E85 gone wrong
 

I'm on a tried and true E85 tune with Wayno's charts and maf. Worked fine for a month or so.
I fueled up at a new station (Very nice part of town) the other day.
And for the past few days I've noticed a lot of bogging. To the point I was manually downshifting to get power.
Plugged the OFT in this morning to check out what was going on:

http://datazap.me/u/mgpaxman/e85-gon...ata=7-10-11-12 (Pick any section)


After some panic, and with a half tank of fuel still I decided the numbers pointed toward some E20 or something instead of E85. And decided the best course of action was to fuel up with 93 and switch over to a Petrol tune.

http://datazap.me/u/mgpaxman/petro-t...zoom=3577-4684

So I guessed right.
Still need to go back to that station and ask them if they have any idea what they are selling!

Pax

Yep looks like it was petrol or very low E content.

here is how to protect yourself with oft.

Use the tuning alerts or monitor your long term fuel trims if the trims exceed about 10% then you have a problem.

here are the tuning alerts I use with OFT to alert me of any issues

You can have three Alerts and each alert can consist of 4 parameters configured to trigger alarm if All (AND) or one (OR) condition is met.

you need to have any parameter your using as an alert selected in the logging.

Screen will flash and alarm will sound if any of the limits are exceeded.


Alert A (over temperature)
Coolant Temp > 207 F
Oil Temp > 250 F
Select OR at bottom of screen


Alert B ( knock alert & Fuel Trim alert)

For E85 suggest -1 for Petrol may -2
FLKC < -1
Knock Correction < -1
IAM < 0.9
LTFT > +10
LTFT < -10

Select OR at bottom of screen


I set the fuel trim alert as Im on E85 and it will alert me to excessive fuel trims due ethanol content changes or someone accidentally filling up with petrol, it will also alert you of exhaust or intake leaks.



Alert C running lean alert
you might have to tweak AFR for petrol/E85 try 13 for E85 12.5 Petrol
RPM > 5000
Engine Load > 1
AFR > 13
Select AND at bottom of screen




You will need Template 8.2 of later and OFM version 1.21.0 or later

I was running an e70 tune w/o flex fuel for awhile. i was so paranoid that every time i filled up (twice a week) i checked the actual ethanol content along with monitoring the fuel trims. it got old after a few months then after 6 i was over it. Now I won't get an e85 tune again unless i have a flex fuel sensor.

That is precisely why we recommend Flex Fuel. It eliminates the worry and paranoia.

Why so paranoid? Yikes!

I don't have the OFT running all the time. Too attractive to thieves and takes my phone holder.

I think this has finally put me off E85. At least for now.

Thank you for all that info tho. If I do run it again, I'll be sure to reference this post!

Pax

Ok


how about running Torque app on your phone with a $10 elm327 adapter.
you can set torque up to monitor LTFT and alarm on high or low values

This is something I should do... b/c I have torque and a linq

That's a good option also. Thank you.
Honestly, without pushing the car hard I don't feel a huge boost from
E85 over a good Petrol tune.
And here in Nashville, only a couple places to buy e85 and it's close to premium in price.
The car is an AT and I don't track it.
I would be perfectly happy with a chip that had the tune I have settled on.
I think I've done my fiddling. Now it's time just to enjoy the car!
But thanks for all your insight!


Pax

What???? Are you kidding? I live in Nashville and am on E85. Have been since I bought the car basically. There are a TON of E85 stations + they are stupid cheap.

I'm out in Lebanon a lot, and the station at 109 & I-40 was 1.21/gal last time I filled up.

Wow! I've found Three places in two years. A Thortons up I 40 at 119 and one out in Smyrna which is out half the time. And the one that sells petrol with an E85 sticker on the pump (apparently). Thortons was 1.70 or so last time I fueled up there.

How do you find them? All my internet searches come up with just 3? I'm on exit 59 and I 24.

Also Thortons has changed to "Flex Fuel" which makes me nervous!

My Thortons has always said Flex but it's always been reliable 83%

I like how steve comes in and wrecks the question 8 ways to sunday.