E85 quality degradation?

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Old 06-13-2012, 01:51 PM
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E85 quality degradation?

Just filled up at Proper pump an saw "contains minimum 70% of ethanol" sticker on it. Chevron station on Montague in San Jose. 4-5 weeks ago I used Redwood city pump (across Subaru dealership) and saw "minimum 75%" IIRC. That's probably good for flexfuel cars but not if you're tuned specifically for good E85.
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Old 06-13-2012, 02:10 PM
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I fill up there all the time, I've noticed the sticker too. Haven't noticed anything wrong with my car.
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Old 06-13-2012, 02:24 PM
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Do you guys actively test the E85 before you pump? I've read how it's a good idea to test but seeing as it's now the summer months and they shouldn't have the winter blends anymore i'm hoping for less testing.
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Old 06-13-2012, 02:39 PM
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There should be no winter blends in CA, I have to say though I test every time for the race car and in fact give the remaining fuel away after each event and when I buy the fuel for the next event I chuck it on the dyno right before leaving and test all 3 maps to make sure.
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Old 06-13-2012, 02:55 PM
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Originally Posted by GST Motorsports
There should be no winter blends in CA, I have to say though I test every time for the race car and in fact give the remaining fuel away after each event and when I buy the fuel for the next event I chuck it on the dyno right before leaving and test all 3 maps to make sure.
What kind of tester do you use.
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Old 06-13-2012, 02:58 PM
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The 70% minimum ethanol content sticker is not new. It's been on all of the Propel pumps since they started installing them. (Been using Propel for almost 2 years now in my STI)

State mandates that E85 has a minimum 70% ethanol and above content.
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Old 06-13-2012, 03:19 PM
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Originally Posted by queeg9k
What kind of tester do you use.
Some homebrew thing we built about 3 years ago when we first started using it.
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Old 06-13-2012, 04:00 PM
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Norcal does not change blends in different seasons.
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Old 06-13-2012, 07:53 PM
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Just as a side note, you can get a Zeitronix Ethanol Content Analyzer to see what percentage of ethanol your car is running.
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Old 06-13-2012, 08:06 PM
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Originally Posted by pete
Just as a side note, you can get a Zeitronix Ethanol Content Analyzer to see what percentage of ethanol your car is running.
I want one! Do you know of any local shops that installs those in subarus?
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Old 06-13-2012, 08:38 PM
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We could definately install those. We were going to use it on a project car but read that the sensors go out relatively often. It would still be a nice gauge to have but I decided against using it to automatically adjust the tune for the Ethanol content.

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Old 06-13-2012, 08:45 PM
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Originally Posted by PROcede
I want one! Do you know of any local shops that installs those in subarus?
Installed a bunch, not recommended for 500+ hp setups as they can be a restriction. Very reliable though on lower HP cars all sensors where designed by GM for flex fuel vehicles targeted at 100,000 mile+ service life!
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Old 06-13-2012, 10:50 PM
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I've tested the propel on 1st (san jose) and it was right at 85 w/the little test tube+water method. that was about 3 months ago.
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Old 06-14-2012, 09:47 AM
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Originally Posted by EQ Tuning
read that the sensors go out relatively often.
Forget what you read then.
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Old 06-14-2012, 10:00 AM
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Originally Posted by earlyapex
Forget what you read then.
ok... AFAIK GM stopped using this sensor in their flex fuel vehicles because they were failing too often. I could have bad info on this, but I doubt anyone in the aftermarket has been running these for 100k miles.

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