E85 in my Audi A4
E85 in my Audi A4
Hey,
No, I did not accidently dump a tank of E85 in my car as an attempt to save a few bucks, but I have been reading online about E85.
It is 85% Ethanol and 15% Gasoline, it has an octane rating somewhere between 100 and 103.
I would like to know your experiances and opinions on running ethanol in my 2002 Audi A4 1.8t. (w/ Test Pipe & APR Stage 1 Upgrade).
I have read that it is bad for performance and gas milage in non-turbo charged engines, but in turboed engines (with variable timing), it can produce more power(5-20%) and the only downfall is the mpg decreasing 0-10%.
If no one strongly opposes this or writes any horror stories, I'll run the E85 and post my results.
No, I did not accidently dump a tank of E85 in my car as an attempt to save a few bucks, but I have been reading online about E85.
It is 85% Ethanol and 15% Gasoline, it has an octane rating somewhere between 100 and 103.
I would like to know your experiances and opinions on running ethanol in my 2002 Audi A4 1.8t. (w/ Test Pipe & APR Stage 1 Upgrade).
I have read that it is bad for performance and gas milage in non-turbo charged engines, but in turboed engines (with variable timing), it can produce more power(5-20%) and the only downfall is the mpg decreasing 0-10%.
If no one strongly opposes this or writes any horror stories, I'll run the E85 and post my results.
1st Gear
Joined: Nov 2009
Posts: 440
From: Twin Cities, MN
The reason for the decreased fuel economy is that ethanol (and hence, E85) has less energy per unit volume than gasoline. Basically, that means that you need to burn more of it to make the same amount of power. That said, with that octane rating, you should be able to run some pretty crazy compression and/or boost without encountering detonation. One thing to consider, however, is that most manufacturers have few or no vehicles that they claim can use E85. There may be factors you and I are not aware of, and so personally, I would not risk it in my car, especially since I only have one car.
That said, if you choose to do it, it would certainly be interesting to see what the results are, both short- and long-term. It would be cool to see what the difference, if any, in power output is if you can get access to a dyno.
That said, if you choose to do it, it would certainly be interesting to see what the results are, both short- and long-term. It would be cool to see what the difference, if any, in power output is if you can get access to a dyno.
Last edited by olstyn; Jun 3, 2010 at 09:03 AM.
You will only gain power if your able to increase the adv timing and be carefully doing it because your knock sensors do not work with E85, which means your ECU will not the timing back when you push it too far.
The other down side is that you will be going to the gas station more often since you will burn about 30% more fuel on E85.
E85 is another choice of fuel when looking to tune the car on 100-105 unleaded race gas and E85 is cheaper at that point. Dont even try to compare E85 with pump gas because in the end E85 will not be cheaper, it will make more power then pump gas and burn cleaner which is the main point of why they made it.
The other down side is that you will be going to the gas station more often since you will burn about 30% more fuel on E85.
E85 is another choice of fuel when looking to tune the car on 100-105 unleaded race gas and E85 is cheaper at that point. Dont even try to compare E85 with pump gas because in the end E85 will not be cheaper, it will make more power then pump gas and burn cleaner which is the main point of why they made it.
