How to do E85 correctly?

[Anthony]

Either the search engine is not very good, or there isn't a single thread on this whole site with "E85" in the title. That doesn't seem right. Anyway...

Pending a local gas station responding to my email and confirming they do indeed offer E85, I'm strongly considering making the switch. No flex fuel kit for me, 100% E85. I have zero experience with the stuff, outside of my hatred for E10. So I'm wondering:

What all needs to be done for a proper, long term, 100% E85 setup? I know you can just get a tune and go, but I want to do it right.

Is a tune alone all I need for smooth running performance and longevity, or should I seriously consider injectors, sensors, etc.? If so, what makes the additional parts necessary?

I believe I read somewhere that E85 doesn't get as good of mileage per gallon as regular gasoline. I'm not even sure if that's true or not, much less whether a tune would bring the efficiency closer to ethanol-free numbers. I don't really care about fuel economy, but considering this one station will be the only one within a 100 mile radius of my house, I'll pretty much be tethered to this store. Not really a deal stopper, but something I definitely will need to be aware of.

I'm also open to and would appreciate any other insight to the mysterious world of E85-onlyness.

[husker741]

I heard people have had good luck with Visconti working on getting different fuel in our cars.

[Anthony]

O rly? That sounds promising, I'll have to look into that. I only deal with shops that have legendarily good customer service, so it should work out fine.

[Adeets]

Originally Posted by husker741

I heard people have had good luck with Visconti working on getting different fuel in our cars.

If by fuel in our cars you mean fuel on our cars, and the car igniting. Then your right visconti so far has had the best success at burning down someone's car while he's tuning it with his flex fuel system installed...

Seriously though for e85 stay away from visconti.

Fa20club I've heard has a very nice flex-fuel kit.

And moto-mike does e85 tunes as well.

[Adeets]

Originally Posted by Anthony

O rly? That sounds promising, I'll have to look into that. I only deal with shops that have legendarily good customer service, so it should work out fine.

This has got to be a troll thread... I've been hustled!

[Anthony]

No, the OP is totally serious, the thread just went full retard immediately after that. Like I said, I'm not interested in flex fuel anyway. I really am asking about the details of owning and maintaining an E85-only car.

[husker741]

In all seriousness, I've been told all you need is a correct tune and you're good to go.

[Anthony]

Yeah, that's what I've gathered over time too, but I was just looking at injectors that were claiming they're particularly good for an E85 setup, which in turn got me wondering if there's anything else really necessary for a really legitimate E85 setup.

I guess I was kind of approaching it like nitrous. Like any kid can throw a 200 shot of nitrous on his car and go screaming down the road. But a really good proper nitrous setup with all the tuning and redundant safety systems can run you almost as much as a decent FI setup.

I don't want to be that kid that just does one quick bolt on this blows his shit up 200 miles later. Not that E85 is that drastic, but you know...

[Anthony]

It seems like there might would be a more ideal ignition system for E85 than whatever the factory uses. Maybe some more effective spark plugs or something. I'm completely speculating though, I'm certainly not a physicist.

[mattles]

e85 has been known to corrode some components in our OEM fuel system (plastics and adhesives, fuel pump parts, etc)

As long as you do not leave e85 in the system for an extended period of time (IE: let it sit a week or two with a tank of e85) it will not be a problem in the short term.

However in the long term, I do believe you want to replace the OEM in-tank fuel pump and look into which plastics are corroded by e85 and change components out with e85-safe materials.

Like I said though, in the short term its almost 100% safe which is acceptible to most individuals. It goes without saying that if ANY dealership finds out you ran e85 in your car, your warranty will be long gone.

[lbroskee]

i forget the exact terminology for it, but i no e85 is more "acidic" to things in the car like filters it runs through (like i said, forgot exact term). idk what u would replace them with to hold out better tho, but as im sure u've seen no cars are PURE e85 factory but only flex fuel (mix both. so that way it's less harsh but u get the benefits of being able to mix both and get power AND mpg. just food for thought. i grew up around custom bikes (none dare to use e85 over a properly built bike) and these r ppl that do bikes, cars, track funny cars, full builds, u name it. e85 is nice but i dont get why this forum is so religious by it the same why they are with 400+ HP 1/4 miling the cars (this car was ment to be driven and not launched only). I would say do flex over pure e85, but thats just my input

[Anthony]

If it looks like there isn't enough aftermarket support to do E85-only, I'll just hold off on it for a while. I'm not trying to have my fuel system go all to shit.

I want to get headers and exhaust for weight saving puposes, but I don't want to do that without a tune. And if I'm going to buy a tune and if E85 is actually available now, which it seems like it is, I feel like I might as well go with that.

It's always a vicious chain reaction with me. Want to save weight, so need E85.

[Sportsguy83]

Originally Posted by Anthony

If it looks like there isn't enough aftermarket support to do E85-only, I'll just hold off on it for a while. I'm not trying to have my fuel system go all to shit.

I want to get headers and exhaust for weight saving puposes, but I don't want to do that without a tune. And if I'm going to buy a tune and if E85 is actually available now, which it seems like it is, I feel like I might as well go with that.

It's always a vicious chain reaction with me. Want to save weight, so need E85.

There was only one car that had problems while running E85 BUT it was never determined of it was due to E85 or something else.

There are tons of STI/WRX running E85 only for years, no issues. Our fuel system uses same components as those cars.

Its good practice not to let a tank of E85 sit for a month but then again I have a friend with an STI who let the tank sit for 1+ years and his car started on first crank, zero issues.


To run E85 on an NA car you dont need anything else, just a tune. Injectors and/or FP are a must only for Force Induced cars and probably down the road when people build crazy NA setups.

I dont want to sound like the biggest fan or defender of E85 but IMHO if run properly, you wont have much issues if any.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Sportsguy83

There are tons of STI/WRX running E85 only for years, no issues. Our fuel system uses same components as those cars.

Well I do like the sound of that.