51% ethanol on pump question

[2018GT]

So I was checking out a station that has ‘e85’ near my house and on the button where you select the e85 type of fuel it states 51% ethanol.

So I’m wondering if other e85 stations have the same labeling and that is a minimum number for ethanol content or it stays around 51%. Is this 51% labeling standard for all these stations, etc?

This is a MAPCO station in north Mississippi.

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[2018GT]

Ok I did a little googling and found out in the US the minimum ethanol content is 51%.

Guessing that is a minimum number. Still wondering if other/all stations have 51% listed on their pumps.

 

[moffetts]

I vaguely remember seeing something like that when I had a flex fuel tune on my car. Ethanol content varies depending on time of year and your location. For most people (and by that I mean people that drive cars that are flex fuel capable from the factory), this variation does not matter. For people running dedicated E85 tunes, they need to test the E85 regularly to make sure it is spicy enough.

 

[Kermitz]

The pumps here in CA are also labeled the same way, however they all dispense @ 85% ethanol year round.
If you have any doubts about the quality of your fuel, you can buy one of those testers online.

 

[Dave2013M3]

The pumps here in CA are also labeled the same way, however they all dispense @ 85% ethanol year round.
If you have any doubts about the quality of your fuel, you can buy one of those testers online.

Thats because we are lucky in this respect to Cali. We get the good E85 or it would be way more expensive here due to the taxes. Some reading...https://www.fuelfreedom.org/buy-california-e85-good-stuff/

 

[AZ18yote]

That's the advantage of running a flex tune is even if the content is lower you are safe. Standard disclaimer. AZ mostly has e54 aka flex fuel with occasional nice exceptions of real e85. As others have mentioned test and see what you are working with.

 

[fuelforfire87]

Yep, this is why its important to test your E85. The number typically drops lower in the winter because true E85 is difficult for a car to start in cold temperatures. I got tired of testing so I just installed a flex fuel sensor on my car so when I fill up I can see what the ethanol percentage is. Another way to check if your E is good is to check your short term fuel trims (on dedicated E85 tunes only, not flex). If its really E85 there will be hardly any trimming.

 

[drive_55_not]

Ok I did a little googling and found out in the US the minimum ethanol content is 51%.

Guessing that is a minimum number. Still wondering if other/all stations have 51% listed on their pumps.

Like the others posted 51% is a Flex Fuel Ethanol, The fuel selector should say Flex on it. I've seen one pump labeled like that.

Flex Fuel Ethanol can run 51%-83%. You need to check it to see what it actually is.

A couple local stations to me have flex ethanol and the selector actually sez Flex Ethanol Content 51%-83%. They distributor fills that flex ethanol with 70% winter blend and 80% summer.

I switched over to corn this past weekend with flex ethanol and it tested 78%.

As for ethanol pumps, You can have E15.. E30.. Flex and E85 on tap.

Bad thing about corn,, it doesn't last long in a daily driver, 180miles and I'm filling up again.


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[MaskedRacerX]

The pumps here have a big range listed, like 51-83%:

If I go back to E, I'm going to get setup with a tester, curious what's actually being pumped.

 

[2018GT]

Yea I’m definitely going to test it before putting a dedicated tune.

I did just fill up with 14 gallons of pure 93 gas and 2 gallons of this “e85” which if it is really e85 then the tank would theoretically be e10ish at 93.9 octane.

It is running fine and I will probably do this in the hotter months until I get tuned. I honestly wanted to see if it made a big difference in the hotter months. If it does work well I may hold off on the tune.

 

[AZ18yote]

Yea I’m definitely going to test it before putting a dedicated tune.

I did just fill up with 14 gallons of pure 93 gas and 2 gallons of this “e85” which if it is really e85 then the tank would theoretically be e10ish at 93.9 octane.

It is running fine and I will probably do this in the hotter months until I get tuned. I honestly wanted to see if it made a big difference in the hotter months. If it does work well I may hold off on the tune.

I can tell you running e here in Phoenix where its 100-125 many months a year makes a huge difference running cooler than pump. So it's not just the power benefits.

 

[Zinc03svt]

My pumps show 70%. Local guy confirmed it on a tester @ 70. Car has run fine year around since 18 on E85.

 

[AZ18yote]

My pumps show 70%. Local guy confirmed it on a tester @ 70. Car has run fine year around since 18 on E85.

70 and up should be legit on straight e tune. Anything lower should be considered flex. Most here are e54 but there are 2 stations so far confirmed at 85 or higher pretty consistently. Those are definitely the fun tanks.

 

[dn1984]

I can tell you running e here in Phoenix where its 100-125 many months a year makes a huge difference running cooler than pump. So it's not just the power benefits.

i run an E30 blend in my car (4 gallons e85 + 12 gallons 91) on the stock tune and the car runs much better here and it hasn't even gotten really hot yet. would be interesting to test on 100 degree days once they get here

 

[2018GT]

i run an E30 blend in my car (4 gallons e85 + 12 gallons 91) on the stock tune and the car runs much better here and it hasn't even gotten really hot yet. would be interesting to test on 100 degree days once they get here

yeah I just tried adding e85 for the first time. I have seen folks talk about doing e20-e30, but I didn’t want to try that initially. Was thinking of only going up to e20.

question: how long have you been running the e30 blend?

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