kms. The ethanol we use is 99.9 pure with no water content so there is no rust problem, we also add an upper cylinder and valve lubricant like redex at 5,5c per liter treated. We have also made our own Ethanol at R2-76 per liter!! but this is still experimental. The system plugs into the cars injectors and can be removed at anytime, it simple and it works, and it gets us out of the oil barons grips.

They are also converting Diesel to Ethanol as ethanol will handle 20:1 compression, the truth is that Ethanol is the future perol and diesel of the world, Volvo has released 9 Flex (ethanol) fuel models for 2009, Scania has just relesed its first ethanol powered truck, do a bit of research and you will realise that tomorrow is already here, South Africans are just having the wool pulled over their eyes, did you know that the petrol you putting in your car now already has Ethanol in it!! up to 9,5%, since 2007, has your car fallen apart yet? Ethanol is a wonderful fuel.
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by BenHur »

Cool thanks for that Greg

Can you show us some pics of the connections on the injectors. Does your system alter the injector timing as to get enough of the (as I understood) "thicker" ethanol injected?
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dalkill
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Re: Run your car on Cheaper Ethanol

Post by dalkill »

yes, on journeytoforever.org, they explained that one has to put in bigger injector jets to make up for the lower energy value of ethanol....

So how does it work.. mixing it 50/50 with petrol, means the ethanol replace 50% of petrol, which should lower the overall energy value of you tank. Ethanol might have a higher octane rating, thus I can see the advantages of it in a diesel engine, but to me in a petrol engine I cannot see it adding value.

Don;t get me wrong, I'm all for alternative energy, and I was doing research on creating my own ethanol... see my post on ethanol in this category... but when I read up about all the mods needed to the injectors / carb jets which makes the vehicle heavier when running just fuel, I gave it up
2016 2.4GD6 SR D/C 4x4 (Oct 2022 - current) (Buraaq VI)
2007 d4d 3.0 D/C 4x4 (Mar 2016 - July 2022) (Buraaq V)
2003 Isuzu KB300 D/C 4x4 (May 2015 - Feb 2016) aka Buraaq IV
2000 hilux DC 2.7 4x4 (Jul 2011 - Sep 2012) aka Buraaq III
1999 RXI 20v (Nov 2009 - Jul 2011) aka Quicksilver
1990 hilux DC 2.2 4x4 (Jun 2008 - Jul 2011) aka Buraaq II
1997 corolla 160i GLE (Feb 2007 - Sep 2009) aka Green Goblin
1990 GLI twincam (still my fav rolla) (Oct 2005 - Mar 2007) aka Wit Blitz
Golf GTI 2.0 (temp insanity for 2months) (Jun 2005 - Aug 2005) aka A mistake
1993 hilux SC 2.2 4x4 (April 2003 - Sept 2005) aka Buraaq

TOYOTA IS MY LEWE
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