How to turn 2010 Ram 1500 Hemi into flex fuel vehicle?
Not that I know of. I might point out to you that E85 actually gets worse mileage than standard gas so at least in my opinion you really aren't getting much of a benefit from it as you will just be filling up more often and therefore spending just as much money as you would on say a tank of 89 octane. Not to rain on your parade or anything.
Update: Well you got me interested so I went ahead and looked into an E85 Conversion. Here's an article that seems to explain fully well how to go about doing it http://e85vehicles.com/converting-to-e85.html I still don't know that I would recommend doing this as it could cause unforeseen issues with your motor sooner or later. If you have your heart set on it however, this doesn't look like it's all that hard to do. There's really not a whole lot of concrete research out there that shows whether or not E85 will have any negative effects on a supposedly non-e85 engine. From what I have read, there is really little difference between a flex fuel engine and a standard one. They seem to use the same part numbers, and yet the auto manufacturer's claim that E85 is not meant for non-flex fuel vehicles. There is a video on youtube where they tear down a Chevy 350 out of a 2000 Tahoe that has 105,000 miles on it. There's no way of proving that the person who used the vehicle actually used E85 as much as they said (Over 95% of the time) but it would appear at least from visual inspections that the wear is no worse and sometimes better in most areas of the engine than in an engine that uses only standard fuel. Another thing that makes me think that the auto manufacturer's might be acting a bit shady in regards to whether or not E85 should be used in a "standard" vehicle is that Flex Fuel vehicles don't really seem to be any more expensive than your standard cars or trucks. If there were special parts required, one would think it would be considerably more expensive.
My other concern with converting to E85 is your warranty. I suppose you could convert it and then remove the conversion computer before taking it in for warranty work but if a dealership were to find out you were using E85 in a non-flex fuel vehicle I would suspect they would void your warranty. I still don't think this is something I would personally do, just for fear that I could mess something up but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a more viable option than the auto manufacturer's would like us to think.
Update: Well you got me interested so I went ahead and looked into an E85 Conversion. Here's an article that seems to explain fully well how to go about doing it http://e85vehicles.com/converting-to-e85.html I still don't know that I would recommend doing this as it could cause unforeseen issues with your motor sooner or later. If you have your heart set on it however, this doesn't look like it's all that hard to do. There's really not a whole lot of concrete research out there that shows whether or not E85 will have any negative effects on a supposedly non-e85 engine. From what I have read, there is really little difference between a flex fuel engine and a standard one. They seem to use the same part numbers, and yet the auto manufacturer's claim that E85 is not meant for non-flex fuel vehicles. There is a video on youtube where they tear down a Chevy 350 out of a 2000 Tahoe that has 105,000 miles on it. There's no way of proving that the person who used the vehicle actually used E85 as much as they said (Over 95% of the time) but it would appear at least from visual inspections that the wear is no worse and sometimes better in most areas of the engine than in an engine that uses only standard fuel. Another thing that makes me think that the auto manufacturer's might be acting a bit shady in regards to whether or not E85 should be used in a "standard" vehicle is that Flex Fuel vehicles don't really seem to be any more expensive than your standard cars or trucks. If there were special parts required, one would think it would be considerably more expensive.
My other concern with converting to E85 is your warranty. I suppose you could convert it and then remove the conversion computer before taking it in for warranty work but if a dealership were to find out you were using E85 in a non-flex fuel vehicle I would suspect they would void your warranty. I still don't think this is something I would personally do, just for fear that I could mess something up but I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was a more viable option than the auto manufacturer's would like us to think.
Last edited by Shibby927; Jul 1, 2011 at 03:01 PM.
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From: Louisville, Ky
Not recommended as it is quite corrosive and has a low BTU output which in turn requires much more fuel to make the same power so you actually spend more running E85 because your mpg drops almost in half. It also requires a special tune to dump more fuel into the cylinders.
It's not so much a wear issue in the engine, it is just very inefficient and a waste of good food
It's not so much a wear issue in the engine, it is just very inefficient and a waste of good food
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I'm working on it. I want to make sure it's as fool proof as possible before releasing it to the general public. Stay tuned...
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Record Breaker
Joined: Aug 2009
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From: Ila Georgia
A while back I needed a used Chrysler 3.3 V6 engine. One used engine broker told me if I found a used flex fuel that it could be used with no issues in a non flex fuel application. Said the only difference was the fuel rail. Said just use the old one off the non flex fuel.
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Joined: Jan 2009
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From: Dayton, OH suburbs
Why would anyone want to run E85? Even more so why would anyone want to run a HEMI on E85? And beyond that, why oh why would anyone even want the stupid badge giving people the impression that you could run E85?? Some things in this world I will never understand...
