Gary. It makes total sense. My sister's '01 Jetta 1.8T died the same fate. I was the mechanic for her vehicle from day one. It ran like a champ until the switch to E10. The 1.8T is a heavily computer monitored engine, as is the 2.0T in my '07 Passat. After about a year or so of running on E10 her motor began throwing codes related to emissions. She drives very little, about 8K per year. The techs at VW checked out her car on numerous occasions and could find nothing wrong, cleared her codes and sent her on her way. Fast forward to 1/11 after 3+ years of this ritual her cats clogged and the entire exhaust was replaced including precats and both o2 sensors after which the car ran perfect again. I blame E10 fuel for that.

 

Again, stop-and-go driving killed the cat, just like it corrodes an exhaust system. Why would they replace the entire exhaust unless it was also corroded?

Makes perfect sense to me.So what's ethanol have to do with it?

 

You could blame terrorists or little green men for it too, but that doesn't make it right.

 

This is exactly my point! This product is made to prevent Ice in your gas tank and lines in freezing weather. It's not the gas freezing, it's water in the gas. The alcohol blends with the water and is burned in the combustion process. This is not good for the emission system, but it's about all you can do other draining and flushing your tank and lines.

Now, lets read the label - Use one bottle (12oz) in 20 gallons of gas, but do not exceed two bottles (24oz) in 20 gallons of gas.

E10 has one gallon of ethanol in 9 gallons of gas. This far exceeds the recommendations of this product you brought to our attention. One tank of E10 will absorb any and all water in your FEH gas tank and it will run though your engine and emissions system causing damage depending on how much water was in your tank. It would seem only terrorists or little green men would pull this on the American public and cause an economic disaster. Remember, there are no warnings about E10, yet we all know water gets into our gas.

In my case, E10 was pumped into my '05 FEH gas tank about 5 times before it was mandated. Each time, all the water at those times was mixed with the ethanol and ran through my engine and emissions system. By the time E10 was mandated, the damage was already done and my Converter was plugged enough to cause the way the engine has run since May 2008. It was so bad, I had to order a new '09 FEH and hope it ran better on E10.

The '09 of course has never had a build-up of water in the tank because E10 prevents that.

GaryG

 

The statements in GaryG reply is logically unsound.

 

The real problem is... If I quote the WS Manual, your group's manual reads much different than the published one about everything. You can't post a product you recommend that says anything about alcohol additives without putting your foot in your mouth.

Spare yourself, you post good pictures, but that's about it.

GaryG

 

GaryG's fuel pump sucked up water as well as straight gasoline prior to him even using E10. Damaged to his system--as he defines--started well before he even used E10.

He doesn't speak for all of us and smears those who challenge his thoughts.

 

RE: EV. Mine won't go into EV unless it is above 150 f on the (calculated) water temperature, but I have a 2008. EDIT: It might be of more interest to see what your Cat temperature is when EV occurs (the SG can provide the CAT temp).

RE: Ethanol and wars. Due to the fact that ethanol additives end up costing MPG, I think that the public uses the same amount of gas (foreign or domestic) per mile with or without it, so I don't agree with your "foreign war connection". They mandated it for "carbon" reasons, but that is a whole other rant and blog.

 

Follow-up:

Just got a call from my wonderful SA and she says the job is now complete and the new emission system solved the problem. Ford replaced everything at their warranty cost of $3,200. Retail would have been much more for someone out of warranty.

Bottom line, if you have a reduction of power and a problem up shifting at high RPM, your emission system may need replacing. By law, it is covered for 80,000 miles or ? 7yrs under warranty. Only made warranty by 20 miles so I'm a happy camper right now. Ford replaced everything including the mufflers! There is a one year, 12,000 warranty on the work performed for the new buyer.

This was a hassle free experience so it's good to have a good long term relationship with the people working at your dealership. A gift certificate from me is in order for the SA and Hybrid Tech which treat me right every time! Remember, I still have an '09 FEH and a 2011 Explorer and will replace my '05 FEH with a new vehicle from them. We will need each other in the future for sure.

GaryG

 

Gary-
I just read your OP, and since the FEH doesn't shift, what exactly do you mean by it not "up shifting"? Is there a code or something we can check via SG?