crews462

Here's the deal, Have an 89 pickup 22re. Been posting about poor idling and stumbling while accelerating.
First I thought some poor fuel (water in it from the winter thaw)
Changed the fuel filter, plugs, wire set, cap and rotor.
Then checked the tps and vam. Those checked within spec. want to test the O2 sensor, but the check engine light isn't on.
So, recently, whithin the last month and a half they started cutting the gas up here with 15% ethanol, before we were still getting straight gas. Has anyone had problems burning ethanol in their trucks? Idea I had this morning as I broke the bank to fill up my four banger.....

Flash319

All gas in Canada has at up to %15 ethanol. That is the norm in NA I think, Maybe just Canada. No problems with it because that is all we have.

Sounds like your timing is off?

crews462

I'll check the timing, but thinking more about it after my second cup of coffee, think the problems started before the switch to ethanol.

MMA_Alex

gas in the northeast us has been 10% ethanol for awhile, along with most of the rest of the US because no one wants to make MTBE anymore because of the liability of groundwater contamination. I doubt that small amount of ethanol causes any running issues, aside from dropping the gas mileage slightly

jmazoso

Having lived in a an area with 10% ethanol, I don't really care for it as a additive. You need to watch out for water in your gas -- ethanol hates water -- and it seems to break junk loose in your fuel system, and clog up ingectors and filters.

MMA_Alex

ethanol absorbs water...which is a good thing. means your fuel lines cant freeze in the winter. the only downside to 10% ethanol in modern cars is reduced power/fuel mileage..also it costs more per gallon

4Mogger

IIRC, the owners manual for my '94 4Runner stated that 10% ethanol was the max recommended. Not that the extra 5% is all that bad but I think it is enough to really kill economy. It should not make it run rough since the ethanol is added to actually boost octane levels. Problem is that in a vehicle designed to run on straight 87 unleaded, the injectors may not be big enough to flow enough ethanol to make good power since it takes about a third more ethanol to travel the same distance. This is why you are seeing larger capacity tanks in the new flex fuel vehicles.
Hopefully we will see this ethanol craze subside. Burning up our food (and that of the world) is bad policy and just stupid.
Methanol (made from natural gas) is very similar to ethanol but without the downside of burning up food products.

abecedarian

Ethanol, as do all alcohols, mix easily with water. It's not that it absorbs or attracts it. That's why it's used in fuel system water remover products.
Ethanol also carries some extra oxygen into the engine that can separate from the alcohol molecule and combine with the gasoline during combustion thus reducing unburned hydrocarbon emissions. It is that 'feature' of the alcohol that has led it to become a fuel additive.
What happens in some vehicles is that the O2 sensor reads the exhaust gas in a vehicle with ethanol added to it as a lean condition and over compensates by richening the mixture, which is in fact the wrong thing to do.
Alcohols are also solvents and can loosen rust and other compounds from the fuel system and lead to clogged filters, injectors and other problems.

crews462- either reset the ECU or give it some time to adjust itself to the new fuel blend. Also, maybe bump the timing up a degree or two and see how the engine responds.

crews462

Thanks, i've been running my head into a wall. seems to be burning rich which would make sense with the O2 sensor. Look at the timing in the morning. What's the procedure for resetting an ECU?

abecedarian

Easiest way is to disconnect the battery for a few minutes. If you've got a radio with your favorite stations programmed and don't want to reset the clock because you forgot how and don't have the manual ... there's a fuse above the left kick-panel that you can pull. It's marked EFI on the cover.

crews462

thanks. go reset it right now

crews462

Abe, went out to pull the fuse. No fuse and and no connections in the ECU/IGN fuse block? WTF

abecedarian

uhhh.... no fuse? .... uh.... huh huh....
got me.

MMA_Alex

kick panel? mines in the main fuse block by the batt...

crews462

rechecked, mine too. so what goes in the kick panel? ECU/IGN?

abecedarian

my 88 has a fuse in the kickpanel marked "EFI"
I might mention it's an early 88 too.
I'll take a pic and post it in a few minutes.

abecedarian

Okay-
Fuse cover says:


So, it should be the bottom one on the left (15A / blue):

crews462

yeah, i hear ya, my kick panel is a 20amp for the ecu/ing, no idea? nothing there?