Quote:
Originally Posted by I6+TT=FTW
So I have read/seen a lot of people talking about using E85 blends, (E30 etc), and getting HUGE power gains out of it when tuned correctly.
Why have I not really seen ANYTHING/or ANYBODY talk about the negative effects of using it?
For example, these fuel pumps are going bad for many reasons, but American's using Ethanol in our normal gas being a root cause (true or not I am not sure).
Or I've heard diesel mechanics discuss ethanol frying piston rings on gasoline motors,
OR
Damaging the entire fuel system because ethanol is naturally corrosive.
Since the system is not designed to run E85, there has to be significant negative impacts on the motors/fuel system that can not be corrected by different fuel mapping? Or am I just plain wrong? 
I live in Colorado where E85 is readily available, and I could use all the help I could get at this altitude.
Any input from experts?
Thanks!  |
This is a hard question to answer. We have companies saying that it does harm to the car but not much proof otherwise since there are not many cars running full e85.
I know there are many evo's supra's ect... that run them. Maybe you'll get a better awnser on this in a their forum? Then again people probably blow up there engine before ethenol even has a chance to mess it up naturally
In the usa, 10% ethanol has been in the cars since the 80s. When car manufactures manufacture parts they make coatings to protect against ethanol. Normally companies always aim for much higher standards than the required standards so if they are trying to protect against ethanol they are probably building parts that will protect against it 90% of the time. I cant be 100% on this and im sure others might chime in on it as well, but when it comes to car manufactures tend to make things better than standard to help against wear.
The only way to truly know is to be a ginny pig and see what happens after 10 years. As long as your tuned for you'll be fine running it, longevity wise is a question. From what i've been reading on these forums I get the feeling that the 335i bmw's tunes are very adaptive especially with an aftermarket tune.
If you were to compare apples to apples say running Race gas all day every day, you would spend a fortune doing so. The amount of money you would save running ethanol would pay for its self in repairs to parts that might get affected by it after a little while. So if you like the idea of having a "race" gas on demand then ethenal wouldn't be such a big deal. Like any car, parts fail in this instance you might have a few more things that go like seals, or injectors ect...
I've also been reading that bmw created new injectors that work much better than our current ones. I bet those will be much better with ethanol.
Running ethanol is also good for your engine since it lowers pings. In a hot environment you will have more of a reason to use it (especially on CA 91 gas) since it'll make your run alot better.