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Thread: e85 fuel in a BMW

  1. #51
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    Quote Originally Posted by beercitybimmer View Post
    So in theory if I install injectors that flow 40% more than could I run e85? And also would running e85 be a viable alternative to dropping the compression ratio with a thicker head gasket on a forced induction application?
    You need to tune the car for E85. If you are going FI getting a custom tune will be necessary anyway. Guessing by throwing bigger injectors in and hoping for the best is a bad idea. I found that my car wanted much more spark advance to work with E85.

    E85 is much higher octane and higher knock resistance than pump gas but it depends how much boost you want to run.

  2. #52
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    just to get back in this thread and little update.

    11:1 compression m50, 1000cc injectors, no fuel filter, walbro 485, hx40 and 13psi made 509whp.

    my m54 was fine when I took it apart and gave it to my friend, that motor lives on in a late model e30is with a few changes.

  3. #53
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    I have a 11:1 m50 stroked to 3 liters with cams in a e30 convertible and I run e85 with a stock fuel pump, fuel lines and fuel filter and it runs great. I have not yet put it on the dyno with e85 but it feels very healthy. It runs vems 3.7 for management, my driveability is great with e85 even in 40 degree weather and 110 degree weather.

  4. #54
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    At the risk of opening old wounds here on this thread, I have a slightly different question. Can I safely run E-20 or E-30 fuel in my Z4? I understand that E-30 would carry 93 octane, and is priced at a .30 discount to regular gas, a .50 discount to 92 octane premium.
    Based on what I have read here, it would not seem that an E-30 blend would require any modifications. What about fuel lines, and other components?
    I am a supporter of ethanol and want to use as much as I can safely use, but I do not want to damage the most fun car I have ever owned. I routinely use E-30 in my work and family vehicles, and have had no issues.

  5. #55
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    You might be fine, only thing I can say is I have been driving my car every day on e85 with my pump gas tune and a 17:1 afr (not going into boost with it though, but I drive it normally.)

  6. #56
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    Quote Originally Posted by z4baby View Post
    At the risk of opening old wounds here on this thread, I have a slightly different question. Can I safely run E-20 or E-30 fuel in my Z4? I understand that E-30 would carry 93 octane, and is priced at a .30 discount to regular gas, a .50 discount to 92 octane premium. Based on what I have read here, it would not seem that an E-30 blend would require any modifications. What about fuel lines, and other components? I am a supporter of ethanol and want to use as much as I can safely use, but I do not want to damage the most fun car I have ever owned. I routinely use E-30 in my work and family vehicles, and have had no issues.
    I hope you are not running E30 to save money? It takes 30-40% more ethanol to get the same energy as 87-93 octane. It may costs less but you have to use more.

    Why are you a supporter of ethenol? Do you grow corn or in the petro business? Other than those reasons it's an aweful product to support.

    T

  7. #57
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    Totally misunderstood... You've got 330i *injectors* in your E36 325/328i. Miles/tank vs my care are irrelevant. Guess I'm on my own for an E85 tune for my 330cic. Sorry.

    "17:1 afr" = quite lean... This seems to be the missing info which explains somewhat better mpg, (at least vs the same "aggressive" tune w/ 91 octane gas.) This is quite a bit leaner than 14.7:1 / stoichiometric. I drive a much heavier 330ci convertible w/ a slushbox, (300lbs heavier than your stick sedan?) and even when I'm getting a pathetic 18mpg in city driving here in Chicago, I usually get 280-290mi out of a tank. Since Chicago has just about the worst gasoline prices in the nation, and a ludicrous spread between 87 / 93octane, (91 is rare here, not much cheaper,) I'd love to give an E85 tune a try if all that's required is a flash and a $50-$100 set of used injectors. "Premium" fuel in the city proper is $4.50+/gal, barely makes it under $4/gal in the far suburbs or over the Indiana border, and where it's available, E85 is up to 20-30% cheaper per gallon. If I'm saving 20-30% on fuel, taking only a 10-20% hit on consumption, with the same or greater power, that's a win in my book. (While making Ethanol from corn may not be wise in many respects, I'm in dire need of more $ in MY pocket right about now.) E36 HateR, Care to share which tune you're using?
    Last edited by emaxon; 04-09-2014 at 01:47 AM.

  8. #58
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    rk tunes tune and i didnt switch for fuel economy I switched for power.

  9. #59
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    Quote Originally Posted by M_US_E30 View Post
    I hope you are not running E30 to save money? It takes 30-40% more ethanol to get the same energy as 87-93 octane. It may costs less but you have to use more.

    Why are you a supporter of ethenol? Do you grow corn or in the petro business? Other than those reasons it's an aweful product to support.

    T
    I think you need to do a little more reading up on ethanol to be questioning anyone's support for ethanol. Ethanol runs cleaner, it's cheaper, you can produce it yourself. Corn is least efficient for ethanol production. An acre of corn produces about 250 gallons of ethanol as compared to an acre of cattails which can produce 2500 gallons. There are a ton of different waste products ethanol can be made from, not to mention algae, beets, basically anything with sugar or starch. It runs cleaner, runs cooler, and your parts will last longer. When you first start using it you might have to change the oil a little more often because it's cleaning all the gunk and build up from regular gas. Down the line you won't have to change as often. There is no need to change any lines or any other adjustments if you go 50% or less.. To run full E85 it's only adjustment to computer that needs to be done. They sell these kits and not complicated at all.. Alcoholcanbeagas.com

    I run 50% 85 octane and 50% E85 in my 2003 BMW Z4, which would be like running 98 octane. I'm not telling anyone to do this but it's my choice.. High compression is good for ethanol but I'm not looking to make major changes . I will be producing my own ethanol soon, and at $1.50 a gallon you tell me if it's worth it.. Anything less than the $4.10 for premium 93 right now per gallon helps... I don't drive like a maniac so I'm not worried about a 10% loss in fuel economy, if in the long run I'm paying less per gallon, and keeping the money out of the hands of big oil...
    Last edited by alcast81; 05-29-2014 at 12:23 AM.

  10. #60
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    The issue with ethanol is it takes hundreds of millions of gallons of water to produce, on a large scale, which causes issues with the water supply for agricultural and domestic usage. Yes it is cheaper because water is cheap, but it is not being heavily produced and used for energy purposes because it will take a huge toll on the water supply, and although everyone things we have unlimited water, only about 3% of it is actually usable. And yes it is renewable but it takes thousands of years.
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  11. #61
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    Is there any mods that you have to do to run e85 or can you just go to the pump and put it in?

  12. #62
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    You need about 1/3 more E85 than 91/93. Your ECU can compensate only about 10%. Your injectors may not have sufficient capacity. You can add about 10% E85, but do your homework before adding more.

    There are flex fuel kits. I have seen them for 08-13 M3 but not 92-99 E36. Maybe a universal kit woukd work. But to take full advantage of E85 you want to retune. There are E85 tunes for E36 from various tuners.

  13. #63
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    I'm doing a full build and the car is completely stripped, so I figured I might as well make it e85 capable at the same time.
    Car will already be using an aftermarket ecu.

    Is it worth running e85 on a normally aspirated m62b44 for more power on track days, or are the performance improvements minimal?

  14. #64
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    E85 burns cooler which helps a hot engine maintain power, but track cars burn a lot of fuel and E85 is already less efficient so size your fuel cell. With an E85 tune you can gain power through increased timing. Also reduces likelihood of detonation. I would do it if I could and it was allowed in the class I raced.

  15. #65
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    Alright my friends, there are tons to be said so I will keep this simple. I am tuner in Fresno, CA and for the past 7 months I have been trying to tune for E85 on my 1999 328iS. Only thing done to it at the time was a homemade intake and an M50 Manifold Swap. I ran E85 BEFORE tuning and AFTER tuning. The car was running like crap because the smaller 21.5 lb. injectors were overcompensating and the car was running rich for both instances. With or without the tune, there was NO CHANGE on E85. On a Spark Advance tune for gasoline, I changed the pink top 21.5 lb. injectors to the 24 lb. light blue top injectors while constantly on E85. Just as the gentleman previously said on this thread, the change was instant and there was NO TUNE REQUIRED. I found this to be the case with a larger 3.5" MAS as well. No tuning required. I do not how this is possible but I am also getting better gas mileage with E85. I am not sure what the case would be if there was not a Spark Advance tune but bigger injectors while on E85, but I am sure it would still work. Lesson of this story is, don't regurgitate dictionary nonsense and act like a genius when you haven't tried something. Experience is the most valuable thing in life.

  16. #66
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zhor559 View Post
    Alright my friends, there are tons to be said so I will keep this simple. I am tuner in Fresno, CA and for the past 7 months I have been trying to tune for E85 on my 1999 328iS. Only thing done to it at the time was a homemade intake and an M50 Manifold Swap. I ran E85 BEFORE tuning and AFTER tuning. The car was running like crap because the smaller 21.5 lb. injectors were overcompensating and the car was running rich for both instances. With or without the tune, there was NO CHANGE on E85. On a Spark Advance tune for gasoline, I changed the pink top 21.5 lb. injectors to the 24 lb. light blue top injectors while constantly on E85. Just as the gentleman previously said on this thread, the change was instant and there was NO TUNE REQUIRED. I found this to be the case with a larger 3.5" MAS as well. No tuning required. I do not how this is possible but I am also getting better gas mileage with E85. I am not sure what the case would be if there was not a Spark Advance tune but bigger injectors while on E85, but I am sure it would still work. Lesson of this story is, don't regurgitate dictionary nonsense and act like a genius when you haven't tried something. Experience is the most valuable thing in life.
    Spoken very much like an inexperienced non-tuner. Your contradicting statements show you know nothing about the subject discussed.
    -Abel

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  17. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by 328 Power 04 View Post
    Spoken very much like an inexperienced non-tuner. Your contradicting statements show you know nothing about the subject discussed.

  18. #68
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    Yet another forum genius. I speak from experience. You know nothing if you are writing this, my kind sir. Please be so nice as to not reply to my messages anymore. I have been wanting to do E85 in my car for ages and would've loved someone to have the knowledge I have now. It's people like you who think they know everything and talk about anything. Please stay off my posts as you are the one who doesn't know anything.

  19. #69
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    Hello my friends, I want to let you all know that I will be starting a new thread with my modifications and the resulting tunes to go with them. I know many have done this before but I haven't found the resources for myself so I want to offer my experience to anyone who might need it, God knows I would've loved to know this before I got started. A small correction in my previous post, the 3.5" MAF did need a tune because of the Check Engine Light that came on. It took about a minute and a half for this to happen. I will post all the the details in my new thread. Hope it helps.

  20. #70
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    Hey, I wasn’t able to find your new post. Thinking about running full e85 on my wife’s 01 325xi but wanted to know how exactly I can make it more of a flex fuel setup. I have an e85 station near home but need the option of running regular gas when planing a road trip or when it gets extremely cold out. I’ve read things where people just pick up injectors off a 330i, purple tops I think. I have also seen people suggest getting a 02 E46 m3’s fpr but not sure where to get a tune and how to make it so the ecu can switch tunes between e85 and regular gas when it detects which fuel it is running. Any help would be much appreciated.

  21. #71
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    Came to this post expecting some good technical information on alternative fueling and BMWs. Instead found a sociopolitical environmental debate on the downsides of ethanol as a fuel.

    Are there trade offs? Yes. There will always be compromises no matter if you run an electric motor in your car, a hydrogen fuel cell, a nuclear reactor, a steam turbine, a gas turbine etc.

    Energy conversion is never “free”

    But some people like to tinker anyways ; )



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

  22. #72
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    The BMWs manufactured in Brazil are all flex fuel, BMW call it Active Flex. So they can run 100% ethanol or any mix of gasoline and petrol. The car works fine with both, I worked many years manufacturing ethanol and I can say, the engine stays clean running ethanol. We have sugarcane ethanol here, and all national cars can run any mix of petrol and ethanol, the driver choose at the gas station.

    So if BMW factory manufacture cars to run ethanol, I'm sure it can be done and its safe for your engine. Maybe now you know this Active Flex tecnology exists here, you can research and find more info about the parts of these cars. One thing I can tell you, these flex fuel cars has a little tank (about 2 liters) that you fill with gasoline, this tank is used to crank/start the car, because ethanol sometimes takes a lot of time to start a car in cold conditions.

    Also ethanol normally produce a little more hp.


    Last edited by Leco; 04-29-2018 at 02:47 AM.
    BMW Car Club Brasil council member.

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