Why can’t my car use flexfuel?
January 18, 2012 by Admin
Filed under Discussions
I was at a gas station yesterday and the FlexFuel which only $ 3 29 and regular unleaded was $ 3 70th I know a car has to be designed to take FlexFuel but what is so different? it all flammable liquid that cause explosions in the pistons shafts to push them up and down. Seems like you should be able to put any flammable liquid in there and it would work. Why is this not? Possible I drive a 2000 Toyota Camry non flexfule if anybody wanted to know. It does get really good gas mileage by itself but gas is so high.
Flex fuel is not as combustible as regular gasoline, it must be fed into the engine in a higher quantity to burn efficiently, your car could be modified to accept it but would require different injectors.
Different engine management calibration, different engine seals, different materials in the fuel pump and lines.
On top of that, gas mileage with the E85 is much worse than gasoline because of the lower energy content of the ethanol. You’d pay less per gallon, but your fuel cost per mile would probably be about the same.
Flex-fuel is gasohol right?
When gasohol appeared in the late seventies it was supposed to solve the octane problem in high compression motors and be a cheaper fuel.
The problems with some of the cars were they used plastic parts in the carburetors that the alcohol in the fuel ate.
The other problem was there was no real way to adjust the air mixture or timing easily back then.
In a 2000 vehicle you will likely find it burns gasohol fine, so long as it is less than 20% alcohol.
Even at 20% you will be wanting to adjust your fuel mix to run richer.
There is a bit of a disadvantage in alcohol fuel’s ability to dissolve all the old gunk in the fuel tank and plug filters with it.
For 85% ethanol to break even with gasoline in cost as a fuel it has to cost least 35% less than the straight gasoline does per gallon.
the specific answer to your question. Flex fuel vehicles have been modified to stand the corrosive nature of the extra alcohol. If you use it on a regular basis it will cause fuel system damage.