Hey,

To begin my first post, yes, I'm an idiot.

Loaned my '04 Heritage edition to help a young lady move. When she went to fill it up, began pumping E85 "for flexible fuel vehicles" only.

She noticed after about 5 gallons and stopped.

Anyone know how screwed I am?

Can my "little buddy" be saved?

Thanks in advance

Grover

 

You'll be fine if it was just 5 gallons.. not sure if it'll run rough or give you a CEL, but I know one reason you can't run E85 in non-rated vehicles is that the ethanol will degrade any plastic / rubber parts it contacts over time.. you oughta be just fine..

 

5 gallons isn't really all that much. I'd definitely run this tank down to fumes though then fill up, then you're plenty dilluted. That much E85 mixed with 20 gallons of gas will really only be like a nice, strong injector cleaner.

If 5 gallons of E85 is 85% ethanol, that's 4.25 gallons of ethanol.

4.25 gallons of ethanol into 27 total gallons = 15%

So you're basically only running 15% ethanol blend...and I'm pretty sure ALL vehicles are rated to 30% or something around there anyway.

 

So you have found some use to the E85, injectors cleaner. That E85 is really not a good deal. Most of the time, it is only a few cents cheaper than gas and get two to three miles less to the gallon....where is the advantage???

 

I hear we're saving the planet, while reducing our dependency on foriegn oil...... while driving up the price of corn.

 

Thanks guys!

If CEL is the "Check Engine Light", yep, its on now. It apparently came on immediately as she was moving to a real gas pump as is still on now.

Its a little early for a 40,000 mile checkup, but I'd do it if this could cause any real damage to my engine.

I appreciate everyone's input here.

 

There isn't an advantage...especially because it costs more than a gallon of gas to make a gallon of E85. It's only cheaper because of the tax breaks the government gives.

You have to plow the corn field, which uses diesel, you have to transport the corn, then you have to heat that ... I'm pretty sure they're still using natural resources to refine it although there were some talks of burning the corn stalks to create the heat ... then you have to deliver it. Even if you don't take the delivery into account, I'm pretty sure you burn more fuel just cutting down enough corn that the amount of E85 you can produce from the corn you just cut down though.

 

E 85 $2.51 gallon in Michigan.. And im seeing it all over the place..

 

Last week in the paper, an article said new studies show that ethenol causes more smog and is predicted to kill 200 more people a year that with just using gasoline. I never laughed so loud and hard in my life. Friggen stupid greeners and there global warming caused by human lies.

 

Where did you get this info? E85 yesterday was $2.39 here. Whereas gasoline was $2.69

 

Take it to autozone and read the code. That's not enough ethanol to cause a CEL. I routinely run 43% in my '97 with only minor tune changes, and I've yet to see a CEL. I'll bet it's an unrelated problem.

 

I can't remember the source.. Maybe AP or other news service... might want to do a search on google for a good laugh.

 

I wouldn't worry about it, just top off the tank and drive it. Remember the gas you run on a regular basis is 10% ethanol in the first place.
The CEL is probably on because your friend didn't put the gas cap back on when she moved to the other pump.

 

My truck smells like a 70's muscle car when I run gasoline. It smells sweet and kinda like beer when running e85.

Have you ever lit a bucket of gasoline on fire? It smokes like diesel.
Have you ever lit a bucket of E85 on fire? It makes no smoke.