Used Non Ethanol Gas ECU fail?

Hi!
We have a 2004 Prerunner 2.7 with 369,000 miles. Best truck we have ever owned. We have never had any major issues. I recently decided to use some nonethanol gas I had stored in the garage fir our generator. It was approximately 9 months old. After a few short trips the truck would not start. It turns over but wouldn't kick in. The mechanic has had it for a few weeks now. Initially he said it was the fuel pump. Now he's saying we shoukd get the ecu first which is almost impossible to find. What are your opinions? Don't want to spend 700 on an ecu to find out that's not the issue.

 

Find a mechanic who knows what is wrong before throwing parts at it.

 

Take it somewhere that will diagnose it properly. The parts cannon diagnosis can cause alot of burnt money and frustration.

But to answer your specific question in the title. I dont think non ethanol fuel will cause an ECU to fail.

 

I have been running non-ethanol 90 octane fuel for over two years now in my '03 2.7 with 295K miles with no issues. As others have said, find a good mechanic.

 

Try ether/starting fluid in the TB and see if it'll turn over? If it turns over momentarily, what I would do is drain the fuel tank (if it still contain 9 month old fuel), change the fuel pump (since it's 20y/o), change the fuel filter, and possibly remove the injector and send it to motorwest for flow testing and cleaning (it's a 20y/o).

 

Non-ethanol fuel caused the problem? No. That particular can of non-ethanol fuel...? Maybe. Is it possible there was water/debris in the can? Has the mechanic flushed the fuel line into a container and looked at the fuel and changed the fuel filter? Has he confirmed fuel pressure at the injectors?

I'd do a lot more before buying a new ECU. Besides, it should be relatively easy for him to confirm the signals leaving the ECU without just replacing it.

 

I never run anything but ethanol free gas and will drive miles out of my way to fill it up, even at lower octanes. I would be more suspect of 9 month old stored gas than hasn't had stabilizer added to it. Even if it was old gas** I would be surprised if it caused a no start condition, the worst I would expect would be poor performance and would likely go away after the next fill up. Correlation is not always causation, it's something else. And agreed, a mechanic should be able to sort this out in a matter of hours, a shotgun approach is never the way to go.

** I will say I have a Stihl weed eater that was acting up, no start, start and stall, rebuilt top with new head, new piston, new carb, f'k just wouldn't stay running. Fresh gas/oil and has run like a top since. But keep in mind this 2 stroke is a very different animal than a 4 stroke, but old gas could be a problem.

 

Ecu is suspect here all the time.....

......I would say about 24 out of 25 times.... they try a new one .....they get no where....just wasted a bag of money.....


Ethanol has water in it.....I would suspect water in the tank.....



Its alright to run ethanol gas....if you run it all the time.....

but its not a good ideal to switch back and forth....because of the water thing...the gas causes it to separate....
as they increase it to 15%+....its only gonna get worse....

they dont tell you this with the flex fuel vehicles......but the owners learn quick....

So stick with one or the other.......not my words.....Scotty.....