Inkubus

I started using e85, and ever since using it I've been having misfires in my 2002 Honda Civic EX. I figure I need new spark plugs, so I've been doing some research and I've found that many people swear behind the NGK laser iridium plugs.

what I am wondering is if these will be good enough for my car running e85. since e85 needs to burn at a higher temperature than gasoline, and now that it's becoming winter and the temperature is dropping and its snowing here where I live, I'm hoping that the spark plugs that I get will be sufficient in igniting the e85 without losing performance or anything like that. Any help would be appreciated

mikey1

just stick with the stock plug, no other plug will perform better,

generally speaking there is really never any reason to change plug type unless you have a heavily modified engine,

and by heavily modified i dont mean a header, muffler, cam, or cold air intake.....i mean serious stuff like machine head work, porting+polishing, superchargers, turbos etc etc

ezone

Stop using it.
That's the cause of your misfire problems.

Honda doesn't have any cars here designed to run E-85.
You SHOULD have problems running it in the cold.

It burns cold.
It definitely causes lean codes.
It can cause misfire codes.
It's hard to burn when the engine is cold, in extreme cold weather it may not run well at all.
The computer can't normally richen the mixture far enough to not run lean.


Go back to plain gasoline (or E-10) and your problems should disappear.
If they don't disappear, then you can start diagnosing the actual cause without dealing with a stupid wrong fuel problem on top of everything else.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Did you convert the car to run on e85?

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

mad compression rates? or tons of carbon deposits on the piston heads?

lowlife9

i recently started using jet fuel and im also having some major issues every time i go past 88mph i end up back in 1955.

bsmiley

Sounds like you're flux capacitor is working, maybe just keep her under 88mph , McFly!

Inkubus

Dont care about anyone who believes the myth about e85.
Every car post 1991 can run e85. This thread isnt a debate about it. Its how I fix the problem, what I can do to burn the e85 hotter. Literally the only problem is the plugs I have arent hot enough to burn the ethanol, easy problem if I just know what im getting is high enough heat range.

Inkubus

No I didnt buy the converter because I read literature that you dont need it but since I live in a cold state I might need it.

ezone

Add diesel at a ratio of 10%? (for a 10 gal tank would add 1 gal diesel)

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

tell us what you *think* you need to do to run alcohol in your car.

ezone

Fill the tank, turn the key. It works on every car made since 1991.

Then post to a forum because that cunning plan didn't work perfectly.




OP:
A typical flex-fuel (E-85) engine uses a plug spec one heat range colder than what the plain gas engine equivalent uses.

But.....the spark plugs are not the answer to your problem at hand.

sdaidoji

iTrader: (1)

hahaha, yes, ezone, but from when the ethanol cars were being developed, the mess it made in the carburetors and the corrosion that ensued... (I am Brazilian, were the 100% ethanol fuel cars were developed)

so, the corrosion part due to the water in the fuel and the acidity from that have been solved on the 91+ cars.

it's a very low energy per pound of fuel, but that can be solved by the ECU programming by throwing a wholly lot more of fuel. Ethanol cars sucks in terms of mileage, BTW... a tank will last a lot less miles. But if it's a fully 100% ethanol fuel, it will deliver more power. with the caveat that it's using a lot more fuel to do that.

but the part of the compression... the fuel is a whole lot higher octanes, making the ethanol fuel being really hard to ignite. to counter that, you need around 11:1 compression ratios for a 100% ethanol. The 7th gen is below that threshold. EX is around 10.5:1? Not enough. The highest i seem for ethanol back in the 2k's were around 14:1 without fuel injection and it melted spark plugs if fuel ratio was screwed...

no, it's not just tune. If you use only tune, you are a far cry from what the ethanol could do. The Flex engines are a compromise. not enough compression for ethanol to work as it should, but quite high to make gasoline fuel make the ignition retard enough that it can not deliver the power enough. Compromises.

you really need to change the engine compression ratio to make ethanol work... computer tune will not deliver what it could do. waste ensues.

Inkubus

Lots of good info in that post.
Running roughly 50/50 gas and ethanol works but you know that is kind of annoying. The only time I have trouble is when its cold out, 100% serious thats it, and even then the bucking only lasts a few minutes of driving before its smooth sailing.
Just doesn't like being cold.