Tuesday, June 24, 2008

I "inspired" someone!

From an anonymous commenter:

You have inspired me to try and ruin my car too. I've been putting increasing amounts of e85 in my 2.0T equipped VW.


Sweet.

Turbos love ethanol. I bet the gasoline direct injection VW really loves ethanol. The charge cooling effect of the direct injection and the ethanol must be amazing.

7 comments:

zenbeer said...

I have a 1998 SAAB 900-S, do you think the ECM will work on my GM900 to also use a blend of E-85 and regular gas? I almost did this once on my own, but chickened out - then I found your blog. Thanks for some inspiration to reduce the costs of my $62 87 octane fillups and maybe boost performance. -zen

Buzzcut said...

Scott,

Welcome.

I don't know if you can run straight E85 with the stock ECU, or if there is a replacement ECU that can allow running E85.

I do know that adding enough E85 to get about 30% ethanol, with the rest of the tank being 87 octane, gives you about 91 octane. This would be a decent option for your turbo. You pay less than premium prices and get premium performance.

If I were you, I'd start with enough E85 to get maybe 20% ethanol in the tank. I think that we've established that pretty much any car with OBD-II can run on E20.

I'd increase the amoung of E85 I use by half a gallon per tank and see at what point the CEL comes on, if it does.

Especially if you already have an OBD-II reader!

zenbeer said...

I don't have a turbo SAAB, I have a regular 900-S (fuel injected, cap & rotor). Is this a turbo vs. non-turbo issue to make it run properly in the engine? Can I theoretically try a E20 or higher final blend mixing E85 with regular gas? Are there are potential issues with pre-ignition or cylinder walls?

zenbeer said...

Sorry I didnt see you said e-20 was good for ay OBD-II car. So the problems come in when you go to say... E25-45 as a blend? Can you run down some of the problems you've encountered? Are they just O2 sensor codes?

zenbeer said...

Hey, have you seen these $369 E-85 conversion kits?

http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Detail?no=103

Buzzcut said...

Seach "CEL" on this blog. If you put in too much ethanol, you'll get a CEL that's like "too lean". In actuality, it probably isn't too lean, the computer just can't figure out where the excess 02 is coming from.

Does your 900 like premium fuel? If so, E85 is for you, because the octane is so much higher than regular or even premium.

Turbo's really love the octane in E85.

I haven't used one of those E85 convertors, but lots of people on E85 plante and E85 forums have.

I'd say to go for mixing for now and see how high you can go.

zenbeer said...

Thanks man. I'll try a blend first and see how it goes. The kits are interesting, since I could run E100, E85 or any blend. The converters just plugs into the fuel injectors, 15 minute install it seems.

I've read the turbo engines love ethanol because it can burn it more efficiently than non-turbo cars. Is your mpg around the same since you started blending or have you lost some miles per tank from the lower BTUs?

This is a really informative E85 vs. gasoline per gallon (real costs) link:

http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/