30 replies to this topic

[Ipd]

That's quite a long thread, is there any mention or data of the long term effects on engine longevity?

[Che'_Moderator]

That's quite a long thread, is there any mention or data of the long term effects on engine longevity?

Sure there was. He clearly states Ethanol is completely no-corrosive.

E85 + MS = (451whp + )

[Ipd]

You've got it!

MS group buy for E85 conversion.

Only $6500 per unit, but comes with an extra motor for use later.

[Che'_Moderator]

You've got it!

MS group buy for E85 conversion.

Only $6500 per unit, but comes with an extra motor for use later.

Put me down on the "Kinda committed list", if it looks good I will throw my name into the "Really kinda committed list" hat.

[ajhehr]

weve been doing alot of work on e85, both with our supercharged 240sx (300whp on a stock supercharger from a nissan xterra stock engine) as well as our 944 turbo (415whp stock engine). the culmination of what weve learned is!!! E85 only makes sense if you are putting it in a race car or to go racing and road racing at that. BECAUSE,
1. there is zero money saving advantage to e85. there is actual legislation that ties the price of E85 to the price of gas so that E85 is ~110% the price of gas per mile.
2. There are better fuels if you want to make the most power, e85 has a relatively low available btu, vs some c16 and some of the new oxygenated fuels...
3. it IS cheep 105 octane (acts like 110 if your setup can take advantage of the cooling effect of the alcohol (i.e. moving injectors further away from the port, treating extra injectors like a aquamyst or equivalent)).
4. imposable to have an e85 station everywhere youll need it...
5. there is NO effective deterioration of anything (accept old fuel lines) if you use it sparingly.
6. VERY FORGIVING TO TUNE. as an engine will actually run at 6 to one air fuels (or much less then .7 lambda) so you can start by dumping fuel into your rough tune and get your timing set. then start pulling fuel out till you hit your .8 lambda
7. the cost of doing a "conversion" is more then the cost of a motec standalone and a fuel system.
8. your car now has a corn hole...
9. cooler operating temps.
10. it helps tremendously (along with #3) when you run your fuel system at 75+ psi for better atomization
11. if your car was not designed and assembled with (the tolerances of) e85 in mind you need to change the oil VERY often. this is because the E85 is so much thiner and slow burning that it will get past the rings and into the oil, and you know what happens when alcohol and oil mix... but race cars ( or cars that go racing) already have to change there oil often.
12. I said so.
13. race cars (or cars) with management can have a switch to load different fuel maps for different occasions...
I may remember some more but I am still right...

if your looking for an alternate to gas look at LPG...

just thought Id offer My EXPERIENCE. sorry about the caps but this is the subject of some rather heated debates on the other forums...

[mojoman]

So, seems like some people with much knowledge about e85 have met in this thread... So i am pretty sure, somebody can help me with my problem.

I am running my 850R now on pure e85 and the lambda check light has come on... What I expected that it will happen... But what to do now? Just let it be like that?

Car runs fine on Ethanol, but of course i have some cold starting issues, which hopefully wont get too bad in the Winter.

So, thanks for every answer! Kind regards from Switzerland!

[Marlboroman]

Car runs fine on Ethanol, but of course i have some cold starting issues, which hopefully wont get too bad in the Winter.

If you think it's hard to start now, wait until the winter... Engine heater, and maybe some gas in the tank will help. Putting a resistor parallellconnected with the enginge tempsensor that you can activate via a switch is a good idea. 18kOhm usually works fine.

[ajhehr]

So, seems like some people with much knowledge about e85 have met in this thread... So i am pretty sure, somebody can help me with my problem.

I am running my 850R now on pure e85 and the lambda check light has come on... What I expected that it will happen... But what to do now? Just let it be like that?

Car runs fine on Ethanol, but of course i have some cold starting issues, which hopefully wont get too bad in the Winter.

So, thanks for every answer! Kind regards from Switzerland!

wow...ok...

what are your air fuel ratios...
have you done any mods to run e85? if you havent...
they should be about the same as they were on pump gas... THIS IS BAD BAD BAD BAD X 1000000
The stoic afr of e85 is NOT the same as gas. it is MUCH LESS at 10:1 vs gas at 14:1

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO if you have put E 85 in your tank with 0 modifacation, and your running ~12:1 afr's then you are RUNNING LEAN>>>
YOU ARE BURNING UP YOUR ENGINE. your "lambda" light has come on because you have probably fried it from running 1600+egts (bad)...
go back to pump gas quick and prey you havent fried your rings...

if you have done modifications (new map or management) why DO you have a "lambda" light, and what exactly do you mean by that?

If I am missing information PLEASE include that in a post. then well talk about the cold start.

[Marlboroman]

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO if you have put E 85 in your tank with 0 modifacation, and your running ~12:1 afr's then you are RUNNING LEAN>>>
YOU ARE BURNING UP YOUR ENGINE. your "lambda" light has come on because you have probably fried it from running 1600+egts (bad)...
go back to pump gas quick and prey you havent fried your rings...

Limp-home can cope with that. And when it goes into lh, the ecu switches to lambdacontrol and thus ignoring the maf and makes it run rich. And you get lower egt with E85. Lambda-light is probably due to "long term mixture" and is something that needs to bee looked at but not something to be to worried about.

[ajhehr]

Car runs fine on Ethanol, but of course i have some cold starting issues, which hopefully wont get too bad in the Winter.

Limp-home can cope with that. And when it goes into lh, the ecu switches to lambdacontrol and thus ignoring the maf and makes it run rich. And you get lower egt with E85. Lambda-light is probably due to "long term mixture" and is something that needs to bee looked at but not something to be to worried about.

doesnt sound like limp mode to me...


PLEASE GIVE ME MORE INFO>>>

sorry for the caps...

[mojoman]

So, thanks for your replies...

I have installed an e85-conversion-kit from www.change2e85.com. There are also some Garages in Switzerland which are converting regular, on gas running cars, to run on e85 with such conversion kits, WITHOUT CHANGING ANYTHING OTHTER!

Engine-Temperature keeps at the same level, but i am going to OBD-Scan the car this week. A friend is also running his 850 without mods on 50/50 gas/e85 and also had the lambda-issue. He went to a Volvo-Dealer and they solved it, i don't know how.

So, thats all i can tell you for now, if you need any further information, i will write back as soon as possible.

Moe