Can rave4 take 80% ethanol - 2004 Toyota RAV4

Ethanol is mean stuff. It will dry out rubber parts(hoses)and can cause engine to run hotter

The government mandated 10% ethanol in all gasoline fuel sold for automobiles, so You have to use ethanol blended fuel just about everywhere. That blend is suppose to go up to 15% shortly.

Check with your Ford dealer to be sure, but generally any car can use gasoline with up to 10% ethanol blended in. To use a higher percentage of ethanol, such as E-85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline), it requires a special fuel pump and a special computer program, and sometimes other changes as well.
So unless the vehicle is marked for E-85 or another alternate fuel, I would not use more than a 10% ethanol/90% gasoline blend.

When the light is on you need to pull the OBD codes with a code reader or go to an autopart store and have them do it. With that in mind ethanol changes the exhaust coming out of the engine, the ethanol causes the oxygen to be higher in the exhaust than is expected and the light comes on. You should have the codes checked to be sure. However there is no damage coming from this light, if that is the cause.

You can't do anything if the correct fuel is not available, 5% more ethanol won't hurt anything UNLESS you let the car sit with a tank of fuel, the ethanol attracts water, water creates RUST and this rust will clog your fuel lines.

The ethanol OVER TIME will eat away at the fuel lines IF indeed they are not designed to handle that much ethanol %.

Otherwise don't worry.

You say you have used ethanol. I don't know if you also putit in the gas tank as well as the carb. However, regular of the shelf ethanol from a paint store is not the ethanol to use. hat ethanol is hydrated, ( has water in it ). You need to use anhydrous ethanol or gaslineanti freeze. asfar as what to put down the carb, you should be using quick start. ( Tha is ether and is very flamable!!!! ) only spray that while turning the engine over. To check what that clear fluid is in the tank somehow take a sample of it and try to disolve table salt in it. If is it oil the salt will not disolve. If it is wate it will. Please don't just put the salt anywhere near the carb. or the gas tank.

I suspect it is water because oil and gas mix. water and gas do not. The anhyrous ethanol in the tank will adsorb the residual water and mix with the gas and burn off in the cylinders.

Good Luck!

Practically all recent model cars in the U.S. can run on 10% ethanol gas. Some cars can use the 85% ethanol gas, but there are not many models of these.

cant harm your car with an ethanol sir, actually i drive a 1990 carburator type nissan maxima and using ethanol but nothing changes. hope this helps

Hello Joshdhorz,

The best fuel you can use on your vehicle is any octane that contains at max 10% ethanol.

Ethanol is an alcohol-based fuel additive made by fermenting and distilling crops that have been broken down into simple sugars.

A 10% blend of ethanol and gasoline will not harm any engine or fuel system component. However, the ethanol has a cleaning effect that will remove rust and other junk from the fuel system. This necessitates frequent fuel filter changes until the fuel system is cleaned out.

Most gas stations in our area are set like so:

87 octane (Up to 10% ethanol)
89 octane (Up to 5% ethanol)
91 octane (No ethanol)

Now we do not have 93 or 95 octane available to us here, so I am currently unsure as to what is in 95 octane fuels. In my opinion, I would use 91 octane (No ethanol) for the majority, while adding 87 or 89 octane (5-10% ethanol) ever so often to clean the lines.

I hope this helps you out,

Shadow

Also if you would not mind taking a moment out of your day and rating my solution it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

In 2004,Ford had a flex fuel vehicle that would allow you to put regular fuel or fuel with up to 10 percent ethanol. I don't think they intended it to run on 100 percent ethanol.You can access the website www.motorcraft.com, there is a technical section where you can post the same question. Good Luck