I saw on MSNBC.com some Ford vehicles are listed as "Ethanol-ready". One of the vehicles listed is "5.4L F-150 (Available in December 2005)". Being the internet, I wanted to first validate that this is true? Is this a special package, of some sort, or is it all of this particular vehicle type?

Beyond that, does anyone have any experience with a personally owned Ethanol run F-150? I know there are government and companies that do things like this, but I would like insight from an individual.

If anyone is lucky enough (with current gas prices) to be doing this, could you please share your lessons?


Thank You!
madmaxmutt

 

If you go to the FORD web site they list all their Flex Fuel vehicles, and the F-150 is on the list.

Other than that, I have no personal experience.

 

I don't have personal experience, but I looked into this after seeing a news report a couple of days ago. I googled "ford flex fuel" and found a site called fueleconomy.gov which has mileage and cost figures for running flexfuel vehicle on both gas and ethanol. On all vehicles the mileage was 25-30% less running on ethanol and the average fuel cost per year was higher than running gas. The F150 is on the list.

 

The only one I know of is a 2006 F150 midwest edition. Other than that I can find nothing in my owners manual or anything to support what that website is saying.

 

What is the web site saying, that you can't find info on?

E85 is much too expensive, and the MPG is less with it, so it's not a good deal......right now. It costs more to run an E85 than a gas burner.

However, if this country gets it's head out of it's @ss and mandates all E85 Flex Fuel vehicles, the price of E85 will come down, and then it will make sense to buy one.

I wish it would happen tomorrow.

 

I just ordered a 150 screw, one of the options for the 5.4 is "ffv" at no additional cost. the non ffv engines can handle E10 but not E85, the ffv will burn anything up to E85.

 

My '06 is a Flex Fuel Vehicle, however, I dont use Ethanol. I havent seen it at any of the stations here, plus since the gas mileage is so crappy with it, its not worth the .10cents or whatever it is less per gallon.


BREW

 

I have a Flex Fuel Engine on my 06 F-150 and as soon as I find a local station that carries Ethanol, I will switch. That way, at least I'm supporting the US farmers. I heard it can be produced/ sold at half the price of gasoline.

 

You're right....but will it be sold that cheap? Hell no.....and thats why I wont switch. I heard it can be made from sugar cane and all said and done it could be sold for .70 to $1.00 a gallon and they would still make a profit. but once again, will we ever see it that cheap? I highly doubt it. I don't think the government will allow it.


BREW

 

Go to fordvehicles.com. You can check local vehicle inventory and most dealerships will let you print the window sticker. There are a lot of FFV 06'es that I was able to find. As mentioned it is the same price as the normal 5.4. Dont know anything about if it was an option on the 4.6. My truck has it and the outside of the truck doesnt let you know anything about it being there.

There is an aux sticker that gives details on the mileage per tank. It gives the EPA low and high range for each tank and there is a bunch of overlap for the lower side of gasoline and the higher side of E85, so it is not much info. However the gasoline highest is higher than the E85 highest and the gasoline lowest is higher than the E85 lowest. That says that they are admitting that this vehicle will get less MPG for E85.

I bought my truck with the hopes that e85 will be available and some relief from the higher prices. If it does great, if not no harm done.

 

We'd still subsidize the farmers so we'd still be getting screwed.

 

I dunno where you are in Georgia, but in my neck of the woods (Chattahoochee/Muscogee county), the only place I've found E85 available is on Ft. Benning.

 

Theres one here in salt lake but its only 5 cents cheaper than normal gas. But like mentioned above every vehicle get roughly 5 miles less a gallon. not worth it at all. But my truck isnt even compatible so i dont know why im even talking about this.

I do know that the government its getting stricter over the next few years gas mileage-wise.

 

My 2006 SCREW is a FFV and have read the same information regarding worse fuel economy with E85 offsetting lower prices. Several Krogers (9?) in the Dallas area recently started carrying E85. In addition to a worse mpg, I am concerned about possible long-term issues running it. Obviously you can run a mixture of 87 octane and E85...

 

I have a 06 FX4 SCrew, with the FFV motor in it. Got it in Feb, and I've ran E85 in it since day one. There's only one E85 pump in the area, so we keep it full more than we did our 01 SCrew. E85 runs 30 cents less per gallon than the E10 blend. This morning E85 was 2.33 per. I've heard that in Minnesota, where there's more E85 pumps, that it's around 2.09 per. Competition keeps the price down? I'm hoping in the next couple years that more pumps will make it easier to get.

Mileage? Not sure, never ran gas in it. Probably less, I suppose. No matter, these F150 ain't easy on MPG regardless.

Power? Plenty. Pull a loaded car trailer weekly with it, with no problems.

Is it the answer to our fuel problems? Probably not, but at this time it's all I can do. I'd rather support the farmers in the good ole USA, than OPEC. If it costs me more, so be it...

Any other questions about my FFV, just let me know.