I run on used grease left over from deep-frying pasties.





podman

 

If you're staying NA, it's not worth your time.
The stock injectors are pretty small in terms of being able to deliver a lot of fuel so you'll run out pretty quickly

 

Stop! Do not put E85 in the car. Why? The rubber hoses in the fuel system are designed to handle gas that has no more than 10% ethanol.

 

I've been using fuel with 15% ethanol, it says on the pump for vehicles built after 2000.

 

I have been running E46 330xi with Flexfuel / E85 for about 6 months without any trouble so far. I had changed fuel pump and fuel filter before but nothing else.

As far as I know there are two options.

1. Start using E85 ONLY, either by installing larger injectors so that the engine gets around 30% more gasoline, or by installing a chip to change injection of the engine. A chip can be found here: http://shop.fekzen.se/sv/208-bmw

2. Using E85 only, or usual gasoline, or any mixture of these. This can apparently be accomplished only through third party ethanol sensor and new external device which modifies how the stock injectors work based on ethanol level of the gasoline. I used this kit and am satisfied:
https://eflexfuel.com/en-us

Other options:
https://fuelflexfinland.fi/en/
https://www.advancedfueldynamics.com/product-category/bmw/m3/e46/

Some cars can be programmed to run on E85 or flexfuel without a separate ethanol sensor. Apparently they sense from the Pre/post-cat sensors what is the ethanol level in gasoline and then change how long the injectors are open. I could not find this kind of option for the E46, only the "only E85" option from Fekzen (link above).

The downside of running on E85 is that the oil change interval should be dropped to 10000 km. But that is what many suggest anyways so no harm done there?

Another downside may be that fuel hoses will not last, if this happens I will change them to something better. The fuel rail at least should be okay._nr_

 

I'll tell you for sure the fuel lines are gonna rot, combine a ~16+ year old German car with e85 and you're in for a bad time

 

It's not going to instantly dissolve the fuel system.

I know of an e34 that had mostly e85 in the tank in an attempt to pass smog. It continued to run fine on that fuel for several years. (No, the e85 didn't help it to pass smog. Which is why it sat with the same fuel in the tank. Yes, the same fuel continued to run for ten minute every month or so with no obvious problem. )

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYugCF6Kmjk