K2500 Suburban 6.0L E85 Ethanol Tune

[marcoengineering]

I have a 2005 Suburban K2500 with the 6.0L engine. I am new to this site but have few questions as I am considering upgrading the truck to run on Ethanol.

Does this tune address the cold starting issues of E85 since I live in Michigan and temps below 56F happen regularly even in summer?

Will the DIC report the correct MPG/mileage to empty/etc.... when using the ethanol blends, I think it uses injector data to calculate MPG on the vehicle based on the on time and fuel flow rate of the injector?

Will running this tune do anything to the towability/drivebilty of the truck or is all completly transparent (as with the OEM Flex Fuel options)?

Is the use of regular gas transparent to the truck with the tune installed?

Once I install the E85 tune, there should not ever be a reason to have to re-install the OEM tune, correct?

I like the idea of this kit verse the injector timing plug-in kits that are out there, but I am leary of installing anything that will alter the truck or its functions in a negative way once installed. I understand these guys here do good work, but am just wondering if anyone has used this kit in a 2500 suburban and if any OEM functions will not work as result of installing the E85 tune.

Thanks for any info or opinion,

Mark

[WhiteBuffalo]

E-85 is an upgrade???

Not in my experience ....and I have a flexfuel engine!!!

WB

[S10HotRod]

My E85 tune should be ready by Monday. I will let you know the results.

[marcoengineering]

Thanks for comments. I have been able to email Andy directly so here are some answers to some to the questions I had posted originally if any one else is interested. I would be interested if anyone else has tryed the flex tune and how it works for them. I am thinking I am going to try this as soon as I can in the next few weeks. Now here my comment on E85. Mark

I personally want the freedom to choose what type of fuel I use, since there is a choice out there. E85 is not "THE" answer, but is "AN" answer at the moment and really the only one we have if want to drive out cars and trucks around some day. If gas goes to $6-$7 a gallon on the next hurricane strike and E85 stays at $4 then the answer is simple (if you have the flexibilty to adapt). Ethanol is all relative and not simple to debate or discuss without looking at the big picture. Remember big oil has a big reason to see ethanol (or any alternative fuel) to fail. If ethanol production technologies advance(as expected) and lowers the cost and transport then the difference will be worth running ethanol and the drop in MPG. The new measure in economy is more ecomomic and is miles per $1 spent or MPD, that is the real measure of what is going to decide what to put in your tank. The arguments against ethanol Food- there is more pressure on prices because of the cost of Diesel Fuel, not the price of corn. Corn has an effect, but much smaller than the price of oil (diesel fuel), and when they get this celliose ethanol woked out (and we(USA) will), the the food argument will not be up for debate, and as long as oil does not have any competition they can charge us $10 a gallon and we will only have our selves to blame in the long run. One thing to remember too, is that who put us in charge of feeding the world and US taxpayer to subsidized costs, I don't see food poor(oil rich) nations cutting us slack on the price for a barrel of oil, not that I am against humanitiarian efforts, just against not taking care of ourselves(this/our country) first. Someone needs to step up and if it makes sense, I am going to choose to run ethanol, and if it does not, I won't use it. But only when big oil gets competition for our $ will the price get reasonable, because right now we(USA) have showed then they can charge us $5(or really whatever they want) a gallon (almost a 300% increase in 3 years) and we are going to pay it and keep driving like nothings wrong with it. Thats one of the great things about the USA, the freedoms we have relative to the rest of the world, but right now we all are hostage to the price of oil and I want the freedon to run the ethanol if I can and so choose too. Right now I can not unless I cal the truck to run on it, and GM has yet to offer a factory kit through SPO.

Here are the answers andy gave to me in response to my questions about the flex tuner.

mark-

if there is gas in the tank and you are using our flex tune, there are no hard start issues (down to -36 deg that i know of for sure) below -10 (negative 10 degrees) they can get awful hard to start even with e85 on our flex tune. The cold start issues are also why E85 is actually only 70% (depending on where you are in the country) e85 in the midwest is actually only available for 3 months out of the year, and it is blended down to 70% throughout the year
andy

mark-
the DIC values will be off, but by about 13%. The body control module
does the calcs on this and we can't change that. The cold start issue- you
will notice some extended crank time below 40 degs (about 2 secs longer)
and it will take a few seconds (10 MAX) after initial start-up to "clean it
up" I can fix alot of this, but then we lose the "flex-fuel" capabilities.
All functionality is there for diagnostics, and there really are no
"backwards" effects to the tunes, especially on a 6.0L.

thanks
andy wicks, owner
www.dynotuneusa.com
www.runE85.com

[WhiteBuffalo]

Hey, I don't think ANYONE is arguing about the need for an alternative to oil.

It's just that E-85 is not the answer. At least, it isn't for my vehicle! I can get 20-22 on the Highway now depnding on how I drive and I haven't even opened up the exhaust yet.

If you get HUGE results and satisfaction on E-85 let me know about it! !

WB

[marcoengineering]

All, we need to remember this is not easy to decide, if gas is at $4/gal and E85 is at $2/gal, unless you lose 50% of your MPG it would be worth running the E85. If you only lose 25% of your mileage it is worth running e85 if it is $3/gal unless you don't like filling up as often or your want to make longer distances on your trip. Time will tell, but if gas is at $8 (as some predict) and E85 ia at say $4 the same will still hold true. It comes down to how much MPG you lose in your driving against how much less E85 costs. Only then can we see if it makes sense to use as a replacement. Where I live the gap between E85 and 87Reg has been growing as the price of gas approached $4+/gal and with the octane rating, depending on what you need, may make the price spread even greater and another factor in your choice, but we have to have the capability to make that choice, and for right now most of us do not have a choice at all, let alone a decision to make.

MarcoEngineering

[bkschirm]

I had installed the E-85 tune as provided on the FLX7193 on a stock 2003 Chev 1500HD 6.0L. I have problems with the tune and haven't received any support for almost 3 weeks and am still waiting on a response to my issues. I'm ready to return the unit.

[mikel]

What kind of support do you need?
I'll be happy to help you in any way possible.

[bkschirm]

I'd like a tune that works with my vehicle. I've posted on forums (this is the 3rd time), emailed the tune to the individual that is supposed to support the E85 solutions for review, and called DiabloSport tech support to which they told me that they cannot do anything and that I would have to contact the individual who wrote the tune myself to resolve the issue. I purchased the Predator through DiabloSport directly but cannot get product support. The main reason that I purchased the Predator was for the product support, but in my experience this has not been productive.

[mikel]

So, you have not heard back from Andy?
If you'd like, please email me the backup file and the issues you were having and we'll see if we can help.

Thanks

[bkschirm]

Sporatic email communication, but no updated tune that I can try. I'll send you the file with the issues I'm experiencing.

[marcoengineering]

Again, thanks all for the comments and opinions. BKSCHIRM please let me know how your E85 tune turns out, I am hoping they can take care of it, let me know how it works when they get a look at it. Bashing of E85, whether it be educated or uneducated, will get us no where. I am in great doubt as to if we are trading fuel for food, and like in my earlier post, food prices are the result of DIESEL fuel prices, not E85 or ethanol. Once ethanol is made from sources other than corn, your food prices will still be through the roof if Diesel is at $5+ a gallon. Any idea how the upper northeast is going to heat this winter with heating oil at $4.50 a gallon right now? Ethanol from corn is not a silver bullet, but neither is oil at $200 a barrel, or electric with an over loaded grid, imiagine every house plugging in another AC unit (charging their chevy volt), the blackout in the northeast will look good, not to mention that AC voltage comes from some where (oil, coal, nuclear, wind, solar, hydroelectric, etc) AC will not be $.08 a KWH it will be $.80 a KWH. we can't even get a infrastructure for E85, can you imagine how long until an Hydrogen car is a reality? There is no free lunch, its gonna cost us somewhere, so if we can renew it here, might be one of lesser eveils, might not? I am sure if anyone has a sure bang solution, there are people out there willing to listen if you can prove it works. Fords very first car was an ethanol burner, but oil proved cheaper so that is what we as country went with. Economics is forcing a change, so we will see where this goes. Again, BKSCHIRM , let me know if it gets worked out. Thanks to all for the input.

MarcoEngineering

[marcoengineering]

I agree, the demand for fuel has driven the cost of corn up, that is why the cost of E85 has increased or it would be cheaper. i heard today that ethanol produceres had only anticipated a high of $3 a bushel, but now they are coping with a higher than anticipated cost. Maybe they should subsidize diesel at lest for the transportaion industry, MAYBEEEE the government should do something, anything, right now they are not doing much of job for any of us! Well, they are sending billions a day overseas in cash, and then there is all the food sent over seas for free, and then there is the import tariffs on imported ethanol to keep cheaper stuff from Brazil out of here that would make E85 more economical for all to use and drive down the price of corn. Hmmm, seems like we just have to keep trying, maybe the next administration in November can do something for us all?

BKSCHIRM, S10HOTROD, - any word on your FlexFuel tunes? I am hoping to get mine ordered here in the next week before I take off on vacation, might wait to try out until I get back if you are still having problems, but I have not been able to find any wide ranging issues with this tune yet on the boards, just some sparatic ones like yours, hope they get it fixed for you.

MarcoEngineering

[06MonteSS]

not to be hard on ya or anything, but if you're such the expert on E85, then why ya even asking about it?? You already know all the answers...

[chandler51]

Did I log on to the "No Spin Zone" or something here? Ethanol makes my car run like CRAP! Thats all I need to know.

Thanks