E85

Heck, I'd just take a 500-mile roadtrip (or less if E85 sucks that bad) and be done with it. Even old seals needed constant exposure over a long time to be eaten away. One tank shouldn't KILL the car, and if it does, blame Toyota for not having a "NO E85 ALLOWED!!!!" sticker near the gas cap...

 

Actually, this gives you an excuse to ride the prius like you've always wanted to

 

Yes, I agree, just burn it off. You could leave the car on and run the A/C on max if you don't need to go anywhere.

Nate

 

the check engine is normal. caused by the E85 that is
setting off the check engine light is that the system monitors the change in the
base fuel map, which is indicated by the long-term fuel trim. If this change is
outside of the set boundaries for an extended period of time, then a code is set to
indicate that the fuel system is making greater adjustments to the fuel quantity to
maintain the correct air/fuel mixture than is necessary under normal
circumstances.

Andreas





<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Jul 10 2006, 03:43 PM) [snapback]283775[/snapback]</div>

 

I doubt one tank will hurt much, but if you try to syphon any of the newer cars, you will find that they are all syphon proof. I found that out last year when part of my Hurricane prep was to have both cars full so I could have plenty of gas for the generator. Found out when I wanted to put more into the generator that you can't get the tube down to the tank. They put a screen in the filler for that. I haven't tried it yet on my Prius, but I believe it is a requirement on all newer cars since about 2000.

 

I am surprised no one suggested he call a dealer. Personally I would have called a dealer in another state. Just to get the official lo-down from Toyota. They may have information none of us have.

So, my suggestion is call a Toyota dealer but not your normal one and ask what the consequences would be. They may have other suggestions as well.

Good luck

 

I just checked GasBuddy and I see one listing for E85 around here at $2.59. That's 4 cents under even the CheapSideOfTown price, so I hope incompatible people from my side ($2.69 or so lately) don't go there often and regret it later.

Wal-Mart over there has been $2.60 (with card) for over a week, and fortunately I've needed to visit...

 

If you can find pure gasoline (not E10) fill with that instead.

The corrosiveness of Ethanol is nothing compared to Methanol. I honestly don't believe the vehicle is at risk running E85.

I even believe the Check Engine light is caused by the PCM changing the mixture too quickly, not that the EFI system is operating the edge of its injector duration, simply that the computer is surprised that its learned patterns are suddenly askew. The same thing might happen if you change altitude, barometric pressure, and temperature very quickly.

Nate

 

You might find the following paper interesting. It is for a 2003 Prius, but it has some good info.

Prius and E85 paper.

 

Thought you might like to know that the information you have been getting from the folks here on PC has been right on the money. I called a guy this afternoon who I have become good telephone friends with at Regional HQ for Toyota in Chicago. I told him about what happened and he went downstairs to talk to two of his top techs about it.

He called me back and told me almost to a word what the folks here have been telling you. He did add that the techs thought there would be a huge number of codes registered in the system and they were coming up with a huge number of them that my friend couldn't remember so he finally left to call me back.

He did suggest that you should seriously consider getting those codes reset by a dealer so if there is a future problem the "proper" codes would show up to help with any future diagnostics. Otherwise, you would find yourself with codes from this experience messing with future problems which would only complicate things when they try to fix those issues. Obviously there would be a diagnostic fee or something that you would need to pay. But under the circumstances, well worth it to realize better diagnostics in the future.

So, enjoy your low mileage drives and I am damn sure you won't do this again. hehe We feel for ya guy. We wouldn't want any harm to come to any Prius, least of all yours.

Cheers

 

360, I based my advice on fundamental understanding of cars, but lacked some specifics about the Prius. I'm really curious about the potential corrosive effects of E85 (I don't understand why there would be any) as well as your friend's thoughts on running the Prius on E85 on a permanant basis.

Would the car adjust to E85, but then throw codes again next time you buy gasoline?

I would run a tank of E85 myself if I had a CAN scan tool and a station that sells E85. I'd be mostly curious to watch the oxygen sensor and the injector duration. If the duration is within norm and the O2 sensor flips between rich/lean like it should, then the car should be able to run E85 without a problem. As long as the corrosiveness issues aren't a problem, which I really don't think they would be. (Anybody really know?)

Nate

 

Your Code Reader will have to be CAN compatible. Otherwise, it won't work.

Nate

 

ooops ! It looks like your cheapness is gonna really COST you this time ! ..dude,, you screwed up bad !

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Cheap! @ Jul 10 2006, 12:28 PM) [snapback]283991[/snapback]</div>

I believe that aviation gasoline is essentially plain old unleaded gasoline. Also, if you are in a rural area you can probably get unleaded regular prety easily.