Age Old E85 Question

[Martinrue97]

Yeah fortunately I have two spots I would go to (a 30 min drive will fill up some cans) but the one is near a track and regularly tests e78 and above in spring and summer which is when I’ll be using it

And Ill make sure to test every time I go for accuracy

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[jpjr501]

Yeah fortunately I have two spots I would go to (a 30 min drive will fill up some cans) but the one is near a track and regularly tests e78 and above in spring and summer which is when I’ll be using it

Also note because E85 absorbs moisture, that it doesn't last as long as normal fuel. Meaning, don't let it sit in the tank long or in a can in the garage. The life of E85 since it's corn turns to a white gel when moisture gets ahold of it. I live in South Florida, already wiped an O2 sensor because the car sat for 2 months. Water will destroy an 02 immediately.

Honestly, tell people if they don't have a blower or turbo on the car don't bother with E85. I get annoyed all the time. My wife wants to do date night and I don't have enough to go back/forth we can't take the car. I have to travel 25 minutes for E85. It's a big pain in the butt.

 

[Martinrue97]

Also note because E85 absorbs moisture, that it doesn't last as long as normal fuel. Meaning, don't let it sit in the tank long or in a can in the garage. The life of E85 since it's corn turns to a white gel when moisture gets ahold of it. I live in South Florida, already wiped an O2 sensor because the car sat for 2 months. Water will destroy an 02 immediately.

Honestly, tell people if they don't have a blower or turbo on the car don't bother with E85. I get annoyed all the time. My wife wants to do date night and I don't have enough to go back/forth we can't take the car. I have to travel 25 minutes for E85. It's a big pain in the butt.

Yeah so I’ve heard - I plan to drive the car semi often (don’t daily) during spring/summer then switch back to 93 when I put the car away next winter. I’m itching to bring the car out right now but this cold shitty weather won’t let up in Pa/Jersey

 

[LOL WUT]

Also note because E85 absorbs moisture, that it doesn't last as long as normal fuel. Meaning, don't let it sit in the tank long or in a can in the garage. The life of E85 since it's corn turns to a white gel when moisture gets ahold of it. I live in South Florida, already wiped an O2 sensor because the car sat for 2 months. Water will destroy an 02 immediately.

Honestly, tell people if they don't have a blower or turbo on the car don't bother with E85. I get annoyed all the time. My wife wants to do date night and I don't have enough to go back/forth we can't take the car. I have to travel 25 minutes for E85. It's a big pain in the butt.

I have stored my car for 3 years with a full tank of E85 and zero issues. My E85 tester bottle has sat on top of my tool box since October (full of E85) and the only thing that happened is the water evaporated. The E85 looks the same as the day it went in the bottle. I don’t think I’ve seen a record of E85 turning into “Gel” since like 2010.

 

[Pistol_91]

You don't need a flex tune. Drive car to near 0 miles to E. Fill up e85. Flash e85 tune. Let car idle for 10 minutes. Put some miles on it with normal driving conditions. After that you're good. Want to put 93 back in? Do the same exact steps.
If it's your daily driver and always on the go I can see where a flex tune would be beneficial and more convenient. But make no mistake, a flex tune is simply that, more convenient.

 

[Martinrue97]

You don't need a flex tune. Drive car to near 0 miles to E. Fill up e85. Flash e85 tune. Let car idle for 10 minutes. Put some miles on it with normal driving conditions. After that you're good. Want to put 93 back in? Do the same exact steps.
If it's your daily driver and always on the go I can see where a flex tune would be beneficial and more convenient. But make no mistake, a flex tune is simply that, more convenient.

Thanks for the insight

 

[engineermike]

Couple of points I want to make:

- The % ethanol isn't nearly as critical as most people think. I've found this in research papers, where the returns really diminish past 40%. Then Greg Banish recently said it in an interview that basically once you get past 50% it becomes more of a problem due to the volumes needed. If a tuner demands tested 85 that's 85%, try putting in e70 in it and neither of you will know the difference.

- @K4fxd is correct about pcmtec. If your tuner is trying to use hpt to tune your gen3, then he will not have access to the required parameters to make a good flex tune. Abort if this is the case. I don't know if Wengard uses pcmtec or if he knows about the fuel line capacities that MUST be changed for it to work.

- The gen3 can do amazing things with the flex logic, even to the point of limiting boost on pump gas but not on ethanol, and much much more.

 

[Cordero1]

Okay so in other words if I’m not confident (testing we’ll say e70-e80) I should run the flex fuel tune and only the e85 tune when I’m testing 85 or above?

Yes, but that was on a Gen 1 coyote. From reading other comments on here I guess it won't work on gen 3. I run a e85 tune & it varies from 70-85 local. Car runs good. Went out of town and few weeks ago & the e85 pumps stated +%58 & car felt like it was low on power but still ran good.

 

[Martinrue97]

Yes, but that was on a Gen 1 coyote. From reading other comments on here I guess it won't work on gen 3. I run a e85 tune & it varies from 70-85 local. Car runs good. Went out of town and few weeks ago & the e85 pumps stated +%58 & car felt like it was low on power but still ran good.

Okay awesome - thanks for the insight - now did your tuner specifically set it up that way to compensate for the different ethanol content or does it just do that automatically?

 

[HKusp]

Couple of points I want to make:

- The % ethanol isn't nearly as critical as most people think. I've found this in research papers, where the returns really diminish past 40%. Then Greg Banish recently said it in an interview that basically once you get past 50% it becomes more of a problem due to the volumes needed. If a tuner demands tested 85 that's 85%, try putting in e70 in it and neither of you will know the difference.

- @K4fxd is correct about pcmtec. If your tuner is trying to use hpt to tune your gen3, then he will not have access to the required parameters to make a good flex tune. Abort if this is the case. I don't know if Wengard uses pcmtec or if he knows about the fuel line capacities that MUST be changed for it to work.

- The gen3 can do amazing things with the flex logic, even to the point of limiting boost on pump gas but not on ethanol, and much much more.

Thank you. I was coming here to point out the diminishing returns on anything above E40, not that it's bad per se to have higher ethanol content, but as pointed out, the higher the content, the more volume of fuel needed to take advantage. Wengerd DOES use PCMTec, btw.

 

[jpjr501]

I have stored my car for 3 years with a full tank of E85 and zero issues. My E85 tester bottle has sat on top of my tool box since October (full of E85) and the only thing that happened is the water evaporated. The E85 looks the same as the day it went in the bottle. I don’t think I’ve seen a record of E85 turning into “Gel” since like 2010.

Depends on where you live. Here in South Florida, its not lasting for years. Just too much moisture in the air. I've already experienced issues myself after almost 4 months.

When I pulled my fuel pumps to check the gauge float the Fore Innovations hat had the white gel. Now that's probably fuel that got splashed and seeped in that area so roughly a year after switching to E85.

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