Ok, I though the 06 Prius was E85 compatible. You are now telling me it is not. Now that I have a full tank of E85 what should I do?
You do realize the prius was not designed to run on E85, and probably will make the car run very sluggish... Anywho, nice rims!
And E85 is about 20% less efficient than gasoline, so your MPG will suffer. And here are some figures I derived from reading a few sources: One acre of corn can produce about 325 gallons of ethanol. Because ethanol is not as "hot" as gasoline, that is equivalent to about 215 gallons of gasoline. So that means that an acre of corn would fill the tanks of about a dozen cars. Once. Then you have to wait months for more corn. It seems totally stupid to me.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rick Auricchio @ Jul 9 2006, 11:02 PM) [snapback]283633[/snapback]</div> While you do make a point I hasten to remind everyone that our lack of a focused energy policy to reduce our addiction to oil is even more stupid. Brazil has engaged ethanol. But Brazil can afford to because it has so fewer vehicles to fuel than we do and so much more untapped land to plant corn in. So for them it makes sense. For us I totally agree, we simply do not have the amount of land to produce the needed ethanol even if it is less efficient. We just need to collectively agree to stop using big honking vehicles for normal transportation and convert over to the Hybrids we currently love, along with the plug-ins and better batteries of tomorrow. While that sounds so self serving, it is a working solution. Now if we could just get more of em built. Lets hope the forecasts are correct. I hope that Prius doesn't complain too much about that E85 you used, Cheap!
Please help. Do I need to remove the gas asap, or can I run a few gallons off and start adding unleaded? Not a single sputter so far, but I am worried about burning a hole in my bladder or worse burning a gasket in my engine.
Theonly thing I can think of, Cheap!, is a standard syphon. Walk to the hardware store and get a foot-pump syphon and get out as much as you can. Make sure you do this in a well ventilated area since you don't want fumes to build up but make sure the onlookers know that it's your own car. I have no idea what you can put the E85 into. Popcorn, perhaps. Or you can sell it to a FlexFuel owner for a few nickels less than the gas station price.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Jul 10 2006, 12:33 AM) [snapback]283660[/snapback]</div> Is it really that serious? I didnt think it would cause any permanent damage...
To be honest, I'm not sure about the seriousness of the situation. I saw a thing on tv about biofuel and flexfuel and they were talking about how the computer has to calculate specific oxidation levels and burn properties of the fuel. That made me feel that there is enough of a difference that it's important. Don't tell Cheap! I said this, but what the heck, huh? It's not my car. I'm sure it's fine to drive a hundred miles or so, then top it off with normal gas and then drive a hundred more and repeat.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Jul 9 2006, 11:43 PM) [snapback]283665[/snapback]</div> Well I just went for a 30 mile drive at a 60 MPH using cruse control. I normal drive like that and I have been getting 5 min. bars ave. just over the 50 MPG mark. However, not the 5 min. bars are running more like 40 MPG. Wth 20% less? Not a single sputter or knock in the engine. It ran as smooth as can be. What I am really worried about is if the Prius parts can handle E85 without melting or damage. I sure hope I did not screw up my new car! If anyone has used E85 in your car before or knows somewhere I can find out information about "E85 in the 2006 Prius" I would love to know about it. Thank you.
Well, E85 has actually less energy than regular E10 does. Gasoline actually stores a lot of energy per gallon. Ethanol does not, however. Aka, you'll use more ethanol to go the same distance as gasoline (lower mpg).
One of the risks of E85 is that it may damage some pipes in the fuel system. An E85 modified engine usually has special pipes. But I don't know how fast this effect comes in...
You will probably get some CELs soon as the car figures out that things are not working as efficiently as it should. As mentioned, the seals, tubing/pipes, etc are not designed for a high ETOH content fuel. I doubt a single tank would do much damage, but, if it were my car, I'd siphon out all I could from the tank then top off with regular unleaded sooner rather than later. It should not do any permanant damage to the ICE or anything like that.
Don't take chances with your new baby!!! Siphon out as much as you can and fill it with regular unleaded, NOW!!! If you are degrading the bladder in your tank or your seals/lines/etc., you will be hit with a very expensive repair bill down the line. TAKE ACTION NOW!!!!
i dont think the engine take any damage (note THINK),, rather fuelpump gaskets and so on??? or that You get a non optimal use of the E85 http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/afv/models.html if You dont find your prius in the documents , then its not E85 compliant...... why not ask toyota about what to be changed on a prius the make it usable for E85 FFVs (Flexible Fuel Vehicles ) is the standard it has to follow .. many cars are FFVs.. mainly its that chip that controls the injection has a program for running and adjust to E85... http://www.greenenergynetwork.com/media/st...s/prius-e85.PDF read this for the prius (pri I) intresting reading,,,, and i suspect it might be the simmilar results for genII Cheers Andreas
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Jul 9 2006, 10:44 PM) [snapback]283628[/snapback]</div> No, the Prius is not E-85 compatible and reading the car's owners manual is time well spent. E-85 compatible vehicles have a notation on the fuel door indicating that. To use E-85 and vehicle must have a specially engineered fuel system which includes, as I understand it, a stainless steel fuel tank, special fuel delivery components which will with stand the corrosive nature of ethanol. Here's a web page about some tests run by Bruce Jones at Minnesota State University at Mankato which may shed some light on your delema. Even though the car is not designed for E-85, they did run increasing amounts of ethanol in an '04 and found little change in the operation of the car except that it had more power, but lower fuel economy. http://www.eere.energy.gov/states/news_det...fm/news_id=8577 Check it out and give them a call. I don't think you've hurt anything, but it's not a good idea to use E-85 long term in the Prius.
Why get upset. You have a good excuse to take a nice drive and just burn the fuel up, since it runs ok. The damage will occur based on time in the tank. So just drive and refill. One day shouldn't hurt that much if our cars can handle the 10% ethanol full time now. Now if you get warning lights then I'd try to siphon out some and refill now. Then use up the E10 in small amounts with each tank later, keeping the percent near the rated 10%. You'd have to find out what % your gas already has.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Kev1000000 @ Jul 10 2006, 12:39 AM) [snapback]283663[/snapback]</div> It could be... E85 cars have special seals and gaskets, because E85 is more corrosive than regular gasoline. On the upside, a few tanks of E85 may destroy the bladder. It's almost a risk worth taking.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(captnslur @ Jul 10 2006, 06:52 AM) [snapback]283742[/snapback]</div> That is the problem, I read the 2006 Owner's Manual and page 319 states: CLEANER BURNING GASOLINE Cleaner burning gasoline, including re- formulated gasoline that contains oxy- genates such as ethanol or MTBE is available in many areas. Toyota recommends the use of cleaner burning gasoline and appropriately blended reformulated gasoline. These types of gas- oline provide excellent vehicle perfor- mance, reduce vehicle emissions, and im- prove air quality. That and the fact I saw a one sheet handout somewhere stating that the Prius was a flexi-fuel vehicle is what made me think it was ok. Also, while I have no knocking or sputtering yet the Check Engine Light did come on this morning. I plan to take my tank down to one gallon tonight so I can refill it with regular 10% ethanol and put this behind me I hope.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Jul 10 2006, 09:43 AM) [snapback]283775[/snapback]</div> Yeah, get that garbage out of your car. E85 contains really high levels of water, which make it corrosive as hell. One tank isn't going to kill you, but just the thought of that garbage in my car would make me shutter. As for Brazil and there Ethanol... I understand the argument, but when it comes to slashing and burning rain forest in favor of low yielding corn fields, I've got a problem with that. Ethanol the savior of GM, is hype.
Cheap, please keep PC apprised of any possibly related problems you see down the road, even if you've had the E85 out of there for some time. See, this is one of the thing that EVERYONE would love to know and that Toyota is refusing to give out any information on, that being: how resistant to ethanol are all the fuel-system components?? If the cellulosic thing ever becomes viable, it *would* be nice to be able to do a minimal conversion to make an EXISTING Prius FFV -- if all the components can deal with the chemistry, then all it would take is a fuel type sensor and a reflash of the engine ECU. [And for people to get used to lower MPG and quit bitchin' about it] . _H*
