just bought me a 2007 dakota sport laramie. with a v8 4.8 can I use e85 fuel on this truck. this is my first dodge truck

 

I wouldnt suggest it unless your truck has the Badge for it. Ive heard Ethanol on engines not built for it is hard on gaskets and seals. Plus I heard you will get more MPG and distance out of Regular the E85, as Ethanol doesnt produce as much power.

Where I live we dont have any gas that has Ethanol added so I run Regular 87 (I got Premium 91 before at the cost of Reg and the truck did run a little smoother) But mine is a 05, V6, Non-Flex Fuel. My work also runs 87 in the Caravans we have that are E85, But simply because E85 does not exist here.

 

Do not use e85 unless the truck is badged "flex fuel". You will regret it.

 

Don't use it either way. You get reduced output, horrible mileage and lots of water vapor inside the engine. E85 is a gimmick sold by EPA nuts and corn farmers.

 

If your VIN has a P in the 8th position, then you can use flex fuel.

And your engine is a 4.7, btw.

Welcome to DF.

 

I had a 2007 that was the factory flex-fuel model and ran e-85 in it nearly exclusively for the 2 years I had it (it was leased - so had to give it back.)
You will end-up getting about 1/3 less mileage and usually the lower cost of the fuel is only about 10%, so it will actually cost you more. I did it because I wanted to try to "put my money where my mouth was" and support an alternative fuel that was made in USA (BTW, the way they make e85 now is not the best way environmentally speaking, so you may hear a lot of crap from people about how it is bad using food for fuel, blah blah blah - mostly just trying to keep the infrastructure going in hopes they will get a better way of producing it developed.)
As far as issues: the truck ran fine most of the time. The only issue I ad was with the darn cam position sensor failing multiple times (had the dealer fix it under warranty each time.) I heard of other people having this issue too, so I suspect it was not e85 related.

 

Printman,

The vehicle does has to have the E-85 fuel filler door label in order to operate on E-85.

If you'd like me to review your VIN# to see if the vehicle is equipped with flex fuel or if you'd like a copy of your buildsheet, to see what options came with the vehicle from factory, feel free to send me a PM.

Welcome to the Dodge Forum!

 

E-85 gas caps are yellow as well...easy way to tell, don't rely on badging, mine doesn't have a badge anywhere on it. Only a yellow gas cap that says E-85 right on it.

As far as mileage, yes it's worse, as far as output...my truck ran great on it, just worse milage, the PCM will adjust timing accordingly, it'll run fine.

If you're going to run it, don't go from running regular gas down to an empty tank and then fill up with the E-85. It won't like it at first and will take some time to adjust. You're better off filling up with it at a half a tank or so and then the next time you'd be fine.

It's also not recommended to run it in cold temperatures. You may have some hard starting issues doing that.

Personally I'd run it if it was cheaper. At this point, it's just not worth the tradeoff with the milage decrease.