Ethanol in Fuel = GOOD for Performance?! FF#29

[ARD-Lucky]

Without an injector change you may not have enough fuel flow to run the engine properly... I'd have to run the numbers to know for sure but if they were large enough the main gain would be better power primarily. Fuel economy would require some testing to determine if cost savings would actually add up.

[precopster]

I guess if changing the injectors does the trick I would be willing to do this at reasonable cost. Just don't want a gas sucking undrivable pig when I return to regular fuel

[ARD-Lucky]

I know some folks that simply install injectors that are ~30% larger then fill with E85... you won't get the performance benefits without tuning but that would allow you a simple way to get a reasonably close AFR.

Swap back to stock injectors for regular gas. Just a thought

[busterm]

I ran E10 in my 1946 C85 Continental that had Goodyear rubber fuel tanks at Altitudes up to 15,000 Feet above sea level for 15 years didn't hurt a thing. I also put 2 tanks through my 2002 BMW 330CI 1st tank was about 2/3's E85 first time I started it was kinda of rough bought a can of ether didn't need it ran fine other than when cruising felt like I was driving on a wash board. 2nd tank 95% E85 could tell a little more wash board effect still wasn't that bad. I had about a 20% less mileage. Definitely interested, I have seen add on devices from $100 to $300 dollars that guarantee results to run anything you want.

[polskamafia mjl]

This thread is a few years old but I wanted to know if any new technology has come out to make E85 tunes more user friendly. The main problem in the US is that E85 can be hard to find so the ability to switch between regular gas and sweet, sweet corn juice is important for this to be practical. I know of several cars in Australia running Haltech ECU systems that incorporate a 'flex sensor' that measures the ethanol content in the fuel. From that information the ECU can then adjust the tune on the fly; no ECU swapping required. Is anybody doing anything like that in the Volvo community yet?

[oragex]

I'm reading from Wikipedia
"Ethanol contains approx. 34% less energy per unit volume than gasoline, and therefore in theory, burning pure ethanol in a vehicle reduces miles per US gallon 34%, given the same fuel economy, compared to burning pure gasoline. However, since ethanol has a higher octane rating, the engine can be made more efficient by raising its compression ratio. Using a variable turbocharger, the compression ratio can be optimized for the fuel, making fuel economy almost constant for any blend."

[93Regina]

Australia running Haltech ECU systems that incorporate a 'flex sensor' that measures the ethanol content in the fuel.

Nice idea, but I'm not sure if OEM Bosch pumps and FPR are upto the task.

I suspect most turbo folks use MS, but I've seen a post or two on Haltech.

Considering one will have over $2,000.00 into Haltech equipment, only those with vehicle lifts in their heated/cooled work shop could afford this setup.

[93Regina]

E85

Flex Fuel with MegaSquirt Controller

[polskamafia mjl]

Considering one will have over $2,000.00 into Haltech equipment, only those with vehicle lifts in their heated/cooled work shop could afford this setup.

Unless you're a famous Australian Youtube duo who get them for free.

So megasquirt can run a flex sensor. It can't be difficult to for a tuner to do that with the stock ECU, can it?

[JDS60R]

Its a lot easier to tune it for one or the other. If you need a variable tune we have to add in code to handle the reading from a flex fuel sensor. Haltech can be had for a G if you look around. about $500 USED on racing boards. That being said I would just get an extra ECU for each tune and pay $300 or so for one to be ethanol. remember to fuel sample and test you local ethanol before tuning as no one is offering 100% ethanol in every state.