Are All Cars Secretly Flex Fuel Cars?

When Robert Zubrin did his methanol experiment, he said he discovered that his non-flex-fuel car was already capable of burning methanol except for one part that cost him 41 cents. Other than having their onboard computers' flex-fuel program disabled, Zubrin claims that most or all cars coming off the assembly lines have flex-fuel compatible parts. He had to replace the 41-cent part because methanol is slightly more corrosive than ethanol.

When I first read about his claim, I thought it was outrageous. But we have since tried it ourselves. You can read about it here.

On Jonny Energy's site, they made a similar claim (that car manufacturers use the same parts whether they're flex fuel cars or gas-only) and they base their claim on an investigation by Ohio Biosystems. It makes sense. Why would a car maker use a different part for flex-fuel cars than gasoline-only cars if the difference is less than 41 cents?

Why would you want to burn E85? Find out here.