Flex Fuel or No Flex Fuel. That is the question.

Flash I'd say if someone wants the performance let them go buy ethanol fuel. Nice and easy. No need to force it on the 99.999% of driving public who don't want it.

Corn fuel is flat out theft by the corn lobby perpetrated on the American people and our Gov't is pointing the gun at us while they take our wallet.

 

I'm a big believer in the fact that large corporations tend to do what they want and sweep things under the rug if they disagree with a particular agenda.

My perspective is only from that of an end user experience, using E85 to pull more power out of an engine. Anyone who has seen how I drive knows I'm not in it for climate change. (although I do believe global warming is a thing, I'm not sure how much impact we humans have had on it)

 

What he said Peace. D

 

Fair point. And just to be clear, I wasn't trying to force anything on anyone (whereas the government or whoever else might be). My interest was in what people have used it and what their experience with ethanol based girls are while trying to educate myself and anyone else who is interested.

 

Been paddling around the idea of an 86. But also kinda looking at 2.5GT legacies. Would definitely be interested in tuning E85 since it's so readily available near me.

 

The 86 on E85 is a smile factory. Even if you’re not into the whole ‘drift scene’ they’re about the most fun you can have on the street. Not gonna win any drag races, but if you’re looking at the 86 and Legacies, you’re already smart enough to know that.

On a tight curvy track though, I’m spanking Porsche 930s on the regular.

 

God. A small bump in turbo size and a FFV tune. Sounds so fun in a legacy. But the 86 looks about 10000 times better.

 

Fun Fact:

Our truck was at the dealer getting a new starter installed a couple days ago and when they started it for the first time, poof, extended starter run and rough/high idle. They checked the alcohol percent reading from the ECU and it says it has 70% ethanol in it. Nope. We never filled with ethanol. They reflashed the ECU and it jumped back up to 70%.

So we’re gonna run this tank empty and fill with ‘good gas’ to satisfy the troubleshooting step of ensuring we didn’t get bad gas at our last fill up, and then go back to have them reset the computer.

Will post up the results next week after we take it back in and they do whatever they’re gonna do. We haven’t run e85 in the truck for 3-4 years, so I don’t know why this would happen now. We did just drive across country from AZ to OH - 1800 miles in 33 hours.

 

I have been running E85 on my FF from 2nd tank of gas on. (1st tank of gas was provided by the dealer so it's regular unleaded) Bought the truck on 6/30/2018 and just did the 1st 5k mile service last week at the dearlership. They did "reflash" the ECU due to the recall they said. Since then, the truck sounds more smooth at idle. Here is the thing tho, I am not sure it's due to new oil or new ECU. But all and all is great.

 

Did you know that he 85 is higher octane than premium I've been reading up on it the drag race car hobbyists pretty much all switched over to E85 due to its cleaner and more octane then premium or race fuel for that matter and it makes big horsepower numbers in Drag Race world but it does have more octane than premium 93 or 92 or 91 for that matter at an 87 octane price or lower in some cases

 

390 horse V8 for sure requires premium fuel any v8 car you can run 87 I do but I'm not beating on it the computers can adjust within the range but as far as quality premium fuel is that the pumps for a reason not just to give you an option most V8 engines require it in our Tundra 5.7 is a pretty hefty V8 what a decent amount of horsepower I can't see how anyone would think any different other than it hurts your damn pocketbook E85 is a wise choice if the truck is made for it because it has a nice low price tag at the pump and a hell of a lot more acting than premium does

 

That is why ethanol free around here is 87. They use ethanol to boost the octane

 

Actually, based on my calculation with the prices here in Texas, the dollar per mile is actually close to the premium or 93.

 

I have a couple friends who run the e85 on 800hp plus trucks. Yes the gas is cheaper but they still burn more fuel and it’s not a cost savings. They run it because it does yield a little more horsepower. But playing the horsepower game is not cheap. One of my clients is getting 5 miles per gallon with his 840hp trex on e85.

 

5?!! Whoa. THought my 10 was bad enough

 

Unleaded only hope to never use the flex

 

Why not if you don't mind me asking.

 

It has 108 octane rating, and it does make a difference when it comes to performance. Once I was skeptical but the 108 octane rating really got me thinking. So we were on a road trip and I had my wife blind test me (she really blind folded me so I don't cheat lol people were looking at us weird lol). She doesn't tell me if she pumped E85 or 93 (only these two choices FYI) and see if I can tell the differences. And the test was easy because the differences were really there especially at the 60MPH+ acceleration. The truck just feels that much lighter and easier to pull.

 

How can you tell if the used truck you bought was flex or not......always get asked at parts store, but I'm not sure

 

Enter the VIN at this site. https://www.toyota.com/owners/my-vehicle/vehicle-specification

It'll give you all the specs for your truck.

 

Thanks

 

The gas cap (thaz if the previous owner didn't change the original one). The cap will have E85 or Flex Fuel wording on it.

 

Only use ethanol free gas.....

 

VIN 5th Digit tells you that. W=Flex Fuel (3URFBE) Y=Gas Only (3URFE)

 

After you clean it:
Remove ETCS and EFI fuses for 10-15 minutes. Replace fuses, start truck (it’ll die once), restart and let it idle w/accessories OFF (lights, AC, etc.) for 15 minutes. You’re done!

 

100% this. When the truck is switched back to gasoline the change in low end power is so pronounced it feels like the engine is missing a cylinder. I can only imagine what a proper tune would feel like. I doubt Toyota added timing for the ethanol. Knowing them they probably pulled timing trying to keep power levels consistent.

 

Lot of confused members' on this subject???!!!!

 

Great video about e85

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnPJEI6AnZ0

yup

Gasoline is an awful lubricant as well. The potential lubrication problem is if too much water gets into the ethanol during storage, creates acids during combustion, and degrades the engine oil. This is why they recommend lower oil change intervals, not for the fuel, but just in case of bad fuel. If the fuel is good it shouldn't hurt anything. I sent a sample from my last oil change to Blackstone and the numbers were so good their response was basically "you don't need to change oil if it's just been sitting in the truck." That oil was driven shorter trips 6 days a week, about half the miles on e85, and I went over on the recommended time, all of which is potentially problematic which is why I had it checked.

As for carbon buildup. Ethanol doesn't have the multitudes of hydrocarbon chains in gasoline that need to get broken apart and oxidized. It does have more hydrogen and oxygen in it though that makes much more water vapor in the burn and steam cleans everything. Pic up my tailpipe to show how much it cleaned it out. A year ago there was a lot of carbon even turning the rear bumper black so it was no surprise the motor was trying to ping a little in 6th gear.

It's not a miracle fuel; it doesn't go as far on a tank, needs more oil changes, can't sit in the vehicle for three months without worry, and probably should have normal gasoline ran though now and again (a proven way to prevent issues on GM and Ford flex fuel vehicles), but it does have its uses.

 

I did a lot of research on this when I rebuilt my Buick 455. I wanted the compression ratio at 11:1 but still wanted to street drive it. E85 can be found in FL. So I moved the build to run this. Ethanol burns cooler which was another reason. Alot of guys in the street performance world switched to this. Unfortunately it does burn quicker.
I believe there is a stigma with ethanol. It's not a bad thing. Heck, I've heard of old moonshine runners use to put in there old hot rods back in the day.

Good thread by the way.

 

Thread revival

I had a fun moment at the pump today when I noticed a tiny logo on the gas cap and suddenly had the realization “… Holy $H!T… I have a FlexFuel!?!?” I bought the truck back in July and somehow never was presented with this information at any point.

I had gotten the idea that the FF engines were less reliable, but after reading through this thread it sounds like if you run regular gas it’s no different than regular engine. Anyone out there have evidence to the contrary?

I’ve never seen an E-85 pump in my life here in the NE, I think it’s primarily a big ag country thing. Couldn’t try it if I wanted to w/o a road trip.

I also seem to recall seeing a recommendation to not just flip-flop between E-85 and regular tank-to-tank… is that right?

I’ll be damned. FlexFuel

Edit to add: For the record, I only fuel up with ethanol-free premium, ironically.