E85 Fuel Quality

NoQuarter

Major
Nov 24, 2017
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Not going to believe BP is going to put 50% water in the tank. That's just bad business all the way around. Not gonna happen.
 

NoQuarter

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Nov 24, 2017
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But could be a % of it, its not the supplier but vendor. Seen it happen to raise profits.

Wouldn't that apply to all the gas then by sh$tty vendor? Bad stations are bad stations and many people like us figure that out. This isn't an E85 problem right?
 

langsbr

Captain
Apr 5, 2017
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There's been a number of scientific studies, as well as empirical evidence that shows that there's really no anti knock benefit past E40 - E50. There may be added cooling benefit, but once you can hit MBT, you don't need more octane. Most full E85 setups are done out of convenience in filling and avoiding mixing. There's some debate, but E85 is around 108-109 octane (heck I've seen reports of 113-114). E40-E50, when arrived from a mix of E85 and E10 93, should be around 99 - 100 octane.

Another interesting observation - Matt Happel from Sloppy Mechanics posted a dyno comparison from race gas to E85 - no other changes - timing, boost, afr, nothing - and the E85 setup made more power. Used a hell of a lot more fuel, but made more power.
 

martymil

Major General
Sep 6, 2017
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The problem is not e85 but how its handled and stored.

I personally going to use e98 for knock suppression only

1.5 gallons is more than ample.and I'm guaranteed its going to be clean

You guys have to think of it this way, you can drink shitty water from the tap and be ok but most buy a bottle from the shop why wouldn't you let your engine not do the same for a few measly dollars
 

Rcboosted2007

Lieutenant
Jan 28, 2018
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Straight from the pump e90. $2 a gallon. Maybe i should sale 55 gal drums, or 5 gal pails
5901520B-ACD9-4416-8E6F-FC7916550F28.jpeg
 

The Banshee

Corporal
Nov 18, 2017
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Lehigh Valley PA
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2008 335xi coupe 6466 MT
Especially when the other 49% could be 87 octane gasoline .

Exactly my concern. What is the other 49%? I am sure they are blending with some low octane to keep costs down. Octane rating over 93 is not a priority for them so who knows.

Water is bad for obvious reasons but with a 49% mix of 87 does it make a difference for us?
 

martymil

Major General
Sep 6, 2017
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The problem is with such a high blend is that you don't know how much water is in it as adding water will push the e content up the scale

Not saying they are but you will never know as e85 blends with water

Until they regulate e85 at the bowser we are left to the mercy of vendors and suppliers to what they want to sell us.

Most operators do the right thing but some dont and you will never know
 
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Jake@MHD

Major
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Nov 7, 2016
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Philly
I don't know a single person who ever had a problem with "watered down" E85 and I know countless people who run it daily. The only way I see it being an issue is if you store it yourself say in your garage, and do not have your container sealed properly.

That said, it should be very easy to tell when / if it happens if you are always logging your car (and you should be). If you see your STFT out of whack one day randomly and/or higher knock counts than normal, something is probably up with your fuel
 
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martymil

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I dont use e85 from the bowser and dont have any issues at all.

The problem is how much water is mixed in

Up to 20 % wont be an issue in terms of the car running correctly but it will cause other issues like acetic acid build up in your motor the conbustion by product of excessive water in the fuel

Im all for using e85 just got to be very careful where people fill up until e85 is regulated.
 
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nahor

Specialist
Sep 15, 2017
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Straight from the pump e90. $2 a gallon. Maybe i should sale 55 gal drums, or 5 gal pailsView attachment 11876

For what it's worth, I used to consistently get E90 when I manually tested what I got out of the E85 pump, but now that I have flex fuel my ethanol sensor is telling me it was more like E77. I actually got E70 when I filled up yesterday.
 
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nahor

Specialist
Sep 15, 2017
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Thats great info. Have you done a side by side comparison of the manual test vs sensor

I haven't in recent fill ups, but I did for the first one after I got flex fuel installed; the tester told me E90, maybe a tiny bit lower, and the ethanol sensor told me E77. I should note that I'm using a DIY test kit rather than one of the official ones, but I doubt that'd make a difference, considering they run on the same principle.
 

doublespaces

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Oct 18, 2016
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I haven't in recent fill ups, but I did for the first one after I got flex fuel installed; the tester told me E90, maybe a tiny bit lower, and the ethanol sensor told me E77. I should note that I'm using a DIY test kit rather than one of the official ones, but I doubt that'd make a difference, considering they run on the same principle.

Oh wow.. This is interesting. What is the science/math explaining the large delta between measurement methods?
 

fmorelli

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Aug 11, 2017
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I think hygroscopic is misused in the video, but otherwise worth watching. So if the ethanol sensor is measuring the amount of water content (conductivity of water?) then I'm thinking I should put a bluetooth ECA equipped Continental Sensor in my diesel fuel line ...

Filippo