I can't help it...part of my inquisitive nature is to screw around with things that work just fine on their own.
To that end, I'm interested to see if my '98, Zetec-equipped Contour can be run on substantially more Ethanol than the 10% in the Owner's manual.
This comes down to two things: corrosion/deterioration resistance and mixture range in the stock engine control module. Since ethanol requires a 9:1 mixture ratio (gasoline is 14.7:1), the richer the car can run in open-loop mode, the greater the max ethanol %.
Anyone out there know 1. closed-loop starting mixture? 2. richest open-loop mixture? Failing this info, I'll just start with 1gal E85 with the first tank, and up it 0.5 gal/tank until I pop a code or notice drivability issues.
To that end, I'm interested to see if my '98, Zetec-equipped Contour can be run on substantially more Ethanol than the 10% in the Owner's manual.
This comes down to two things: corrosion/deterioration resistance and mixture range in the stock engine control module. Since ethanol requires a 9:1 mixture ratio (gasoline is 14.7:1), the richer the car can run in open-loop mode, the greater the max ethanol %.
Anyone out there know 1. closed-loop starting mixture? 2. richest open-loop mixture? Failing this info, I'll just start with 1gal E85 with the first tank, and up it 0.5 gal/tank until I pop a code or notice drivability issues.