I have been curious for a few months about what running E85 in my J30a1 Accord would do. I did some research and many old myths about e85 ruining fuel systems have been debunked. One test I found with a 2000 Chevy Tahoe ran e85 for 100,000 miles and then the engine was torn down with no signs of additional wear anywhere and the overall condition of the engine was cleaner than that of another Tahoe with 80,000 and regular fuel. Another test with a Toyota prius also went well with no performance issues.


I have not yet added any E85 since I was concerned about running too lean with the PCM not being able to compensate enough for the additional E85 needed, so I decided to record some data from the PCM, in particular the fuel trims. I figure if I start with a mix of e85 and unleaded fuel I can keep an eye on how much the injectors are compensating. But what I found to my surprise was my MAP sensor is reading high, and my LTFT is +15%. No CEL and this car has been meticulously maintained. I don't have any other data that is out of spec.

Could this be a result of my AEM v2 intake? According to cartechbook.com it is.

While there may not really be any advantage to running E85, I would like to know how a car like mine will respond.

I would like some feedback on whether my intake would cause the change in my LTFT and MAP reading. And if so, would this then make running e85 that much more beneficial?


Thanks, Doug

 

A car your age will need to be tuned for E85. You can't just dump it in and expect it to automatically respond to it.

Would E85 + tune + injectors + fuel pump make a difference? It'll run, but I doubt you'll see much performance difference in the N/A J motor. The newer J series actually were intelligent enough to know if you put premium fuel in it and you'd gain some ponies from it. I have not heard anything about the CG chassis cars doing the same.

 

Single turbo+Pump Gas+J series=400+whp stock block.

 

Commonly Problematic Automatic + Stock Power = dead transmission

 

Can I get some more details on this setup?

I initially only wanted to do this just to see how the car would react. Heres my thought though now that I see my LTFT is +15, something I didnt expect to see. Likely due to my V2 intake.

With the pcm already commanding +15% and E85 needing about 30% more volume to equal pump gas, and since E85 is much more resistant to knock, what would be the problem?

 

I really wish I would have bookmarked or remembered where I saw it. It was a J series in an Acura TL that had very minor motor modifications and made fairly good power. It was a very clean car as well, I'll do some searching around and get back to you if I find anything.

Yah, that's a thing.

 

The fact that you can't really tune for it, aside from fuel delivery. An AEM F/IC might get you close, but unless yours is a distributor j30a1, you're SOL for advancing the ignition curve with the F/IC. That's where you'd get the power increase from mostly. There's other, more expensive options, but unless you're really serious about this experiment, forget it. Buy CL-S cams instead and start saving for a trans swap. From a past CG V6 owner, you'll need to...

 

Ive been long debating on putting a j32 6 speed in my car because I love it to death but death is just lingering around the corner with the AT. Again Im not really concerned with power, I just wondered how the engine would respond with fuel trims and timing.

 

I'm no expert man, but have owned and been around the 98-02 Accords for a while.

The J30A1 only runs on 87 octane. Anything higher than that would actually make it run worse. The ECU will not make any adjustments to a higher octane. 6th gens have no Knock sensor.

You will most likely see no benefit from running E85.

As far as the AEM FIC. We have discovered that unit is NOT Universal to some of the J series engines. It will not properly manage the VR and MAG type sensors in certain model of J series. in particular the earlier J series.

It will manage the J30A4/A5 and J32A3,...but not a J35A3. I would guess it also would not manage the J30A1...if you were going to tune the E85 in the J30A1.

but, i m no expert man.