6G Celicas Forums

Well of course its not worth it unless E85 is significantly cheaper in your area. At my station its $1.20 less than regular gas, so it saves me a lot of money. Before I got the ECU upgrade, I was running E85 on the car totally stock. Worked great to ethanol concentrations of about 50%-60%. At 85% on the stock ECU power was noticeably less, but putting a couple gallons of regular gas into the tank could fix that immediately.

About corrosion/lubrication issues, I think y'all might need to take some chemistry classes (I'm a chemical engineering major!). There are actually two types of ethanol, known as "aqueous ethanol" and "anhydrous ethanol".

Aqueous ethanol means the ethanol is in a solution with water. This is the kind of ethanol you can drink to get drunk. This is also the variety of ethanol that is sold as fuel in Brazil. In Brazil, ethanol fuel can contain up to 5% water. Aqueous ethanol is more corrosive than gasoline, and it does have the tendency to pull additional water molecules out of the air.

Anhydrous ethanol on the other hand has had all the water molecules removed. This is a very complex refining process because the last 2% of water is very hard to remove. Anhydrous ethanol is then stabilized by blending it with gasoline. The resulting mixture is called "gasohol", and can vary in ethanol concentrations from 10% ethanol (regular gasoline you can buy at the gas station) to 98% ethanol (the type of fuel used by Indy cars and Nascar).

Aqueous ethanol IS more corrosive and probably would destroy the fuel system, but this is not the type of fuel sold in the U.S. Anhydrous ethanol can be used though in any concentration. 85% ethanol/gasoline blend is not significantly more corrosive than a 10% ethanol/gasoline blend which all cars are guaranteed to be tolerant of. By removing the water and then mixing with gasoline, ethanol has different chemical properties than aqueous ethanol.

Changing the spark plugs and wires should be first. Take out the airbox and replace it with a less restrictive air filter. Also, change the oil. You should get better results with a lower weight oil. I use 5w-30 synthetic or synthetic blend and have gotten good results.

Believe what you want about the rubber components. If you want to continue to believe the oil companies that you they sell a better product, thats your decision. I was just trying to save some people from having to buy $5 gasoline. The corrosion myth is completely false though.

http://www.change2e85.com/servlet/Page?template=Myths

"Ethanol has a lower ignition temperature so the engine overall will run cooler increasing power. It also burns slower so instead of just burning out in one violent explosion forcing the piston down, it continues to burn the entire length of the piston stroke expanding gases more evenly and smoothly. So running E85 will give any engine more power over any pump gas. Also E85 is 105 octane. Gas comes in 85, 89 and 91 octane. The 105 octane of E85 will help to eliminate knocks and pings. All of these benefits will make an engine run smoother and quieter."

Also, I am obviously aware that the 5SFE motor does not have a lot of potential for increasing power or efficiency, especially because it has no VVT. If one were to try to maximize power, you could change the timing to 0 degrees and increase the compression ratio to 12:1.

Actually, the "box" has a dial that lets you adjust the trim if you want to. I'm running a much leaner setting then I could. I don't really care about the extra power I could get. I don't have anywhere to get in that much of a hurry and the roads in my area are all super slow.

Ethanol is a really good solvent so it actually cleans out carbon deposits. It runs very smoothly. I can shift to a higher gear earlier. Theres lots of benefits.

Ethanol does run better, especially in the mountains. It is 34% oxygen by weight. Less oxygen has to be pulled into the manifold. It burns colder too, not as much energy is lost to heat.

Ya you guys are getting the shaft in general out there. I think stations are expanding a lot faster than people realize, but this still is a regional thing. If you can use it though, its a lot better than buying a new car (prius) because you cant afford the gas.

I have a piggy back ECU installed that makes my Celica "flexfuel". It runs way better on E85 than pump gas.

This mod is great because it increases performance and saves me a bunch of money on fuel. E85 ethanol pumps are going up everywhere, and if you have one near you, I would consider this upgrade a necessity.

E85 is 105 octane. Thats why it will increase performance, even on a 5sfe with no mods. The owners manual "recommends" 91 octane so you know that higher octane is going to increase performance. The easiest way to increase performance is to increase fuel quality, and this mod will save you money at the same time.

This mod is great because it increases performance and saves me a bunch of money on fuel. E85 ethanol pumps are going up everywhere, and if you have one near you, I would consider this upgrade a necessity.

E85 is 105 octane. Thats why it will increase performance, even on a 5sfe with no mods. If you have a turbo, your performance potential is huge. E85 can resist detonation up to 30PSI. Try doing that on pump gas.

I was mostly interested in E85 because of the price. At my local station today, E85 costs $2.79 per gallon. Regular (85 octane here in Colorado) costs $3.89 per gallon. I actually get slightly better fuel economy using E85, always more than 25mpg. I think this is because 91 octane is "recommended" so lower octanes burn less efficiently.

I have driven on E85 for over 15,000 miles with no damage to the fuel system. The only thing that has to be done is you have to change your fuel filter after 1,000 miles because it might get a little clogged from gasoline residue in the tank.

http://www.e85prices.com/