Smog Tip

[Black306]

Last year I had an issue passing my 200k+ mile '92 Toyota truck. Thought I'd give splashing E85 in the tank a try. With no other changes, here were the results.

This year, I needed to smog my 150k+ mile '01 Focus. I wasn't worried that it would fail, but I was curious what E85 would do. So here is last year's result and today's result. No other changes, other than a couple years of driving.

Will this work for every failed smog case? Hell no! But if you're on the edge of passing, I'd say give it a shot.

 

[ThatOneCobra]

Interesting. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Blu50Stang]

What's smog?

 

[cobra916]

i wonder how full e85 would look

 

[svtaddict]

adding alcohol to your tank is an old trick just put a bottle in a tank so i can see how this would work i dont know how well cats would like it though

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

What's smog?

^^^ This!!! Lol!

 

[cobrakidz]

Good to know--my 285k mile Toyota is due next month.......

 

[Mike_Hawk]

My Cobra just barely passed (this month) with a great RET tune and a Magnaflow catted X-pipe. Some E85 probably would've guaranteed an even greater victory. Thanks for the tip!

 

[oldmodman]

Since it's generally the HC reading that trips us up the E-85 is a great idea.

I wonder how much straight alcohol would be needed to make a difference?

 

[2nd2none]

Hmmm. Very cool info. How does this affect driving the car though on a 91 octane tune?

 

[Black306]

Since I've started blending E85 a couple years ago, I have regularly run E85 in my Toyota and very often in my Focus (Focus is the wife's DD, so it only gets E85 when I fill it up). With ~1/3 of a tank, everything seems normal. Gas mileage does go down ~10% though. Drivability is unchanged.

When I upped the mix to ~1/2 tank, tip in throttle response and cold starts in cold mornings (~32 degrees) gets worse in the truck. And when I went up to ~3/4 tank, I tripped the check engine light for a lean code.

 

[ProchargedSN-95]

There's a KMS tuned 860 whp fox that passed smog legit, was running on E85 but he didn't tell them lol!