[Banshee.2SS]

This is my first post here hello everyone. I purchased my car back in may from a dealership, It already had some bolt ons installed from the previous owner. It came with headers, high flow cats, borla atak catback, rotofab intake, a catch can, and I also noticed the flex fuel sensor already hooked up under the hood. I have had the car for about half a year now and I am wondering if it’s safe to assume the flex fuel sensor has been activated? Or should I get a tune. I would like to run e85 on the weekends if the car is capable. The car also came from Missouri and I live in Wisconsin, I only drive the car in the summer though. Thank you for any advice

[6spdhyperblue]

At a minimum u should hook it up to a scanner to verify it is active by seeing if it is showing the ethanol %

[Hotwheeltat]

Do NOT assume the car is tuned for e. Have someone with HPTuner look at the car unless you have a large bag of money you don't know what to do with.

[Banshee.2SS]

Originally Posted by 6spdhyperblue

At a minimum u should hook it up to a scanner to verify it is active by seeing if it is showing the ethanol %

Would I be able to read the ethanol content by hooking up an OBD2 scanner?

[Spaceme1117]

Originally Posted by Banshee.2SS

Would I be able to read the ethanol content by hooking up an OBD2 scanner?

Should be able to but it will depend on the capabilities of the OBD tool.

Looks like there are OBDII blue tooth tools being sold on Amazon that claim they can read ethanol content.

[Sledgehammer70]

Originally Posted by Banshee.2SS

This is my first post here hello everyone. I purchased my car back in may from a dealership, It already had some bolt ons installed from the previous owner. It came with headers, high flow cats, borla atak catback, rotofab intake, a catch can, and I also noticed the flex fuel sensor already hooked up under the hood. I have had the car for about half a year now and I am wondering if it’s safe to assume the flex fuel sensor has been activated? Or should I get a tune. I would like to run e85 on the weekends if the car is capable. The car also came from Missouri and I live in Wisconsin, I only drive the car in the summer though. Thank you for any advice

The car was probably once tuned for it, but I doubt it still is. But I could be wrong. It's honestly a simple trip to a local speed shop and they can tell you if your tune has the added tables required to allow the car to be flex fuel capable. If not, its a few hundred bucks (depending on the tuning shop) to pick up 20-25rwhp and be able to run pump gas or e85.

Originally Posted by Spaceme1117

Should be able to but it will depend on the capabilities of the OBD tool.

Looks like there are OBDII blue tooth tools being sold on Amazon that claim they can read ethanol content.

It's one thing to be turned on and another for the tune to have the fueling tables for e85. I'd have it checked by a pro unless they know what they are looking for themselves.

[Banshee.2SS]

Originally Posted by Sledgehammer70

The car was probably once tuned for it, but I doubt it still is. But I could be wrong. It's honestly a simple trip to a local speed shop and they can tell you if your tune has the added tables required to allow the car to be flex fuel capable. If not, its a few hundred bucks (depending on the tuning shop) to pick up 20-25rwhp and be able to run pump gas or e85.



It's one thing to be turned on and another for the tune to have the fueling tables for e85. I'd have it checked by a pro unless they know what they are looking for themselves.

Thank you this was helpful

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Banshee.2SS

This is my first post here hello everyone. I purchased my car back in may from a dealership, It already had some bolt ons installed from the previous owner. It came with headers, high flow cats, borla atak catback, rotofab intake, a catch can, and I also noticed the flex fuel sensor already hooked up under the hood. I have had the car for about half a year now and I am wondering if it’s safe to assume the flex fuel sensor has been activated? Or should I get a tune. I would like to run e85 on the weekends if the car is capable. The car also came from Missouri and I live in Wisconsin, I only drive the car in the summer though. Thank you for any advice

Along with what everyone else said, even if the sensor is active and the tune was adjusted for E, do not assume you can run full E85 unless you have this confirmed by the (hopefully reputable) tuner who worked on it, or can give the car to your shop that can then evaluate and/or dyno it for you.

The fuel system in this car may not have enough capacity for E85 and you may need to blend down to E30-40-50 etc. to be on the safe side. As an example, my car has the LT4 fuel system and injectors plus a JMS voltage booster, and it can only support E60-E65 (see my mods below).

If I were you and had no access to the car's accurate history, I wouldn't push this flex fuel thing without confirmation from a pro. On a related note, beyond E60-ish you are in the land of quickly diminishing returns, so IMO the convenience of not having to blend may not be worth the risk for minimal hp gains.

[laynlo15]

I could have missed it but if it is capable and tune don't try and run E85 in the winter in Wisconsin. Its to cold of climate to probably run above E20 or 30. The amount of water it will create is not what you want to see. Lucas oil makes a stabilizer for flex fuel systems which King told me about for my C7. If you don't drive your Camaro in the winter and you are running some amount of E I would probably put premium in it for the winter and add some of the Lucas to stabilize whatever amount of E that is still in the tank. I'd be willing to bet its already tuned for E and doubt the dealer would have put the tune back to stock since the headers were left on the car when the dealer received it on trade. I sold my C7 to a dealer and I left it as is and told the dealer it was tuned for E but when they sold it the new customer could also run premium fuel if they wanted to since the sensor would read the E content and adjust timing as needed.

[KingLT1]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Along with what everyone else said, even if the sensor is active and the tune was adjusted for E, do not assume you can run full E85 unless you have this confirmed by the (hopefully reputable) tuner who worked on it, or can give the car to your shop that can then evaluate and/or dyno it for you.

The fuel system in this car may not have enough capacity for E85 and you may need to blend down to E30-40-50 etc. to be on the safe side. As an example, my car has the LT4 fuel system and injectors plus a JMS voltage booster, and it can only support E60-E65 (see my mods below).

If I were you and had no access to the car's accurate history, I wouldn't push this flex fuel thing without confirmation from a pro. On a related note, beyond E60-ish you are in the land of quickly diminishing returns, so IMO the convenience of not having to blend may not be worth the risk for minimal hp gains.

Stock fuel system will handle full E85 on NA cars up to around 600whp. A car with a few bolt-ons has plenty of fuel headroom. FI cars are a entirely different ball game because we run almost a full point richer which requires a lot more demand from the fuel system.


That being said, OP can purchase a OBD bluetooth adapter, download the Torque Pro app and monitor the Ethanol content from a Android device. I would see if it's reading alcohol content, if it is, put a few gallons of E in it and look at E content and fuel trims. If the E content changes and the fuel trims go out of whack for a few minutes then return to normal (+/- %5) then it's tuned to run flex fuel. If its not then go put more 93 back in it and dilute the mix...it will be fine. The fuel trims will correct the fueling part throttle so putting a little E in it even when it's not tuned for it isn't going to cause the engine to fail...just don't go WOT.

Or if that sounds like too much effort, then take it to somebody that knows what they are doing.

In regards to Ethanol in the winter...it's no big deal. Most pumps dilute the mix back to around E60-65 to help with cold starts and moisture. I normally put a little lucas E stabilizer in my car because it sits during the winter months. Never had any issues and it's always had some E in it since 2017.

[wnta1ss]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Along with what everyone else said, even if the sensor is active and the tune was adjusted for E, do not assume you can run full E85 unless you have this confirmed by the (hopefully reputable) tuner who worked on it, or can give the car to your shop that can then evaluate and/or dyno it for you.

The fuel system in this car may not have enough capacity for E85 and you may need to blend down to E30-40-50 etc. to be on the safe side. As an example, my car has the LT4 fuel system and injectors plus a JMS voltage booster, and it can only support E60-E65 (see my mods below).

If I were you and had no access to the car's accurate history, I wouldn't push this flex fuel thing without confirmation from a pro. On a related note, beyond E60-ish you are in the land of quickly diminishing returns, so IMO the convenience of not having to blend may not be worth the risk for minimal hp gains.

Supercharger places a much higher demand on fuel system than an NA car does. Like King mentioned, supercharger needs to run a little richer, increasing fuel demand. Another fact that is often overlooked is the parasitic drag of turning the supercharger. That drag burns some extra fuel, which does not have a corresonding gain in rwhp. This is why an NA SS can get well into the 500s, maybe ~600 hp, burning E85 on stock LT1 fuel parts. But an LT1 with supercharger really struggles with 93 gas in the 500s, and E85 could only be used at a very low rwhp number for such a car.

Agree that OP would be well served to have someone read his car and verify the stoich tables and such are correct for E85 use.

[Banshee.2SS]

Originally Posted by KingLT1

Stock fuel system will handle full E85 on NA cars up to around 600whp. A car with a few bolt-ons has plenty of fuel headroom. FI cars are a entirely different ball game because we run almost a full point richer which requires a lot more demand from the fuel system.


That being said, OP can purchase a OBD bluetooth adapter, download the Torque Pro app and monitor the Ethanol content from a Android device. I would see if it's reading alcohol content, if it is, put a few gallons of E in it and look at E content and fuel trims. If the E content changes and the fuel trims go out of whack for a few minutes then return to normal (+/- %5) then it's tuned to run flex fuel. If its not then go put more 93 back in it and dilute the mix...it will be fine. The fuel trims will correct the fueling part throttle so putting a little E in it even when it's not tuned for it isn't going to cause the engine to fail...just don't go WOT.

Or if that sounds like too much effort, then take it to somebody that knows what they are doing.

In regards to Ethanol in the winter...it's no big deal. Most pumps dilute the mix back to around E60-65 to help with cold starts and moisture. I normally put a little lucas E stabilizer in my car because it sits during the winter months. Never had any issues and it's always had some E in it since 2017.

Thanks for the info, and yes during the winter months it is a garage queen (with Lucas stabilizer in the tank) , I've only ran 93 octane since I have owned it.

[Banshee.2SS]

Originally Posted by wnta1ss

Supercharger places a much higher demand on fuel system than an NA car does. Like King mentioned, supercharger needs to run a little richer, increasing fuel demand. Another fact that is often overlooked is the parasitic drag of turning the supercharger. That drag burns some extra fuel, which does not have a corresonding gain in rwhp. This is why an NA SS can get well into the 500s, maybe ~600 hp, burning E85 on stock LT1 fuel parts. But an LT1 with supercharger really struggles with 93 gas in the 500s, and E85 could only be used at a very low rwhp number for such a car.

Agree that OP would be well served to have someone read his car and verify the stoich tables and such are correct for E85 use.

Thanks for the info.. learning a lot here