Alcohol content of gas

2011SierraSteve

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Hey everyone. First post. I have a 2011 sierra 1500 all terrain flex fuel which I monitor with a U-scan with blue tooth. It is able to monitor three pages of live data from the ECU. The question I have is, can anyone tell me where the ECU gets the alcohol % of the gas from?

I have seen up to 21.6%. Last summer I saw as low as 4%. I thought pump gas was limited to 10%. I tried a tank of non-ethanol gas and it dropped to 14.1%. I have never used E85.

What gives?
 
i believe here in AZ it depends on what time of the year 10% and 15%
and I think it changes from ethanol to methanol depending on what time of the year
 
Thanks for the reply; but, what I'm really looking for is where is the alcohol sensor mounted?

It seems, after I fill up the value jumps around during the first 30 miles or so and then settles to a random % value which doesn't seem to correlate to the type of fuel I put in the tank.

The alcohol reading was 21.1%. I put in 16 gallons of non-ethanol into a 26 gallon tank. The reading bounced around from 4% to 32% and then finally settled to 14.1%. I expected it to drop to somewhere around 7%. Also, my fuel economy didn't change. It stayed right at 17.5 mpg.

After that tankfull, I filled up with regular "10%" pump gas and after bouncing around it settled at 14.1% again.
 
Here is what I found...no sensor....


E85 Flex Fuel Description
E85 compatible vehicles no longer use an alcohol sensor to determine and adjust for the alcohol content of the fuel in the tank. Instead, the vehicle calculates the alcohol content of the fuel through measured adjustments.

The ethanol calculation occurs with the engine running after a refueling event has been detected via a measured change in the fuel level sender output. The virtual flex fuel sensor (V-FFS) algorithm temporarily closes the canister purge valve for a few seconds and monitors information from the closed loop fuel trim system to calculate the ethanol content. This logic executes several times until the ethanol calculation is deemed to be stable. This may take several minutes under low fuel flow conditions such as idle, or a shorter time during higher fuel flow, off-idle conditions.

Air-fuel ratios and the corresponding ethanol percentage are updated following each purge-off sequence. The fuel alcohol content percentage value can be read on a scan tool.

When an E85 compatible vehicle is built, an ECM or PCM replaced, or if the learned alcohol content has been reset with a scan tool the fuel system will need to contain ASTM gasoline with 10 percent or less ethanol content.

A minimum of 11 liters (3 gallons) must be put in the tank in order for the vehicle to recognize a re-fueling event. It is not necessary to turn the ignition OFF in order to have the re-fueling event recognized, however local safety regulations should be followed.

After the re-fueling event, the system registers the amount of fuel that was added, relative to the amount that was in the tank. Reading fuel trim and O2 sensor activity, the system determines if the fuel added was either ASTM Gasoline or ASTM E85. Based on that determination, the system adjusts to the expected alcohol mix in the fuel tank, and then the fuel trim and O2 sensor activity fine tunes the adjustments. The system must remain in closed loop in order for this adjustment to occur. Numerous short trips after switching from gasoline to E85, or E85 to gasoline, can result in driveability symptoms due to the inability of the system to adjust for fuel composition by not attaining closed loop operation.
 
Parts007,
Thanks a bunch for the detailed explanation. It makes sense out of what I was seeing on the scanner as far as the wondering of the etoh% after a fill up; but, I'm still not sure about the high %s I'm seeing on pump gas. Could it be a "winter blend" of fuel that has both ethanol and methanol in it and that is what raises the level so high?
Steve
 
i know this is an old thread but
my percentage stayed at 49% for a long time
now its at 45% only using phoenix AZ gas
how can i zero it and have it relearn?

PETE
 


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