V8 flex fuel vs v8 non flex fuel

just bought a tundra 5.7 v8 and keep reading every where flex fuel this none flex fuel that. How do I know weather mines is a flex fuel tundra or not, and what’s the difference?

Feel free to dumb it down for me! Thanks in advance

 

Gas cap should tell you. Flex fuel is up to 85% ethanol. Non flex fuel cap will say something like 20% ethanol max.

 

I belive mines saids 85 with the circle cross sign, in other words not allowed. In other words im not a flex fuel engine ?

 

Yep

 

Like this

 

Perfect, thanks

 

Gas caps can be switched.

Go to the Toyota Owners website and enter your VIN, it will tell you a lot about your vehicle;

https://www.toyota.com/owners/vehicle-specification

It will tell if you have a E85 Flex Fuel engine. If you don't see those words in the Mechanical & Performance section for your engine, you don't have Flex Fuel engine.


Greg

 

What Greg said...

 

You can also request the specs from Toyota with email. Did this with daughters Rav4. They send window sticker type info and even MSRP

 

I wanted to do this thanks for the information

 

Checked non flex fuel thanks, greg

 

I put some of that E85 shit in my tank ONCE (2013 Flex Fuel 5.7) and that shit was terrible. No power and I could watch the gas gauge moving to empty.

 

Funny because a lot of high performance turbocharged cars run great on the E85 and make more power than 93 Octane swill(mainly tuned BMW twin turbo six cylinders and built turbocharged GM LS V8 engines)

 

LOL I hear if you wear a DD bra and put water balloons in them your safer in a crash

 

Ethanol is dumb; corn has better uses than as fuel and has a lower energy density than regular gasoline.

 

Since this came back up, let me ask this question: My truck is FFV. Other than that I can use E85 if I want to or for whatever reason I have to if I get to a place where that is all that is available, what other advantage or disadvantage is there to having a FFV? I have heard that non-FFV can do oil changes at 10,000 intervals and FFV has to do at 5,000. I assume that is only if you use E85. Can I do 10,000 intervals if I use regular gas?

 

100% correct on this just gotta understand why. I absolutely guarantee you that if you had a supercharged Tundra, you'd be running from station to station on E85 happily. Simply put it's poor man's race gas. It burns cooler and has higher knock resistance. What this means for a boosted engine is that you can turn up the pressure with less chance of pre-detonation/detonation. This does come as the cost of poor economy associatated with ethanol as well as being heavy footed. Naturally aspirated engines just don't stand to gain anything from it really.

In terms of E85 tundra vs Non, I personally would go E85 (and did). Yes earlier ones did have issues but those seem to be ironed out. In general the engines are going to be the same, biggest differences you see is fuel systems. The E85 will be more apt to handle corrosive materials, ethanol, and potentially stronger injectors/pump due to viscosity differences especially on colder days. (source: I have one of those BMWs and had to do my own research. Now runs a Walbro 450 in tank.)

 

To answer you question, simply no and in no vehicle ever should you do 10k oil change intervals. I still can't believe Mobil is trying to get away with annual oil changes. The simplest way to put this is, your fuel does not mix with your oil and if it does, you will be looking for a new engine soon (washed out bearings). As such the biggest factor for oil is heat. The thermostats on the engine are all set the same, relatively speaking between 180 and 210 F. That is not to say oil temperature doesn't exceed that. For example if towing frequently, consider shorter intervals. Heat breaks down the oil and it's lubrication capability. Otherwise, for full synthetics observe anywhere from 5,000 - 8,000 miles changes depending on abuse and usage and you will have a happier longer-lasting engine.

 

I'm not sure why the difference in oil changes between FFV and non-FFV.

That being said, the owners manual on the FFV states that oil changes are every 5,000 miles IF you run E10 or lower in your ethanol concentration. In other words most standard gas.

IF you run E85 more than 50% of the time, you need to change your oil every 2,500 miles.

--Matt

 

I do full synthetic at 5,000 intervals. I was just wondering why they recommend different intervals for different fuel types. As you said, the fuel and oil should not mix, so from that standpoint oil change interval should not be impacted by what fuel you are using. I don't plan on using E85 anyway; was just wondering in case I have to run it for whatever reason. I get free oil changes anyway, so if I have reason to get a flush I can do it every 1,000 miles, but typically I am at 5,000.

 

Albeit I cannot speak for Toyota, a best guess would be there's a difference simply to cover their asses. In my opinion, at most there might be an operating temperature difference between the two fuels. It's commonly known fact running too cool can also be detrimental just like running too hot. As with most things though, once out of warranty use the manual more as a guide. For example many vehicles will specify a lifetime fluid in a transmission, ie BMW, but you ask any mechanic and they will tell you no such fluid exists.

All things considered, stick to a good maintenance schedule and you should be fine. Just glanced at a Silverado manual and they don't specify anything special for FFV and they've been running them longer than most.

 

Hmm. Don't tell that to my 1990 Jeep Comanche (actually, little brother has it now, since I bought the Tundra) that I bought new and have only changed the Amsoil once a year for the last 28 years. 300k miles, still 150# compression in all 6 cylinders, nary a drop of oil added between annual changes, never down for any maintenance, save a couple water pumps, an alternator, and an ignition coil. 28 years young and still pulling strong. Pulled my 4500# boat 500 mile round-trips 4-5 times/year for 7 years till I got the Tundra three years ago. My wife's VW Beetle 99K+ miles, and the Tundra 95K+ miles, are getting the same treatment. At my age, the Tundra will outlive me.

 

Really, I truly am happy that you've had such an experience with your vehicles. Not to mention, I'm a fan of straight six's. That said I wouldn't compare the tolerances of your 6 to that of a DOHC modern V8. Should also note that aside from you using a quality oil, a lot of things changed in production since the early 90's, some good and some bad. Anything from the types of alloys, to tolerances, to the number of plastics used, etc. Out of curiosity, consider getting a Blackstone oil report to see how well your extended oil changes fare. Basically your post is something along the lines of, if my neighbor can get 200k miles on his timing belt that means all vehicles can so I shouldn't do mine at 100k.

My experience is different from yours though and actively working on other's vehicles that use various types/brands of oil have shown different results. So in the simplest of terms, with a typical consumer changing say 2,000 miles sooner than 10,000 not only doesn't hurt the wallet but also provides a nice margin of safety. In reality, the average consumer more often than not ends up driving past the recommended norm for oil changes, using the most budget friendly oil change, and typically resides on the fix when it breaks as opposed to preventative schedule. The only true way to tell someone an accurate oil change interval is to have them pick a brand/type/weight, establish a typical driving regime, submit samples for testing, and adjust the interval accordingly. Now the average Joe will not do that, so the err on the side of caution is best when providing advice to people and not recommend doing something to the absolute recommended limit of a product.

I should also note that it is common practice for manufacturers to note that engine oil consumption to a certain degree is normal and should not be a point of concern. It is nice that yours doesn't use any though. A lot of today's engines are also going the way of forced induction, high compression, plastic timing components, etc meaning that a lot more stress and heat is generated. This is largely connected to more stringent emissions standards and the strive for better economy.

Don't take this post as an attack, I just don't want someone to walk away thinking this is OK just cause it works for you. As always, I would encourage anyone to do their own research in the effort of protecting their property.

 

Well, next oil change comes up in Dec. I'll get the sample done. Been meaning to do that anyway.

 

Be sure to share when you do, I would definitely be curious!

Currently at the shop we have an 11 Tiguan with 120k and a 14ish Cadillac with 50k. Both came in with oil starvation for timing jobs. Let me tell you, times like this I wish it was a 90's straight six. The Tiguan alone had 3 chains and 6 guides. Now we have the belly pan coming down to see where shavings came from.

 

Yessir! I'll post up the results in this thread.

 

Changed oil today. Sending my sample in to Blackstone tomorrow. It's been 12 days shy of one year since I changed oil. And 23090 miles. Haven't needed to add any oil during that time. Truck has 100183 on it now. We'll see what Blackstone has to say.

 

Nice to see you're still going through with it, can't wait for the results!

 

Read your owner's manual. My '13 Rav4 it says change the oil every 10k in summer conditions and 5k in winter and in severe conditions. I haven't looked hard for it so maybe you can get it but the 0w20 oil seams to be just synthetic. With 160k on it now and it not burning a drop of oil I would say that the engineers at Toyota know what's best. The only deviation was when it was new, I did an oil change at 1500 and then another at 5000. After that almost all of them have been 10k apart.

My '07 Tundra says change the oil every 5000 miles. It doesn't say anything about flex fuel (mine isn't) so it's possible that Toyota has a different schedule for it. I'm not one who goes for the idea that switching to synthetic will give you the ability to extend the oil change interval. I'm not saying it's not possible just that I personally like to stick to the schedule set by Toyota.

 

If you're talking to me about reading the owners manual, understand that I know exactly what it says. Do whatever you want with whatever product you choose. I know what I'm doing.