e85

[sickomode]

hi everyone! first actual post on here so bare with me... 2000 ranger 3.0, 2wd manual trans
recently learned that 99 and 2000 3.0 rangers take flex fuel, have the V in my vin too, so decided to go for it and fill up with e85 since theres a station right by my house. seems to be running a bit wonky, at first ran fine no issues but a few miles into freeway driving the rpms started dropping and now truck is wanting to stall out. i probably should have eased into it by slowly adding e85 in but i didnt get that far into the thread until after i put in a full ass load of e85 in (of course). anyone have any similar issues? should i send my ass over to a gas station and add more 87 in? read forums where people have had great results and some that didnt. anything helps! i have another car i can drive in the meantime while i trouble shoot, but this is my daily driver so i need to figure something out! already had too lean engine code beforehand caused by an o2 sensor. thanks!

 

[19Walt93]

If your truck actually is a flex fuel it will have a leaf emblem on it somewhere that says flex fuel. Get some gasoline in it as soon as possible. We don't have E85 around here but we sold a bunch of flex fuel vehicles because that's what Ford was building. If a flex fuel module craps out it defaults to the E85 calibration and the vehicle runs pig rich and doggy.
E85 costs more and the mpg goes down because alcohol contains fewer BTU's per gallon than gasoline so the mix needs to be richer to be equal. If we could make alcohol out of sugar cane like Brazil does it would be cost effective and make sense, making it out of corn is inefficient and expends more energy than the alcohol produces. The alcohol in our gas is there only for political reasons. Not to mention, when the temps are below zero a carbureted vehicle won't start without a stick of dynamite.

 

[Dirtman]

What walt said... Not ALL rangers were flex fuel, the ones that were are clearly labeled with flex fuel emblems. Get that stuff out and fill with regular gas asap.

 

[stmitch]

Guys, he's got a "V" in the Vin. It's a flex fuel truck, regardless of having a badge or not after 20 years roaming the planet. E85 is actually cheaper per gallon than 'regular' in some places, and it makes a big difference in the way the 3.0 runs. It's not the devil it's made out to be in the right situation.

OP, as you suspect, the issue is not likely the fuel, it's the quantity. E85 cleans the hell out of a gunked up fuel system. Running too much at once can loosen a lot of varnish/sludge from the tank and lines. It's probably clogging up your fuel filter and reducing flow. If anything passes through the filter, or stuff between the filter and the engine gets worked loose, it can also clog injectors. That's why it's usually recommended to phase in e85 slowly. Too late for that now of course. If there's any significant capacity remaining in the tank, I'd fill it with gasoline to try and dilute the e85 a bit. It still may require a fuel filter change (relatively cheap and easy). After you run a full tank through, see how it's running and go from there as far as other issues that may come up.

 

[19Walt93]

Guys, he's got a "V" in the Vin. It's a flex fuel truck, regardless of having a badge or not after 20 years roaming the planet. E85 is actually cheaper per gallon than 'regular' in some places, and it makes a big difference in the way the 3.0 runs. It's not the devil it's made out to be in the right situation.

OP, as you suspect, the issue is not likely the fuel, it's the quantity. E85 cleans the hell out of a gunked up fuel system. Running too much at once can loosen a lot of varnish/sludge from the tank and lines. It's probably clogging up your fuel filter and reducing flow. If anything passes through the filter, or stuff between the filter and the engine gets worked loose, it can also clog injectors. That's why it's usually recommended to phase in e85 slowly. Too late for that now of course. If there's any significant capacity remaining in the tank, I'd fill it with gasoline to try and dilute the e85 a bit. It still may require a fuel filter change (relatively cheap and easy). After you run a full tank through, see how it's running and go from there as far as other issues that may come up.

That's definitely worth a try, when E10 first appeared we had a bunch of problems because the alcohol was dissolving accumulated rust in the station fuel tanks, clogging filters and injectors. It would seem that the E10 would have already "cleaned" your fuel system but a filter is cheap and easy to change. Dump the contents into a clean container and see what it looks like.

 

[pjtoledo]

Guys, he's got a "V" in the Vin. It's a flex fuel truck, regardless of having a badge or not after 20 years roaming the planet. E85 is actually cheaper per gallon than 'regular' in some places, and it makes a big difference in the way the 3.0 runs. It's not the devil it's made out to be in the right situation.

OP, as you suspect, the issue is not likely the fuel, it's the quantity. E85 cleans the hell out of a gunked up fuel system. Running too much at once can loosen a lot of varnish/sludge from the tank and lines. It's probably clogging up your fuel filter and reducing flow. If anything passes through the filter, or stuff between the filter and the engine gets worked loose, it can also clog injectors. That's why it's usually recommended to phase in e85 slowly. Too late for that now of course. If there's any significant capacity remaining in the tank, I'd fill it with gasoline to try and dilute the e85 a bit. It still may require a fuel filter change (relatively cheap and easy). After you run a full tank through, see how it's running and go from there as far as other issues that may come up.

yep. in fact the power ratings are using e85. or so says the asterisk in the owners manual.

 

[cbxer55]

E85 here is 105 octane at the pump. Even my 98, I've run up to 20% with no problems. When it gets hard to start, I dose it with some, as was mentioned, it's one hell of a fuel system and injector cleaner. Figured out the math once, a gallon is 5%, two is 10%, three is 15% and four is 20%. I just add four, and from that point on start diluting it. Starting problems go away for a few months or so. When they start happening, rinse and repeat. Works way better than any of that canned crap.

 

[txgocartB3000#2]

Could of the e85 module gone bad and it was replaced with an emulator/replicator?

If a dummy circuit was put in then the programming would go bonkers, I assume.

If the fuel filter don’t help then I would drain or really dilute the e85 with regular gas and see what that does.

Ray

 

[sickomode]

wanted to update everyone:
after some thinking and r&d and remembered that the guys i had bought the truck from had put in a new fuel pump, and guess what it wasnt the right pump, so when i put e85 in it fried my pump, i put a new one in and it runs better than it ever has. idles smooth, revs smoother, goes way faster in 2nd and 3rd gear. haha i feel stupid that i didn’t even think of that, but yup replacing the fuel pump did it. thanks for everyones input.

 

[Curious Hound]

Congratulations.