RC000E

I'm about to have my car back on the road with another engine build. Having run E85 for some time now, I'm at the point to make the decision on what I'll run this year. I personally haven't experienced any issues with the fuel, but I'm starting to see some stories surface on the all motor forum.

Are there any E85 cars out there experiencing any issues over the long term yet?

96 GSR-T

Not I

Link to all motor woes?

Karl Buchka

I've worked on and tuned a few E85 cars, and as far as I'm concerned it's the best pump fuel you can run on a turbo motor. I have yet to hear about any long-term issues.

twkdCD595

After running 112 last year end of year... this year I made some changes and e85 is within 5 minutes of me or less in every direction. All the locals here running it in everything from evo's to fbodys have had great results... so E85 here I come.

Plus its was only like 1.59$ a few days ago when I went by the gas station closest to my house.

96 GSR-T

There is no downside to running E85 IMO, alot of people just like to hate on it based on 30yr old information. The corn is the truth jump on the Bandwagon!

MikeySpec

No problems out here in Chicago that i know of. I've torn down a few e85 engines and fuel systems for inspection over time and if it werent for the funky smell you wouldnt even know it was there. The only problems around here with e85 is the level of consistency coming out of some of the pumps. The stuff never ceases to amaze me.

96 GSR-T

lol I does smell funky, I pop my hood and that is all I smell. I dusted the **** out of some STi that told me to my face "you dont stand a chance" and at the next light he goes "wtf kind of fuel are you running it smells crazy" I replied "I bet you got a good wiff of it being 10 cars back and all" LMFAO

twkdCD595

Just curious if people who have been running E85, in addition to the OP question... have you tested the E85 at all to check the consistancy of it coming from the pump?

Jsarv

South Central IL runs 85% all year round.

Running it in my WRX and the only damn problem is cold starts, but it could also be my junk injectors not helping things either.

Mikey tuned Tony's SC H22 on E85 and he hasn't had a problem either.

I haven't had to touch my OL fueling since the switch and my initial tune, telling me the consistency has not changed.

I have had to change fuel filters about 3 times (strange things happen and changing the fuel filter always fixes it.....???)

I wouldn't have it any other way, hell even 20mpg on the highway in a gas hog subi.

-Jerod

96 GSR-T

Do you use OEM filters? I use an external 40 micron with a stainless mesh and I noticed a clear jelly on the screen when I check it, normally after 500 miles or so, I am not sure what it is but it always returns when I check the filter.

HiProfile

The only real consistency issue with the fuel is the winter & summer blends, which is rarely posted (flex fuel cars sense the difference) - some gearheads don't do the research into the difference. Another name for winter blend is E70, hint hint.

Since ethanol is only 1 chemical, and gasoline is an averaged mix of everything from iso-octane (100 octane) to heptane (ZERO octane!), all which burn differently, its much harder to get a bad batch.

I can't think of anything that would cause that gel to form. Maybe its the stabilizing crap or a different denaturing agent, or even the lubricants they use. They're required to use 5% gasoline to denature it, but maybe a secondary source (food producer) denatures it another way before its mixed.


BTW what issues have you seen in the all motor forum?? They're generally tuned on the bleeding edge of performance (since 1HP is a huge gain to them), so it'd no wonder a new fuel could cause issues.

96 GSR-T

The one guy complaining about it was comparing it to CAM2 and he had a 300+hp NA K and he didnt gain 1 hp was the issue, another guy had a bunch of Aeromotive crap go bad on him, and he said his valves were chalked white, the discussion is in the drag forum.

I know from personal experience, when you lean out on E85 everything turns chalk white on the exhaust side.....

Karl Buchka

Might also be worth noting that audible ping doesn't generally occur with E85, so having proper knock sensing installed is critical.

RC000E

I've personally had no issues...not the first one, but I came across a thread about white powder and all this b.s. I generally think this is always linked to methanol, and as is typical, everyone confuses the two.

I'm just trying to determine if any long term users are experiencing any issues.

I actually geared my build more towards E85 this year than last year. I bumped compression right to 9.8:1 in order to pick up some torque and further take advantage of E85. Then all of a sudden I see this thread that it killed some RC injectors, a fuel pump, and wrecked a guys top end.

I still ain't buyin it, and chalk it up to bad info, but I still felt compelled to check if I've missed something here. My car has no issues whatsover...never has, yet the saga continues over this fuel!

RC000E

Big Tuna's post about 10 posts down or so....

https://honda-tech.com/forums/all-motor-naturally-aspirated-44/93-octane-vs-e85-dyno-results-naturally-aspirated-engine-2351459/

Talkin about all kinds of problems

GT35R_EF

How can he pin E85 to cause that damage? Aeromotive pump, regulator AND injectors? I know cars that run all of those parts on E85 and have no issues. I also know A LOT of cars that are consistently running E85 and have no "white powder" build up. This is after the motor has been pulled apart for other reasons.

Ethanol and methanol are two different things.

http://www.aquamist.co.uk/phpBB2/vie...6e64596695e592

MikeySpec

I've gotta say that BigTuna is the only one i've really seen on H-T that has bad stuff to say about the e85. There was another guy around who was able to give a more thorough explanation as to why it happened to him. It was pinpointed to be the materials used in the fuel system.

96 GSR-T

Here are the guts of a notoriously cheap AEM universal PFR, it ran for about a year using gasoline and a year using E70-E85, it also sat stagnant full of E70 from January of 08 until June of 08 and then from August until December of 08 until now when I just removed it from my car. I will let the pics speak for themselves.









The inside of my AEM fuel rail looks identical, no oxidation.......

RC000E

Yeah....reassembling my motor showed no signs whatsoever of any type of abnormal occurences. I found it interesting so many on the all motor forum refuse to run this fuel because of this one "Big Tuna" character.

Very typical in the Honda world though....one random guy has something bad to say and it spreads like the plague as absolute truth.

Still noone comes forward with any issues though....interesting. I've had E79 in my tank for 8 months. I'm going to pull the fuel pump and post pics....we'll see what's in there.

96 GSR-T

Bet it looks like it did when you put it in there.

Jsarv

So he blames pump failure and a poor tune on E85? lol

I've been running it for 6 months, probably put over 500 gallons (yea I drive alot) in my car.

lots of experimenting and tuning changing things - I've gotten pretty crazy on boost and timing (for a Subi) and had NO det - Yea I use the Knock sensor (Subaru's knock control is 5000 trillion x better than any honda knock control) but I also use feel - sounds - road dyno - WOT (stop) plugs too...

I had some issues going up to chicago to pick up a friends car, got gas up there and it was like donkey **** compared to what I get - Hard to explain.

I use the factory (style) filter. Seem like every 1k miles it needs tossed.. I'm going to get an inline filter to fix this problem...

My engine is still in one piece (after I found out today I cannot log true manifold relative pressure (long story) over 37psia-atm (22.5psi where I'm at)

I've been running 24psi on a 103k mile old ej205 (open deck junk pistons) and around 18* of timing at peak torque and 25* at redline (21psi at redline)

I dropped timing today and got some shitty feedback, so back it went.

Low load begs for more timing, there are flat spots and some feedback with the knock sensor running to low of timing in low load regions.

E85 is picky but god damn 1425*f EGT's 3" from the cylinder head in a long 3-4-5 gear pull? Seriously 93-E10 would have creeped to mid 1600's.

I'm a life long user now (as long as its still available) - Both my buddies (one H22a Supercharged EG civic) and 94 Coupe H22a 60trim turbo (not done yet) are both going/running E85 without a single problem.

As long as you have good injectors and a infinite supply of fuel filters your good.

-Jerod

Yea its hard on your N/A - Even the domestics are smarter than the Honda N/A guys lol

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...postcount=1943

swapit

I ran e85 for a full season at 700whp jeff evans tuned and had no issues with the fuel.I found no problems with my aeromotive pump,regulator or lines.But did drop a valve right after i was retuned on q16 and when i dissaemblied the motor everyhting looked good except the exhaust ports on my head were pitted pretty good and jeff evans said it was from the e85 and i had that head for about 7yrs and it wasnt like that during the rebuild right before getting tuned on e85.I have had two friends both tuned by jeff evans one turbo and one allmotor(tim grey)and they both had injector problems and hard starting via fuel dumping into the cylinders and hydro locking the motor.
The fuel was good to me but i can only get it at one station that i dont trust and its 30mins from me...

hamizle

EXACTLY the summer and winter blend is different here in co as well other than that its great

turbo90accord

Im in centennial as welll... The station just south of county line on colorado blvd doesnt change their winter blend. they get it from hill petroleum and they only offer true E85

hamizle

i work right by there, what station is it?