I'm curious about what the MAF has to do with it?

 

From my amature research on the Ford 3.0L Flex-Fuel engine the MAF was one of the main components upgraded to handle the E85. Like I said above E85 is more corrosive and with the B5 S4 MAF being a little flakey as it is, I'd expect E85 to kill it that much faster. The S4 fuel sensors might be able to handle it. It's designed for high octain anyway.

 

I take it you don't know what the MAF does, or where it is? No fuel of any kind goes on, near, or through the MAF, it just meters air. The only way I can see it being altered is to give a higher air flow signal to have the ECU dump in more fuel, I believe schosh for E85 is like 12.5:1

It will not kill or ruin the MAF in any way. The S4 will like the octane, & you can lemi in much more timing for it.

 

hehe duh. [:-]I guess I was confusing it with the O2 Sensor for some reason. It's right above the airbox. It measures air flow. It's been a long week (oh wait it's Tuesday).

Personally I wouldn't run it. But if I was going to try I'd put a gallon in and drive it around for a while to see how it does. Worst case you can just fill the tank up with unleaded and you should be fine.

 

No, DO NOT run e85 in your car... There is a reason why manufacturers approve their engines for e85, there are certain measures needed to be done... Not only that, ive heard that some manufactuers automatically void warranty if they find out it ws put in the car...

Now, i dont know what is needed or changes made, but ive heard nothing but problems with people using it in their car..it seems like its not as "clean" as a fuel.. people fuel filters getting clogged things like that...I dont know, ive just heard nothing good about it.

 

The problem with running e85 is that there has to be around a 30% increase in fuel over regular pump so you must have larger injectors cause even a high pressure regulator won't give enough. there is oxygen in the fuel so there for you must run more fuel through the injectors. The alcohol will have a cleaning affect on the tank and lines and what not and will loosen stuff up which will end up in the filter. eventually the tank will be clean. The alcohol will absorb water so don't go leaving the tank open i guess. It also conducts electricty which will have a corroding effect on the tank and lines. some newer cars are okay but most people recommend sealing the tanks and making sure your fuel components won't be affected. The ideal injector spray pattern is different for e85 and for gasoline which is even an issue for flex fuel vehicles but they find a middle of road balance that works. But to get maximum efficiency out of the e85 will be hard if you plan on running fuel also. You could get some large enough injectors and run e85 on a special tune race file and run regular mode on pump. you will burn alot more fuel with e85 when you are playing around cause of the larger amount of fuel necessary. people are doing it though just not so much on our cars. I am also thinking about doing similar when I decide to go stage 3 and buy the fueling. Do alot of research and call some places that have done it. I guess it is becoming more popular in the sti and evo world. The plus side is that even though you will be burning alot more fuel the 1:1 comparison between pump and e85 shows that e85 yeilds 1/10 the emissions of regular gasoline. Hope some of this helps. I have been researching a little cause of my similar ideas.