Do you have a new Nissan Titan, and do you want to know if it’s flex-fuel or not? You’ve come to the right place, for we have researched this question, and we have the answer for you.
There are several ways to know if your Nissan Titan is flex fuel. These are the methods that you can use:
- Color of the gas cap
- Label inside the fuel door
- VIN Digit
- Flex Fuel badge on Titan
- E85 badge on Titan
- User manual
- Consumer affairs hotline
- Get information from the dealer
Let’s talk about each of these in the succeeding sections. Learn more about flex fuel and what it is in the section below.
Read on!
What is flex Fuel?
Flex fuel can refer to a type of vehicle or to a type of fuel.
A flex-fuel vehicle or a flexible-fuel vehicle is a type of vehicle with an internal combustion engine that can use more than one type of fuel. Most flex-fuel vehicles or FFVs can use gasoline or a combination of gasoline and ethanol or methanol.
Flex fuel can also refer to a type of fuel that is made by combining gasoline and methanol or ethanol.
Flex fuel technology is not new technology. It has been around since the late 1990s.
You can identify flex fuels by their name. E20, E30, and E85 are common flex fuel blends. The “E” in the name stands for ethanol, while the number represents the percentage of ethanol in the fuel.
Thus, an E20 has 20% ethanol with 80% gasoline, while an E85 has 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.
The percentage of ethanol is lower during cold months. The increase in the gasoline component of the flex fuel for winter blends prevents cold starting issues.
Despite having only 70% or 75% ethanol, the winter blend of E85 still retains the label E85 instead of E70 or E75.
What is required to run E85?
Your vehicle needs to consume more E85 to produce enough energy for your Titan. E85 is also more corrosive than gasoline. Thus, an engine that can use E85 should have components that mitigate the disadvantages of E85.
Since your engine needs to burn more E85 to get enough energy, the fuel pump must be able to push a larger volume of fuel into your engine than normal. The fuel regulator and fuel lines should support the larger volume of fuel flowing through. Additionally, the fuel filter should be made of stainless steel or glass to become less vulnerable to corrosion.
Ethanol has a different chemical composition than gasoline. It has some properties of solvents that can damage rubber hoses, O-rings, rubber seals, and gaskets. This affects all rubber components of the engine and any fuel delivery components of your vehicle.
Since your vehicle will be working with a larger volume of fuel, your ECU (electronic control unit) will need to be tuned to handle the fuel exchange of a flex fuel engine.
If your Nissan Titan can use flex fuel, it uses equipment that matches the minimums above. Any other equipment that is involved in the handling of flex-fuel will have a similar modification or improvements.
How to tell if your Nissan Titan can use flex fuel?
Nissan and other manufacturers use different parts for vehicles that can use flex-fuel and for those that cannot. Thus, they are aware of the dangers of using flex fuel on vehicles that cannot use flex-fuel because they do not have the right parts.
Therefore, vehicle manufacturers make sure that there are different ways of knowing if your vehicle can use flex-fuel or not. In the succeeding sections, we will talk about all the different ways that you can verify which type of fuel should you use with your Nissan Titan.
Color Of The Fuel Tank Cap
Modern cars that use flex-fuel use a different color for the cap of the fuel tank. Newer Titans that can use flex-fuel have a yellow fuel tank cap. The cap will have a label that usually says “E85/gasoline” in black ink that can easily be seen against the yellow background.
However, this might not be too reliable because older models do not use this color coding. Moreover, there are diesel trucks that also use a yellow fuel tank cap. Although these yellow diesel caps have a diesel label on them.
Lastly, if you’re not the first owner, the fuel tank cap might have been replaced with a non-yellow cap.
Label Inside The Fuel Door
Long before vehicles started using a yellow fuel tank cap, the small door that covers the fuel tank cap always had a label sticker inside that provided information on what type of fuel the vehicle can use. There is a similar sticker in flex-fuel vehicles, and flex-fuel Nissan Titans have this sticker label too.
The sticker label will say “E85 or Gasoline” with a symbol of a gasoline pump over each. Some sticker labels also have a reminder not to use fuel additives when using E85 fuel.
The downside with this method is that the sticker can fade, and the writing can become difficult to read. This is an even worse problem since most labels have small prints. Moreover, stickers can easily be damaged or removed.
There is a similar sticker under the hood that tells you whether your Titan can use flex-fuel or not.
Flex Fuel Badge On Titan
Some Titan models that can use flex-fuel have a badge located opposite the Titan badge on the tailgate of your truck. Some models have the badge on the driver-side door, while some have both.
This is a convenient way to tell you that your Nissan Titan can use flex-fuel while showing it off too. However, not all Titan models that can use flex-fuel have this badge, leaving you to rely on other methods to identify whether your Titan can use flex-fuel or not.
E85 Badge On Titan
An alternative to the flex fuel badge is the E85 badge. This can be found in the same locations as the flex fuel badge. Models that use the E85 badge do not have the flex fuel badge and vice versa.
Get Information From Dealer
Another convenient way to get the information on whether your Titan can use flex-fuel or not is to ask your dealer about it. Even though this is best done before you leave the dealership after purchasing your Titan, this might no longer be an option if you bought a used Titan.
Even if this is the case, you can still contact the nearest Nissan dealer and inquire whether your Titan can use flex-fuel or not. There should be very little chance that the dealer doesn’t know how to identify a Titan that can use flex-fuel from one that cannot.
Consumer Affairs Hotline
The consumer affairs hotline is a support line for Nissan owners where you can get information or support.
You can reach out to them at 1-800-NISSAN-1. You can contact them through that number between 7:00 AM to 8:00 PM Central Standard Time during weekdays. They are available between 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Standard Time on Saturdays.
The consumer affairs line is not available on Sundays.
You can get the same information from your Nissan Titan User Manual.
VIN Digit
The most reliable source that you can use to find out if your Nissan Titan can use flex-fuel or not is the VIN or the vehicle identification number. The VIN of a vehicle is what an SSN is for you. The VIN of your Titan contains 17 characters which is a combination of numbers and letters.
If the 4th character of the VIN is a letter “B,” then your Nissan Titan can use flex fuel. Otherwise, it can only use normal gasoline.
Where to find Nissan Titan’s VIN?
You can find the VIN of your Titan on a sticker on the door jamb of the driver-side door. If it is not there, a similar badge on the driver-side firewall inside the engine bay has the VIN.
Most newer models of vehicles also have the VIN on the driver-side dashboard.
Conclusion
There are many ways to find out if your Nissan Titan can use flex fuel. Go over each of these methods in case one or more of them is not available in your Titan.
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