The future for our 4.0L and E15?

It means that the already terrible 4.0L gas mileage will get worse because alcohol contains less energy per gallon than gasoline. Our engines will be down on power and the range per tank will be reduced. This was already noticeable with the 10% alcohol blends permitted before now, it will be more so with 15% alcohol.

It means that American mechanized agriculture methods will consume more petroleum-sourced gas and diesel fuels in the growing of non-food crops that will be brewed into fuel, so there will be little or no reductions in importing oil. In the process, as government-subsidized E15 gets cheaper than 100% petroleum-based fuels, the fuel crops will displace food production, grain exports will get reduced, and people in 3rd world countries will begin to starve for lack of cheap American grain. Meanwhile we will be paying higher Federal and State taxes for fuel subsidies, and higher prices for domestic food crops.

It means that as the years pass and the corrosive alcohol mixtures attack the variety of materials in our Jeep fuel systems, we will bear much increased maintenance costs and a number of extra vehicle fires and our Jeeps will refuse to work more often than with gasoline fuel. The TJ fuel systems were designed for 10% alcohol maximum, hopefully the 2007+ JK's were designed for higher concentrations.

As for stroker motors, it is much harder to raise the octane rating of a fuel that is higher in alcohol. But assuming you can buy sufficient octane rating for a high compression engine (which in turn depends upon which oxygenated fuel base is used for the mix) than we may be able to recover some of the lost power.

Yes, of course it is about money. But IMHO it is also a solution that comes with a set of unnecessary problems and troubling moral issues. We have already touched upon some of the technical problems, please keep them coming, and we will start to develope means of coping with them, and a body of knowledge about alcohol fuels for Jeeps online.

I do NOT think however that we have any business making fuel out of grain that would otherwise be used to feed hungry people. I'm no bleeding heart, and in fact I do believe in brewing and distilling grains into beers and whiskies and other products for human consumption - most definately. I also believe that everything we can do to wean ourselves off of foriegn oil should be done - whether we get it from Mexico or Iran or that Commie in Venezuela, too many of our own "petro-dollars" come back as some form of anti-American Terrorism. But at the same time, knowing that cheap vehicle fuels to support an energy-intensive American lifestyle causes people in Asia and Africa and South America to starve is a troubling thought.

But like it or not, the politics of the moment say alcohol fuels are happening.

There was an earlier thread a couple of months back about a conversion kit for E85 fuels. With such a kit installed, a Jeep should be able to burn any mix of alcohol from 0% to 85%. I expressed an interest since I am retiring within 10 years and I want to keep my TJ as long as possible, even decades. I was hoping somebody else would report on their success with the conversion kit.