When/If Washington State ever has E85 available at the pump, is there anything that I need to do with my 2000 Ranger 3.0 FFV truck before using E85? Do I need to reprogram the computer, do I need to change filters, or do I just gas and go?

 

If Its Ffv, You Should Be Able To Gas And Go, But Your Fuel Mileage Will Suffer, And From What I Have Heard Will Build Up Carbon Deposits In Your Engine Much Faster Than Regular Gasoline, And The Little Bottles Of Injector Clean From Your Neighborhood Parts Store Won't Clean It Out Effectively.

 

Theoretically, you should be able to gas her up on E85 and go. I seem to remember reading a few stories of people switching to E85 in their FFV and having it die on them because the ethanol cleaned out all the garbage in their lines/tanks and it deposited it in the fuel filter. It may be prudent to ease into it, ie, fill it with a quarter tank of E85 and the rest gas first to slowly clean anything out. Although, since you've probably been running 10% ethanol recently anyway, it might not matter.

I thought there were some posts about this in the Alternative Fuels forum.
Alternative Fuels, Hybrids and Mileage

-Jim

 

it took 2 - 3 tanks before my truck was back to normal. rally my gas milage didnt suffer that much. its crappy to begin with so the lower price helped

Matt

 

gas and go but be prepared to change the fuel filter due to any crud being cleaned. You will not build any deposits, actually the oposite. The ethanol is a cleaner and will keep the engine spotless. Best to stick with E85 or gas not to switch back and forth every tank, as this can confuse the computer and you will lose some MPG.

 

Cool, now to petition my legislators to actually mandate gas stations carry the stuff...

 

GUYS YOU REALLY NEED TO WATCH THIS STUFF I SEE IT EVERYDAY WHERE PEOPLE RUN ETHANOL CONSISTANTLY. IT WILL NOT CLEAN YOUR ENGINE AND IT IS NOT CLEANER THAN REGULAR GAS. THEY TRY AND GET YOU WITH WORDING, IT BURNS CLEANER AND IS BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. BUT WE HAVE BEEN HAVING GUM UP PROBLEMS HERE. THAT AND WHEN EVERYONE STARTED USING E85 THE PRICE WENT HIGHER THAN REGULAR GAS. HERE'S A COUPLE THINGS FROM AN E85 WEB SITE.

Depending on the ethanol/gasoline blend, ethanol may raise levels of nitrogen oxides produced as gasoline emissions. Because of its lower energy content relative to gasoline, ethanol also reduces mileage per gallon. Corn-based ethanol production is energy intensive, and in some instances uses nearly as much energy to produce (including the energy needed for farming and making fertilizers) than it supplies, although new technologies are improving the efficiency of production.

So for the present it looks like ethanol is a wash, energy-wise.

Even as ethanol production and integration continues to shape multiple industries, just remember that there are still issues to be resolved.

Ethanol may be a large part of our future, but for present it isn't netting us anything. Stay tuned.
Ethanol has less energy content than gasoline. However, E85 also has a much higher octane (ranging from 100 to 105) than gasoline. FFVs are not optimized to E85, so they experience a 10-15% drop in fuel economy. This will vary based on the way one drives, the air pressure in the tires, and additional driving conditions..

For comparison purposes, aggressive driving habits can result in a 20% loss and low tire pressure can reduce mileage by 6%. Research indicates Ford FFVs experience a 5% horsepower gain on E85. The range of any particular vehicle is dependent on the size of the fuel tank and driving habits. Current Ford Taurus FFVs have an 18-gallon fuel tank and will normally travel 350 miles between refuelings.

 

You should petition that they support all fossil alternatives, so that ethanol has to compete on its merit to solve the problems (environmental, cost, performance, independence from foreign oil, etc) and not just that it was the first thing we could legislate for. Fuels like biobutanol may be a better solution, but if ethanol is the only alternative mentioned in legislation, others may not get off the ground.

-Jim

 

Well I'm not interested in using this thread to push a political agenda, my main concern was that should the fuel become available the truck would run it without alteration.

Thanks all for the replies.

 

Welcome to FTE!

This isn't really the forum for this a discussion on the merits of E85, and there are several threads in the Alternative Fuels forum that I linked above that are doing so. However, I'd be interested to know what site you are quoting.

I would suggest reading the Wikipedia article on E85 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85) and of course the links to the sources especially these that relate to ethanol's energy balance:
http://www.nrdc.org/air/transportati...ol/ethanol.pdf
http://www.ncga.com/ethanol/pdfs/Eth...lsRebuttal.pdf
http://www.ncga.com/public_policy/PD...hanolStudy.pdf

It's interesting that according to several calculations, gasoline isn't a positive energy balance either (ie, it takes more petro energy to get a gallon of gas to you than you get to drive out of it). As cellulosic ethanol technology is worked out, ethanol should get more economical and eco-friendly.

I think that ethanol still has some serious disadvatages that are barriers to it being available and used such as

1. inability to be transported in a pipeline
2. possibility for engine damage when contaminated with water
3. need for vehicle modifications to run a large percentage ethanol mix
4. "corn" or fruit based ethanol takes too much land and a good deal energy; cellulosic should be a focus

-Jim

 

Ok I think the original question in this thread was asked and answered, and since FTE does infact have an alternative fuels forum the rest of it needs to be taken there.
So I am locking this thread for now before it gets out of hand with the pro, and con aurguments.