Hey now ... I'm newbie

Creature comfort options and special model features are taught and explained ... why a 10,000 gvw 6.2 is rated at different hp and torque numbers from an F250 6.2 is not taught ...

I could either b.s. the customer or go to a source I figured would have the answer and learn ... I chose the latter and , thank you !

 

And I commend you for doing what so many other sales associates will not, which is taking the time to try to educate yourself about the vehicles you sell.

 

And you, my friend, are an exception to the type I mentioned in my post above, and I, like Powerstroke before me, commend you for your quest for the truth in truck specs! Stick around, and you will put yourself a step or two above your lesser-learned colleagues.

 

i can't find wether this was discussed or not, but every once in awhile, on cold days, i'll flip the truck into 4HI and i'll get a "check 4x4" light. so i shut the truck off, restart and usually it works. sometimes I may have to restart twice to make it go away. Aside from some people saying that they have that problem too, I haven't found anyone telling me what is actually causing this. i'm afraid when I bring this into have checked out, it won't show up since it's intermittent. which means a potential run around with the dealer ship, me getting pissed off and then eventually driving my truck through their front doors. help me avoid violence.

 

on my 03 I would say this sounded like a vacuum issue. The other possibility would be something with the traction control system. I talked to my plumber who got had a 2011 F350, he had to get new acuator motors for his traction control system, they didn't say what was wrong, just put them on.

 

I have a F250 6.2 and I find I get much better mpg with non-ethanol gas. Do you have any comments?

 

I do!

Ethanol has ~30% less energy than gasoline by volume. Meaning you will burn more ethanol to get the same amount of energy as gasoline.

Ethanol

So you will be more efficient running straight gasoline. This has to do with the characteristics of the fuel; engine design has nothing to do with it.

 

That is all correct! Ethanol sucks! (It replaces 10% of gas to help reduce our reliance on foreign oil) The rest of the story: You will get 10-15% less fuel mileage with ethanol in turn burning more fuel which means more emissions, more fuel burned, same reliance on foreign oil. All it does is gives farmers a guarantied crop and a feather in the governments cap (in the eyes of the ignorant).

 

And the WORST part? It takes MORE energy to make a gallon of ethanol than it contains! It's ENERGY NEGATIVE! PLUS, its manufacture has raised the price of corn so much that America's dairy farmers and beef cattle ranches almost can't afford to feed it to their animals! What is it all coming to? Not much good that I can tell.....

 

Yes I forgot about the fuel and energy it takes to make ethanol. Not to mention the land wasted that could have grown other crops, fed cattle, or even left bare would conserve more energy.

 

Hey Crazy, that sounds pretty prejudicial. It's true that ethanol contains less energy than gasoline, but not 30%. More like twenty. But it doesn't matter that much because ethanol is usually used as E10, (90% gasoline and 10% ethanol) which improves the octane of the gasoline. Or it is often used as E85, or 15%gasoline and 85% ethanol. This way is burns cleaner, minimizes hot spots in the engine and if the engine is optimized for ethanol there is minimal loss of performance and the engine life is extended. And YES, engine design does have a lot to do with it.

 

Those are ill founded arguments./ The fuel-energy argument, created to undermine the corn/ethanol guys who put up their own money and built the ethanol plants. Ethanol can supply the energy needed.

Land does not have to be wasted to grow switch grass or sugarcane. They can be grown on land that is not used for growing food crops.

Remember, this is not a straight "energy conservation" argument. It is a strategic move to make us energy independent, rather than sending hundreds of billions of dollars annually to OPEC nations. People who would rather see us dead.

Done well, an ethanol industry in our own country would produce tens of thousands of permanant jobs that pay well as well as a boom in American farming and all the industries that support it.

 

That's not an argument, it's propaganda.

It is true that ethanol has driven up the price of corn, but since it is people who grow corn for a living that are producing the ethanol it's a win-win for them isn't it? If they just threw the entire plant (rather than ears of corn,) they would get a much larger yield.

Use switchgrass or sugarcane to make ethanol.

Switchgrass is the grass that grew all across the American praeries in times past. It fed the herds of antelope and bison all across this country, but now most of it has been plowed under. But it is easy to grow almost anywhere. You can get between one and twelve cuttings per year out of it depending on water available.

Sugarcane could be grown all around the Gulf coast on land that is not currently used. Brazil uses it and they are now energy independent.

 

It also happens to be true!
What makes it a win-win for the corn farmer(and ONLY the corn farmer!) is that the government is subsidizing it! Without that, the pump price would be much higher than it is. It's another welfare system, the ethanol makers are making a killing on it, and THAT is the main reason they're in the business making it. It has NOTHING to do with all the "right reasons" for making ethanol. And meanwhile, the American cattle ranchers, hog farmers, and dairy farmers are paying the price for this folly.

 

So you guess that maybe they should start growing switchgrass and start making som ethanol? It's working for the corn guys....

But don't mix up the arguments. You want to rail against subsidies, go ahead. But that has nothing to do with whether etanol is a good idea for the country!