I have a 2002 Ranger Edge with the 3.0 Flex Fuel and was wondering if anyone uses Ethanol fuel and what do you have to do to start using it or if it ready as is. Just need some all around Help on the topic.

Thanks

Heh. Just fuel up whenever you want with the E-juice. Let the computer figure out what is in the fuel tank.

It's ready as-is. You can use an ethanol/gas mixture in any ratio, at any time. So, you can fill it up with gas, then fill it up with ethanol, and vice versa without worrying about draining the gas tank or anything. The computer will adjust everything that needs adjusting for you.

Fuel economy would be reduced somewhat with E85 in flex-fuel vehicles, but at least its a Farmer in Kansas profiting instead of some terrorism supporting company in the middle east. As-soon as they get a station around here, I'll be fueling up with it. Piss on these d@mn oil companies.

http://ethanol.org/e85.html

Find a station near you here:
http://www.e85fuel.com/database/search.php

Horsepower of the 3.0L FFV Ranger increases a bit using E85 .

Fuel economy with E85 is substantially reduced (25%~30%). This is because E85 runs a much richer stoichiometric A/F ratio (< 10:1) than gasoline (14.7:1). The lower fuel economy is usually partially offset by a lower price per gallon.

umm yeah....stoichiometric...word of the day RW

says there are no stations near GA..... oh well $40 bucks for crappy gas :(

umm yeah....stoichiometric...word of the day RW


let me guess, you have never taken Chemistry, either that or you failed it..lol.. its the only part of chemistry that really pulled my attention got a 100 on everything that we did ...lol... it all about cars and trucks emissions like why they invented the cat using scientific reasons... but I think everyone here knows why......

Part of the reason it doesnt get as good mileage is the fact that the computer is optimized for gas. Im not sure if a ford dealer could do it, but someone should get onto making a programmer to optimize for the ethanol if you could commit to running it all the time. That should help out the fuel economy, but what do I know? Not much.

Ethanol is 100-105 octane so your motor can run much more aggressive timing along with the increased fuel, so power in the 3.0 is increased by 10%. Very environmentaly friendly, as only 15% is fossil fuel. Im not sure if a E85 only vehicle would even need a cat?

You can make it out of anything also, corn, sugar, or even lawn clippings. Wave of the future, I hope.

Part of the reason it doesnt get as good mileage is the fact that the computer is optimized for gas. Im not sure if a ford dealer could do it, but someone should get onto making a programmer to optimize for the ethanol if you could commit to running it all the time. That should help out the fuel economy, but what do I know? Not much.

Actually, the reason the fuel mileage is decreased is because the air/fuel ratio must be decreased due to the fact that Ethanol contains and larger amount of oxygen than gasoline. Air fuel ratio may be 10.6:1 with E85 as opposed to 14.7:1 with gasoline. Also, Ethanol doesn't contain as much energy as gasoline. E85 contains about 72% of the energy contained in the same measured amount of gasoline. Raising the air/fuel ratio more than makes up for this though, thus the slight power increase.

There is a sensor inline that detects the fuel composition. The computer adjusts the fuel ratio and timing to allow your vehicle to run on 85% Ethanol. Non flex-fuel vehicles are only designed to run on 15% Ethanol. This is because the computer cannot adjust enough to make up for the excess oxygen in the ethanol fuel.

Ethanol vehicles can get better fuel mileage than gasoline vehicles is they are optimized to run only on ethanol. Because ethanol contains a higher octane, more aggressive timing as well as a higher compression can be used. This increases horsepower and increases fuel mileage as well. This is also another reason flex-fuel vehicles get poor fuel mileage with E85. They are nothing more than a gasoline powered vehicle that has the bare minimum necessary components added to allow it to run on Ethanol85. Basicly a "Happy Medium".

I noticed a significant increase in pick-up with the E85. I just moved to Tucson, which has the only station with the stuff in Arizona. It's only 94 octane, though. Usually my acceleration decreases a lot when I have my ac on, but with E85 I can't even feel it. My mpg dropped a lot, but this is the first time I've used it. It should start to go up a little bit, but not all the way. If you can find the stuff, I would highly recommend it.