My step dad picked up a new-to-him truck last week. Replaced a 2005 F-150 with 60,000 miles with a 2006 F-150 with 16,000 miles. Both are SuperCab's, Long beds, 5.4's 2wd's and regularly pull 9,000 pulls (and does so very well).

At any rate, we had a discussion about E85 in the 2005. I looked on the E85 website and it said 06's were compatible.

Not thinking twice, I gave the greenlight. So Bob fills the 34 gallon tank up with 31 gallons of E85. A couple of hours later, he calls.

"So, I have low power and a check engine light, what gives?"

Me: "Perhaps a clogged fuel filter. Ethanol is a cleanser and you might have had some junk in the tank (although I was thinking 16k should NOT have that problem."

I direct him to replace the fuel filter tonight (located under the driver's side cab in a nice easy location).

Then I started thinking. Wait, most engine are OPTIONAL flex fuel capable. What if his 2006 did not come with that option.

Apparently the 8th letter of the vin has to be "V" or it's not flex fuel compatible.

He's suppose to call back with the vin shortly.

We either have E85 in a non-compatible engine. It obviously throws the check engine light and does not have the capacity to adjust fuel flow rate to compensate. Or we have a clogged filter and fuel flow restrictions.

Anyone want to take a guess on which it is? We should know shortly.

BTW, we have successfully ran E85 in our 2004 Tahoe Z71 5.3L with good luck, although it once in a rare while that it is filled with it. Whereas with the truck, there is an E85 station on the daily route.

D

The engine isn't E85 compatible.
I don't see how there could be enough gunk that 585 would have dredged it up on a 16k mile vehile that has probably had E10 in it all its life.

E10 not required in KS. It's been using MTBE.

Confirmed. 8th character of the VIN code is 5, not V.

So now the decision of whether to burn it, siphon it, or do what.

Input? I know it's corrosive on non poperly designed systems. I think I might have him siphon what he can into the Tahoe and portable tanks. Then just fill with regular gas and drive until it corrects.

Thoughts?

What's the code?

MIL code?

i know whats wrong now. The ECM has no idea it has ethanol because it's not equipped. So, the extra oxygen is confusing the hell of the ECM. So it's in open-loop mode which is why there is reduced power because the ECM is not increasing fuel flow to compensate. Infact, it's doing nothing but delivering the premapped amount of fuel. Which means it's running a little lean now (thanks Ethanol) Which means this is a little urgent to get this fixed before the engine blows or the cat is clogged.

WHOOOOPPPPSSSSS

Yes.

Didn't check it.

If it stays on, I will have him run by A-zone to see.

Here is the action plan. He's going to siphon about 13 gallons out into the Tahoe (which as mentioned has ran E85 before). He's going to put about another 5 gallons in portable storage. The will leave him with about 6-7 gallons of E85. He's going to top the tank off with straight up MTBE fuel, which is about 23 gallons. This will bring his ethanol ratio to about 20%. I think 20% should be within the system's buffer zone. The stuff wont last a week, so i'm not too worried about MTBE and ethanol separating and causing problems.

Anyone have suggestions against this idea? Bob? Thanks!!

I say if a dinosaur didn't poop it then don't burn it, eat corn, it cleans out people not cars. Just ribbin' ya'll

Sounds like a good plan, but I still would like to know the code sometime...

Okie. If it's still on when I get home this weekend, i'll take it to go find out.

What are you thinking the code is? Clogged Cat?

I just bought an 07 Impala with the flexfuel option. I looked online for e85 stations, the nearest one is 49 miles away. then I looked some wore and found that since e85 contains less energy than gas I'll get worse gas mileage and it turns out mile for mile e85 costs about 4.80 per gallon (adjusted for the lost fuel economy) why would I want to use e85??

Doesnt make as much sense in a higher efficiency car as it does in a gas hog truck.

Basically 13mpg vs 12 mpg. Over 30 gallons, at a 50 cent cost savings per gallon, we were looking about about $30 a month savings.

D-rod, MTBE was outlawed years ago for polluting the water supplies.

Then what does the gas have? Small traces of ethanol?

I know E10 gas pumps have special stickers on them here.

Figure that you would have to save 25% of the price of gasoline to purchase E85. So if your gas is $4.00 you don't want to pay more than $3.00 for your E85. Local TV station did a test on mileage on an Impala, and it got 22% better fuel mileage on "regular" gas than it did on E85. There is one E85 station in this area that knows how to price their fuel, and I hope they are selling a ton of it. Cause there are many stations that don't discount their E85 enough to make it cost effective.

D-Rod, you might just have straight gasoline there, no mtbe or ethanol. Or those ethanol stickers aren't mandated yet, so the stations can be using E10, but don't have to disclose it?

I would get all the E85 out of the truck, myself. And I would gladly take it off your hands! Just put it on a hazmat truck to Peoria!

SeaDog,

I think we still have MTBE in our fuel through the winter months still.

Here in NW illinois, E85 is currently $2.79 which is about $1.25 cheaper per gallon that regular. Of course my gas hog 8.1L in my Yukon XL is unable to burn this stuff.

The ban on MTBE is a state issue. I have not heard updates on this since 2007, but most states limit it to a level that is close to insignificant. A few states have gone to full bans, but the oil companies will fight those for very good reasons. If you have a total ban, what is to prevent them from getting sued for a accidental contamination from unknown sources. Plus the huge amounts they had stockpiles were better served by trickling it out into the system. MTBE will degrade, but slowly based on studies done by Kansas researchers.

The stickers are also a state issue. Oklahoma required them on pumps after June 30th.

Those stations know how to price their product to make it truly an alternative.

"Not thinking twice, I gave the greenlight. So Bob fills the 34 gallon tank up with 31 gallons of E85. A couple of hours later, he calls."

"Ethanol is a cleanser and you might have had some junk in the tank (although I was thinking 16k should NOT have that problem."

"Then I started thinking. "

"I think I might have him siphon what he can into the Tahoe and portable tanks."

"I think 20% should be within the system's buffer zone."

"Which means it's running a little lean now (thanks Ethanol) Which means this is a little urgent to get this fixed before the engine blows or the cat is clogged.

WHOOOOPPPPSSSSS"

Hmmmmmmmmmm, do I see a recurring theme here? I always kind figured ya had to be smarter than the stuff you were working on. Probably a good rule for most to follow. Of course, the following photo applies to me and anyone else who thinks it fits them.

That sure was a lot of brainpower expended to figure out what it should have had put in it and then what the wrong stuff did after the fact. Most people read the owner's manual to see what kind of fuel their vehicle can use before they put any in. That seems a lot more normal than checking the VIN code on a website that may not even be recogized or validated by the vehicle manufacturer.

don't they label them like unleaded only?

Or you look for the decal or nameplate on the side of the vehicle.

My Impala has a YELLOW E85 gas cap and an emblem on the trunk lid that tells the world of my cars amazing ability to burn corn juice!

First off,

Looking in the dam manual doesn't solve anything. Ford offered TWO 5.4's that year. One is E85 capable and the other isn't.

It is MY understanding from the quick research I did PRIOR to giving the green light, that the E85 capable was standard equipment. It was moreless an option that had to clicked to get a NON flex fuel engine. Troop, please correct if I am wrong.

At any rate, it was NOT popular to put emblems on E85 happy vehicles until it became the popular marketing thing to do. So, no, looking for an emblem is NOT going to help.

Secondly, someone correct me if I am wrong, but i'm about 99.999999% sure that E85 fuel is technically considered an "unleaded fuel" product. Don't think that's a quickie either.

In this case, your only option is to look at the VIN. In this case, the 8th letter of the Ford VIN is the engine code.

No update to report this evening. Left for work this morning when I posted the reply that poofed the Picken's Plan website. Here I am 18 hours later getting home. Point is, i've had no time to call and find out what the updated situation now is.

Hind sight is always 20/20, but, that said, before I would put that much money in fuel, in that expensive a truck, with even an outside chance of ruining the truck, I'd be 100% sure I was right. I had a boss, years ago, after I told him what I thought, who told me I wasn't paid to think, know it or learn it. I still live by that advise.