I have an '03 Ranger with a 4.0 V-6. Can I use ethanol?

Thanks!!

 

NOt inless you want to spend the money to convert it to Ethanol. You may ned to upgrade fuel lines and injectors to some that are compatable with Alcohol. The Computer would have to be reprogrammed because Alcohol mixes at abt 8 to 1 whereas Gas mixes at 14.7 to 1. Keep in mind that Ethanol only has around 60% of the power per gallon that gas does so you will see a drop in mileage.

 

I think ethanol conversion will be the wave of the future no matter what you drive, my hope is that the goverment may even help subcidise it or a tax break, rebate or something. I don't know why all vehicles leaving the factory now aren't ethanol compatible. The conversion isn't that hard, rubber parts can't come in contact with the ethanol and different injectors and a tune. From what I understand, it isn't a difficult conversion.

 

We can use gas with up to 10% Ethanol without problems, but if your thinking of using E-85, then your engine & fuel system isn't gong to like that, as Wendell said.

 

Most modern cars and trucks have compatible fuel component materials already. As a result of the EPA's insistence on lower fuel vapor emissions, many manufacturers now use multi-layer fuel hoses and impermeable (just so happens to be compatible to higher ethanol blends too) seals and o-rings.

Flex fuel vehicles are designed to run higher blends of ethanol. In addition to compatible seals and hoses, FFVs have stainless steel lines, exposed metal (regulators, gas tanks, etc)is usually nickel plated, fuel pumps have upgraded carbon commutators, pumps and fuel senders are electrically sealed, oil usually has an acid neutralizing additive, bigger injectors to provide the necessary increase of fuel required, and ECU capable of reading a broader fuel map (in order to compensate for the different a/f ratio of ethanol).

Manufacturers provide these upgrades to their FFVs at little to no extra cost to consumers. I forsee that these upgraded parts will find their way onto all vehicles in the future since it is cheaper to put the same part in all vehicles rather than have different variations of the same part.

I have a car that I have modified to run exclusively on E85 and have taken advantage of it's higher octane to increase the compression of the engine (where the engine runs more efficiently) and get back the lost fuel mileage that would normally occur when a gasoline engine runs ethanol.

It is complicated to run both ethanol and gasoline efficiently. FFVs are designed to run on gasoline but is capable of running on high blends of ethanol unefficiently. Old cars (carbureted) can also run on ethanol like FFVs (minus the material compatibility problem) because you could run the choke to change the a/f ratio. Modern cars can't because their fuel map isn't wide enough to register the a/f ratio seen when burning ethanol.

This is probably more information than you really wanted but I have worked on alternative fuels for several years now and wanted to put some info on the table and provide a little background. If you want to know more you could always contact me.

 

I had the same question for my dealer. They said the gas door has a info tag on it stating if it is FFV compatible or not and to look for the green leaf tag on the tailgate. If in doubt call on your local dealer with your truck and ask them.

 

And it is not all, octane ratio of ethanol is about 100-103, so ignition timing chart must be changed too and comression ratio should be about 1:12-14.

It is easier to use mix of ethanol and low octane to have the same octane ratio. Yes, ethanol has other stechiometry, but oxy sensor may update ecu to etahnol.

Well, may be easir to convert 4.0 to CNG ore LPG?