With gas prices steadily climbing, something caught my eye yesterday. I was driving past a gas station and they had a fuel that was 85% Ethanol that they were selling for $1.85. Now my question is can this be run in one of our cars without damaging anything? Normally I wouldn't even think about this.. but $1.85 is a lot easier on the wallet than $2.35

 

Noooooo.... 85% ethanol requires a fuel system that is compatable.The rubber components in our fuel systems will break down into a black tarry gook and cause big problems. In general, an occasional tankful of 10% ethonol will be OK, as long as you don't run that all the time.
This stuff is targeted to those people that have purchased "flexible fuel" vehicles, mostly made in the last 3-4 years. Ford sells a lot of them to consumers that doen't even know it - all those Tauruses and Rangers and Windstars running around with the little FFV emblems...