What's the real skinny with E85?

[ermax]

Originally Posted by Nevermore

I know the $ per HP on this car is pretty expensive, but I've long been tempted to do a full exhaust and tune and I briefly thought I might as well throw E85 in there too while I'm at it. Someone had told me it was hard on the car/could foul it up, but with this info maybe it's back on the imaginary list.

There are a ton of people on this forum running it and I can’t recall a single person reporting any issues at all. I’ve been on it for one year now. All you need to run E85 is a tune and you can flash one with a $170 Tactrix cable. It’s by far the best bang for the buck for our car. I’d even do E85 before doing exhaust.

[DarkSunrise]

I haven't heard of any problems with e85 on this car other than hard starts in colder weather.

Personally I'm on my 4th tank of e85 and no real problems so far. Did have one p0462 code initially, but cleared it and it never came back. I'd agree it's the best bang for buck power mod for the car.

[FRSBRZGT86FAN]

Originally Posted by Nevermore

I know the $ per HP on this car is pretty expensive, but I've long been tempted to do a full exhaust and tune and I briefly thought I might as well throw E85 in there too while I'm at it. Someone had told me it was hard on the car/could foul it up, but with this info maybe it's back on the imaginary list.

Not sure where you heard that but that is not an issue on our cars and that sounds like uneducated hearsay, best bet is to look on the forums for true evidence of it actually performing well.

I've run it for three years now with no issues. Even during the winter with a a few adjustments to the tune it runs pretty damn well above 30 degrees F. Highly recommend a set of headers and an OFT tune or set of headers and a flex fuel kit and tune.

It livens the car up nicely and the power is definitely worth it as is the smoothness throughout the rev range. Only downside I noticed was the MPG hit honestly, but in reality with more power your probably tapping the gas more and more for feeling adding to the mpg hit.

If you live in a colder climate it may be best to look into steve99 and waynos tips in the tuning forum to improve the cold start performance with e85. Or you may entirely swap back over to the 93 octane tune before the winter hits.

[Nevermore]

Originally Posted by FRSBRZGT86FAN

Not sure where you heard that but that is not an issue on our cars and that sounds like uneducated hearsay, best bet is to look on the forums for true evidence of it actually performing well.

I've run it for three years now with no issues. Even during the winter with a a few adjustments to the tune it runs pretty damn well above 30 degrees F. Highly recommend a set of headers and an OFT tune or set of headers and a flex fuel kit and tune.

It livens the car up nicely and the power is definitely worth it as is the smoothness throughout the rev range. Only downside I noticed was the MPG hit honestly, but in reality with more power your probably tapping the gas more and more for feeling adding to the mpg hit.

If you live in a colder climate it may be best to look into steve99 and waynos tips in the tuning forum to improve the cold start performance with e85. Or you may entirely swap back over to the 93 octane tune before the winter hits.

I believe it was a general statement from a buddy of mine that definitely knows more about cars than me. I'm glad our cars are fine with it, but maybe he just meant it can damage other cars. I will definitely keep this is mind.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Nevermore

I believe it was a general statement from a buddy of mine that definitely knows more about cars than me. I'm glad our cars are fine with it, but maybe he just meant it can damage other cars. I will definitely keep this is mind.

There are two categories of vehicles that don't play well with ethanol in the fuel.

Cars made before about 1975. The further back you go the worse effects the ethanol has. This was mostly due to the fact that the majority of the hoses and seals were still made of natural rubber and other materials that would dry out very quickly if there was any ethanol at all in the fuel. They could literally dissolve in E85. These cars don't like unleaded fuel as it is so when you start adding ethanol they just say "screw you" and start to leak.


Two stroke engines well up into the late 90s. These are the engines that perpetuate the myth that ethanol is bad for newer cars. Boats, snowmobiles, etc that use two stroke oil to lubricate can have issues since the oil does not work properly with higher levels of ethanol. The ethanol washes the oil off of the surfaces where it should stick. This is why you will find that most marinas have ethanol free fuel.


Any 4 stroke engine built in the last 40 years or so can handle all the ethanol you can throw at it perfectly fine.

[extrashaky]

So you guys who run E85, if you're on a trip and can't find it, or you show up at your favorite station and they're out of it, or you're just on the wrong end of town where they don't have it when you need to fuel up and have to use E10 instead, do you reflash your car back to E10 right there in the gas station?

[Qwimby1]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

So you guys who run E85, if you're on a trip and can't find it, or you show up at your favorite station and they're out of it, or you're just on the wrong end of town where they don't have it when you need to fuel up and have to use E10 instead, do you reflash your car back to E10 right there in the gas station?

I'm interested in responses you'll get to your question. Instructions I got with my OFT says it shouldn't be left in a hot car. If that's a hard and fast rule, it could be a real problem. Especially for a black car in Florida.

[Dake]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

So you guys who run E85, if you're on a trip and can't find it, or you show up at your favorite station and they're out of it, or you're just on the wrong end of town where they don't have it when you need to fuel up and have to use E10 instead, do you reflash your car back to E10 right there in the gas station?

I toss the OFT into the car if I'm making a trip where that might be an issue. As a general rule, I've been filling up when I hit the quarter tank mark (used to not really worry about it until the light came on). That gives me time to drive to a different station if I need to. Fortunately I have lots of options in my area - 7 stations within 5 miles or so, over a dozen within 10.

[PetrolioBenzina]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

So you guys who run E85, if you're on a trip and can't find it, or you show up at your favorite station and they're out of it, or you're just on the wrong end of town where they don't have it when you need to fuel up and have to use E10 instead, do you reflash your car back to E10 right there in the gas station?

Typically yes. Sit and idle for a while, flash, drive. It's not a problem, at all. As others have said, it's the best 500 bucks you can spend on the car.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by Qwimby1

I'm interested in responses you'll get to your question. Instructions I got with my OFT says it shouldn't be left in a hot car. If that's a hard and fast rule, it could be a real problem. Especially for a black car in Florida.

FWIW, mine has been in my glovebox in Florida for 3 years and so far so good.

[MCTeeJ]

Originally Posted by extrashaky

So you guys who run E85, if you're on a trip and can't find it, or you show up at your favorite station and they're out of it, or you're just on the wrong end of town where they don't have it when you need to fuel up and have to use E10 instead, do you reflash your car back to E10 right there in the gas station?

I just fuel up with 93 and go when I don't have the option for ethanol. My flex fuel tune adapts on the fly so no reflash required.

EDIT: when I used to have my OFT, the process was put fuel in car, drive car down road, wait for fuel trims to drastically change, THEN reflash.

[Yoshoobaroo]

Originally Posted by MCTeeJ

when I used to have my OFT, the process was put fuel in car, drive car down road, wait for fuel trims to drastically change, THEN reflash.

This is the correct procedure. You don’t want to flash it before the fuel trims hit 20

[Qwimby1]

Originally Posted by Yoshoobaroo

FWIW, mine has been in my glovebox in Florida for 3 years and so far so good.

Thanks

[Nevermore]

Originally Posted by MCTeeJ

I just fuel up with 93 and go when I don't have the option for ethanol. My flex fuel tune adapts on the fly so no reflash required.

EDIT: when I used to have my OFT, the process was put fuel in car, drive car down road, wait for fuel trims to drastically change, THEN reflash.

This is much more appealing. If I go E85 it'll definitely be flex. I'm too lazy to reflash. And then I can just use 93 in the winter and ignore the cold start issues.