seasonal e85 tuning question

nowboostinII · Sep 3, 2008, 10:59 AM

im driving down to dallas from kansas in a couple weeks to get my e85 tune , up here i believe they already started using the lower ethanol mixture of e85 while in texas i think the summer mix is still in their pumps.
my question is should i bring a few gallons down from kansas or tune on the summer mix?

Lets say i dont have the means to get both maps so what is safer...a conservative tune on kansas mixture then using that map when summer rolls around? or a coservative tune on the texas mix and using that map with the kansas gas during winter time?

[EVO]Cookie · Sep 3, 2008, 01:12 PM

It's hard to run E85 in the Winter......When the high temps don't break the 50's I switch back to gas to save my starter. If your fuel trims are spot on the ECU should be able to trim the difference. Ask the station owner or manager in your area when they change to the E70 mix. One of the station I buy from in the St.Louis area sells E85 year around.

TalonFiero · Sep 3, 2008, 03:43 PM

I have a "spring" mix tune that I run year round here in Minnesota. It leans out to around 12:1 in the summer an picks up power and richens out to around 11:1 or maybe even a little lower in the winter and obviously loses power but I don't go WOT as its icy around here.

I have some hesitation starting on e70 in the Winter but it starts in -10 below weather. The trick is to crank it over a couple times and then stop, then crank it over again and it usually fires right up. I have no luck in just cranking it over from the get go if it doesn't fire off right away, I always stop right away give it a sec and turn it over again vroom!

ericblackevo8 · Sep 3, 2008, 04:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [EVO]Cookie

It's hard to run E85 in the Winter......When the high temps don't break the 50's I switch back to gas to save my starter. If your fuel trims are spot on the ECU should be able to trim the difference. Ask the station owner or manager in your area when they change to the E70 mix. One of the station I buy from in the St.Louis area sells E85 year around.

Which stations in the area sell the E-85 mixture year round?
Thanks!

Jim in Tucson · Sep 3, 2008, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nowboostinII

...in a couple weeks to get my e85 tune, up here i believe they already started using the lower ethanol mixture of e85 while in texas i think the summer mix is still in their pumps.

FYI...reference #10 and #11.

[EVO]Cookie · Sep 4, 2008, 03:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ericblackevo8

Which stations in the area sell the E-85 mixture year round?
Thanks!

Lowell's in Collinsville He's a ZX independent I also buy E85 from the Handy Mart in Caseyville but I'm not sure who there supplier is I'll ask them next time I'm there. I live on the East side.

ericblackevo8 · Sep 4, 2008, 06:17 PM

That sucks. I am way out west towards the St. Charles area but their is a ZX station near me that sells E-85 so I will be sure to check them out. Thanks for the help much appreciated!

Turbo Kyle · Sep 5, 2008, 10:32 AM

^ where in st.chuck are you?

eitan · Oct 14, 2008, 07:21 PM

The only thing I've noticed is that the winterized blend doesn't take well to as much timing as you'd run on the summer blend. We've switched now to the mid-grade in IL where it's E75 or so, and I've noticed a little bit of knock where there used to be none.

I control boost via load so I typically make adjustments to the WGDC table to adjust for the cooler air, and at the same time reduce timing a little bit across the powerband.

Evo9tunerz · Oct 20, 2008, 09:31 AM

^^Why does this happen? Can you elaborate a little more on this?

razorlab · Oct 20, 2008, 01:49 PM

For the California people, I found out from the Pearson fuels rep that our mix never changes. It's always E85, year round.

Evo9tunerz · Oct 20, 2008, 04:16 PM

I heard that E70 is more prone to knocking than E-85. Can anyone confirm this? So that means a tune on E-85 will have a better chance to knock on E-70.

8UpUrV8 · Oct 21, 2008, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Evo9tunerz

I heard that E70 is more prone to knocking than E-85. Can anyone confirm this? So that means a tune on E-85 will have a better chance to knock on E-70.

E85 is ~105 octane, the less Ethanol, the less octane, the more knock prone.

If you have to switch between E85/E70 and don't want to get tuned twice, just get tuned for E70, that way you'll never have to worry about it.

mplspilot · Oct 22, 2008, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by razorlab

For the California people, I found out from the Pearson fuels rep that our mix never changes. It's always E85, year round.

I'm hoping to become one of those ppl soon

I wouldn't trust a sales rep when it comes to ethanol content in E85 blends... or anything for that matter. It would be nice of course.. but i highly doubt it.. if you verified it with a gauge, that'd be another story..

http://forums.evolutionm.net/showpos...25&postcount=1

mplspilot · Oct 22, 2008, 09:17 AM

Also, for the OP question:
Unless your timing is tuned to the edge, all you need to do in winter is reduce your boost by a couple of psi and you will be absolutely fine on E85 tune.
I keep my timing the same in winter, just reduce my boost from 28 to 26.

There's also no need to worry much about AFR, E85 seems to work fine in a pretty wide AFR range. Besides lower ethanol content will make you run richer on fall/winter blend automatically, further protecting you from knock.