E85 Fuel Quality

fmorelli

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Ethanol will be soon new to me. I'll be running Flexfuel, in part because I'm on the outer edge of getting E85. My closest station seems to be Sunoco. Somewhat further away I have Chevron with E85. Then there are a bunch of random gas stations (no idea who's fuel they are using).

With my 93 octane fuels, I have found Shell to be more consistently better. So I'm wondering from those of you running ethanol - what's the story on fuel quality? Recommendations? Thoughts?

Thanks,

Filippo
 

dyezak

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May 4, 2017
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The good thing about E is that E100 is a pure substance. Gasoline is a mixture of a lot of ingredients. “Good” gas has a better mixture of additives.

Ethanol is different, you just want the purest ethanol possible, so as long as your E reading on your flex sensor shows e70 or above you are good no matter where you bought it.
 
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langsbr

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There are only 2 pumps in a 45 mile radius of me. One consistently rates at E85 or slightly higher, the other, typically mid 50s. Some locals got some and it had a bunch of trash in it and they called the company. Supposedly the company was going to investigate but I haven't seen anything come of it. It's pretty much a test and see scenario, but the beauty of Flex fuel is less concern if you fill up and only get E50, other than reduced power.
 
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mang.vang

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Sep 28, 2017
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Just updated the app and purchased the flex module. Will have the wires installed today and running flex fuel tomorrow. Thanks Jake!
 
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martymil

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Guys you know these sensors and tests your only measuring the absence of gasoline.
The rest should be E but could also contain water, additives or impurities.

So when your thinking your getting good fuel from the bowser think again.

The only way to get a true mix is buying a barrel of e98 and mixing it yourself.

Its like eating small portion of arsenic its not going to kill you straight but it will kill you, some faster than others, same
goes for engines. You are trusting unscrupulous greedy vendors and suppliers as there is no quality control on e85 unlike gasoline, which is controlled and tested regularly.

Small portion of E is ok like less than 15% as its a good octane booster and it will absorb water from the tank if you have any to keep your unleaded as close to pure as you can get, gasoline and water don't mix.
 
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martymil

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Sorry fixed the f up E testers measure the absence of gasoline

E measurment could be a mix of water, additives or impurities.

So really E measurement might be 80% as it only sees 20% gasoline but who knows how much of E is water and other stuff
 
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martymil

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e98 is only 60 cents a litre more here than 93.

Adding 6 litres into the tank will only cost you 3.60 more on a normal fill up.

Cheap octane booster, better, cleaner and around 50-70% cheaper than most octane boosters

E10 wont foul your plugs like octane boosters and wont damage your engine like straight e85 with prolonged use.

WIN WIN.
 

langsbr

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You crazy metric system users. So about 2.40 a gallon more than 93? Here, "E85" is only $2 a gallon or less, and 93 is 3.40 a gallon Even at e50 percentage, it's a better value than using e98,which we'd have to get in barrels. Last I checked it was over six bucks a gallon, plus shipping
 
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martymil

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E98 octane booster is going to cost you

2 gallons at $6 a gallon = $12

Minus the price of 2 gallons of 93 at 3.40 a gallon = $6.80

= $5.20 per fillup to get a cheap octane booster that will better any octane booster on the market by a huge margin.

e85 you will have to use 2.5 gallons to get the same concentration of E but at no extra cost, actually you save 3.70 a fill up.

In anyway you choose cheap octane booster
 
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The Banshee

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3DC88794-CCC1-4AB0-9CCF-3C408C629AC0.jpeg Pulled into my local Sheetz E85 pump and found this now instead. Was a minimum of 74 and now is 51.
 

fmorelli

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At least you dont have to mix lol

Perfect street blend
Well ... it's minimum ... so that means now they are just letting you know that you have little idea what you're pumping into the tank :).

BQTuning and I are underway with my Z4. I need to finish the pin-in and get going with his FF basemap. When we get to the ethanol side, I've got a local Sunoco station - hoping the quality is good.

Filippo
 
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