how to tell if car was previously tuned for E85??
 

I bought a BRZ from an insurance auction a few weeks ago. Pretty excited about it. It did come with a few mods already - Tein coilovers, TRD exhaust, header, RPF1s...

A couple times when starting it in cooler weather it took a couple times cranking and sputtering before it would run, which made me wonder if the old owner had it tuned for and was running E85. It was a theft recovery and purchased from an auction - I have no idea who the previous owner was or how to find them. I've only driven it around the block a couple times at this point. Seems to run great when started and pulls harder than I remember my old FR-S but it's been a little while, so it could be wishful thinking.

Is there an easy way to tell if it was tuned for E85?

I have a VAGII tool for my wife's Audi, which also reads generic OBDII codes but not sure what else it could do on non-Audi.

I imagine you would need either a tactrix, ecutek or oft to read the ecu programming.

Or the Toyota computer, can't remember the name of it.

You have a header, so if it were me, I'd find a tuner to look at it.

If you live near the southern border of OH-IO, by WV and KY, I may be able to help you out.

Thanks guys.

I'm in Columbus but once it's road-ready I'd be willing to drive that way. Thanks man.

No problem. PM me if you need to set up a meeting. Maybe we can meet halfway. I've got another owner close by me that I've offered my EcuTek ProECU hardware and software if he decides he needs it.

Always willing to help.

If it has a header good chance it has a tune of some sort. E85 has a different smell to gasoline. Start it up and see how it smells? Otherwise some other indicators would be a flex fuel sensor in the engine bay or with the car running pull the cruise control stick back (with cruise turned off) and watch to see if the tacho jumps to 1k, 2k, 3k or 4k rpm. That is really only if it is an ecutek tune, OFT will be harder to determine.

Plug in any obd tool and read the outputs ie AFR trims etc

And compare to what? If asking the question he probably doesn't know what stock should be so just reading what is there will be of no help at all.

I agree with the smell test. You can smell the exhaust or just smell the fuel filler hole. If it smells like a bar, it's E85.

Another vote for the smell test. On a cold start you can smell the unburnt fuel in the exhaust. With e85 it has a sweet aroma that’s easy to detect. I’d start it up in the morning and take a few whiffs of the exhaust.

There are also cheap ethanol content test kits available but you need to find a way to siphon some fuel out of the tank or fuel lines.

AFR will be higher for gas. 14.7ish vs E85's 8.7ish at idle (warmed up) depending on the tune.

Thanks for the tips everyone. Some good ideas. I’ll check everything when I get back to it - it’s in our warehouse at work and I’m home this week working on finishing/framing our basement.

Still need to know what the base was to know if it is higher or lower.