APR Stage 1 + 3 Gal. E85 Dyno Results

I know this has been discussed quite a bit before, but like a few of you, I have been adding 3 gallons of E85 every few fill ups for the past few years. I guess I have always thought it felt "smoother", but really didn't know if it was placebo or not. I have read that these ECU's can compensate for up to "E30-E40", and really wanted to see if it actually helps at all or not. So I was able to get the Golf on the dyno for some testing. Surprisingly, first three pulls back to back to back, the car made over 20whp/20wtq more than it did with just 93 octane in the tank. Not only that, but the curve also does look a bit smoother as well. I do not have any logs or anything yet, but just wanted to share my findings. No changes were made to the tune, car is not "stacked" with JB4. Just added some E85 and drove it around a few hundred miles.

Car is a 2016 Golf 1.8T Auto (53k miles)
APR Stage 1 93 octane tune
MAP intake
Magnaflow cat back

Red line- APR Stage 1 93 octane
Blue line- 3 gallons of E85







And for S&G's, here is the current set up over stock:

Red line- Bone stock
Blue line- APR Stage 1 E30, MAP intake, Magnaflow catback

Wow, more than 25hp with no tuning changes?! I had experienced the increased accidental burnouts with nothing but adding E85, but I thought that must have been a placebo. Whenever I add e85 the timing in my logs goes from pretty good with a few corrections here and there to absolutely flawless with not even the slightest hint of timing correction (and about a degree more) even at much higher boost levels, so I don't think the increased smoothness you're experiencing is a placebo either.

I'm also APR Stage one on my 17 gti.
Just so we're clear, it's ok to throw in some e85 and it won't make anything go sideways?

Absolutely. 2-3 gallons will not hurt anything.

oldguy said:

I'm also APR Stage one on my 17 gti.
Just so we're clear, it's ok to throw in some e85 and it won't make anything go sideways?

Click to expand...

That’s impressive

This will come in handy for my track day this Saturday, thanks!

Well I'll be damned. I'll be certain to start filling up some e85 come next drag season.

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Just be aware that “E85” is actually anywhere from 51-83% ethanol.

It is lower in winter due to the reduced volatility of ethanol and higher in the summer.

Typical winter E85 blend could be around 60% while summertime can be around 75% (or even higher).

The impact on the tank blend is significant - 3 gallons of E60 yields an E21 tank while 3 gallons of E80 creates an E26 tank.

That is enough of a blend difference to chance engine operating characteristics.


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^ one of the pumps near me actually says it’s e70, despite having all of the e85 labels etc

c72k said:

^ one of the pumps near me actually says it’s e70, despite having all of the e85 labels etc

Click to expand...

As the saying goes, “ you can’t always believe what you read!!”

Such labels violate FTC rules...


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