Is there anyone with a flex fuel engine that has any comments about it??

I have a 2007 F-150 XLT Supercab 4x4. I am nearing 3000 miles and have not, yet, had an opportunity to use E85, as there is none here in South Florida. I may get some on my drive up to Tennessee next month.

Just looking for any input, to see how it's going to work for my truck. i understand that it costs more and produces less gas mileage.

Oh, by the way, I have the 5.4L V-8.

 

Around here, E85 is about 20 to 30 cents a gallon less than 87 octane E10. I have heard that it will get anywhere from 5 to 30 % less gas mileage, with the newer engines more toward the low end of that scale.

 

My truck isn't an FFV, but I would not go very far out of your way to get E85. I look at it as fuel of opportunity where it's worth buying if they have it at the nearest gas station, but not really worth the effort otherwise.

BTW, any OBDII equipped F150 can be made FFV ready with a FlexTek conversion.

 

Any number of sources has proven that E85 is quite the joke. It will always get you less power & mileage. On one TV news show, they took a Chevy Tahoe with the 5.3 & ran both reg & E85. It got like 16.5mpg on reg & 12.9 on E85.

The single only thing E85 does for this country is reduce our gasoline consumption. I'm all for trying to find alternative energy sources. All I want is one that lives up to the bargain or don't waste my time.

KC-10 FE out...

 

The only thing aside from the reduced oil importation issue that I like about ethanol is reduced local pollution. If they sold it where we normally fill up, we would select it for that reason alone, but it's not a very compelling option otherwise. On that note, we are hoping that Ford will start selling a small displacement diesel F150 soon since biodiesel does not degrade fuel economy.

 

I like you have a 2007 Flexfuel 5.4 Triton, I have not had the opportunity to
obtain any E-85 Ethanol as of yet. This is what I have heard so far about E-85, it does make the 5.4 5% more powerful, however less gas mileage,

 

E85...although good for the corn farmers...is one of the least efficient fuels. I understand why we are using it, and trying to switch...but at the moment there are not enough fuel stations to make a difference. Secondly the South Americans have been using Sugar Cane (which is a hell-of-a lot more efficient when it comes to production and fuel creation) however we do not hav ethe climate in order for our farmers to create Sugar Cane throughout the U.S. Also it takes 2.2 gallons of Reg. and Diesel fuel in order to create 1 gal. of E85...Just something to ponder about..
~Phil

 

I've ran one tank of E85 through mine, wasn't that big of a difference, felt it ran a little smoother (could have just been my imagination). I did get about 1mpg less than with Reg. We have it where I live at one station, but it is the same price as Reg, so I go with Reg.

There was a news story on just a couple of days ago that we (the US) are in contract negotiations with one of the South American countries (sorry, can't remember which), to be our supplier for sugar cane to make Ethanol, which they said on the news that it could possibly reduce the cost of Ethanol by 50% at the pumps. Now if it goes down that much, I will definately use it.

Zambo, I've heard figures like that too, but I am a little skeptical when I hear those, because if you think about it, if they use 2.2 gal. of Reg or Diesel in the manufacturing and transportation of 1 gal of E85, who is eating that money? I don't think the manufacturing companies, the trucking companies, or the gas stations would be willing to take an approximate $5 loss on every gallon of E85 sold just to have it.