A Revelation about E85 Testing.

[Biggus Dickus]

I am out of town in cold weather and don't have my kit from Summit, so I grabbed a 60cc syringe and filled it with 15 ml H2O, then 45 ml E85 and got a reading that is at least high 80s (~87%). I repeated the test by filling the syringe with 25 ml of H20, then 35 ml E85. Same result. My conclusion is that the volume of water is not critical - there is nothing magical about the lines on the test kits - whether it 25% H2O up to almost 50% H2O, the amount of water will be adequate to pull the EtOH out of the gas and allow the gas portion to separate. Some how this seems counterintuitive, yet I guess the H2O has substantial capacity as a solvent to dissolve the solute EtOH.

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[Thub]

I suspect this would not be the case for lower ethanol content levels.

 

[MaskedRacerX]

I am out of town in cold weather and don't have my kit from Summit, so I grabbed a 60cc syringe and filled it with 15 ml H2O, then 45 ml E85 and got a reading that is at least high 80s (~87%). I repeated the test by filling the syringe with 25 ml of H20, then 35 ml E85. Same result. My conclusion is that the volume of water is not critical - there is nothing magical about the lines on the test kits - whether it 25% H2O up to almost 50% H2O, the amount of water will be adequate to pull the EtOH out of the gas and allow the gas portion to separate. Some how this seems counterintuitive, yet I guess the H2O has substantial capacity as a solvent to dissolve the solute EtOH.

Yeah, I read a few articles about DIY testers (vs. paying $20 for a tube with a sticker), and they all said, just establish a scale, calculate the ratio, use a container with constant volume top-to-bottom. I guess maybe the increment density allows for a closer calculation. I really do want to test the E85 we're getting here from the Gate Stations, it's listed as 55-83%

 

[FruityJudy]

All that matters is that you have enough water for the ethanol to bind with and separate from the gas. You can put a gallon of water and 50 cc of e85 if you want since you will be subtracting the initial amount of water you added from the line. But if you dont put enough water you will get a false reading. But thanks to your thread I have a shop full of syringes yet none crossed my mind so Ive been using a perfectly good baby bottle

 

[Tonymustang302]

All that matters is that you have enough water for the ethanol to bind with and separate from the gas. You can put a gallon of water and 50 cc of e85 if you want since you will be subtracting the initial amount of water you added from the line. But if you dont put enough water you will get a false reading. But thanks to your thread I have a shop full of syringes yet none crossed my mind so Ive been using a perfectly good baby bottle

My buddy uses a turkey baster and i lol when we stop at gas stations

 

[Slopoke]

I've been blending for E40 for over a year and I've been very lucky that our E85 in the Greater Bay Area is actually 85% ethanol. I quit tube testing and just look at my ethanol content gauge for a few miles for the fuel to mix and stabilize the gauge reading after a fillup.

 

[Biggus Dickus]

FYI, Agent Smith was the inspiration for the title of this thread.

 

[Troy Carter]

I started with a little tester but it's a bit of a pain. The easiest alternative has got to be a flex fuel tune that reads the E percent on an nGuage which may be a Lund only thing, I'm not sure.

Personally I don't have a Lund tune and Irun only e85 so I coughed up the money and got the kit described in the link below. It's not a perfect fit on the 18+ cars but works very nicely and I'm very happy to just fill up and see where I'm at.

https://www.mustang6g.com/forums/threads/install-with-pics-bluetooth-ethanol-sensor.117032/

 

[1badrz28]

I was in a pinch and used a nestle water bottle. As long as the container is consistent from top to bottom and you know where the it "should" read, than you should be fine. Even if its low, a few octane loss will not hurt a thing.

 

[FruityJudy]

So I cannot get my nguage to give me a reading higher than 67.1 on the FF tune. AFR on dash is around 10.7 at idle. This is 4ml water, 8ml E85. Separation line at 1.0. I added 5 more gallons and let it relearn and still locked in at 67.1

 

[1MEAN18]

E85!

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