E85 question, please help!

[Dana OBrien]

I am getting conflicting reports on what to do here.

I put about a half a tank of e85 in my 2003 ST yesterday. My dealership of course told me to bring it in right away and have the tank and lines drained, I am still waitng for a call back from the master tech there.

has anybody put e85 in there non Flex fuel ST? I probably wont do it again, but I want to make sure that there is no immediate problems. It seems to run fine when I am driving. If I rev it while parked though, it studders a little (probably due to the gap and fuel air mix needing to be changed for e85)

I plan on adding some high grade fuel to my tank every day to help dilute the ethanol.

from hwat I understand is that most of the problems I could encounter would be from longterm use.

please help!!!

 

[Kevin Palmer]

The revving issue has nothing to do with the fuel. With no load on the engine the REV LIMITER restricts the engine max RPM's. How it does this is by shutting down however many injectors (or spark in some of the newer engine designs) as required to keep it below the MAX RPM.



So what you get is a sputter not a nice smooth restriction.



I would run quality fuel in with the E85 and not worry about it.

 

[Todd Z]

only 1/2 tank i would not worry about it... just as coastie said, run some high grade for a tank or 2 and you should be fine..

Todd Z

 

[Ron Duckworth]

You won't have any problems.



A mixture of 50/50 will not do any harm to your engine. Some say the 85/15 mix will break down the rubber gaskets on non-flex fuel vehicles. But, some will also say you'll have no problems.



My dad has been running E85 in his 1997 F150 for about 2 yrs. The Alabama Power Company, where my dad works uses the E85 in most of their vehicles so he is able to fill up at his local crew headquarters whenever he wants.



If it was me, I wouldn't take it to the dealership, all they want is $$$.



You'll be fine.



Ron

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Sorry I didn't mention it. Don't go to the dealer. Your bill will be rather large and really there is no reason to. Just top off the tank with quality gas and you'll be good to go.

 

[Dana OBrien]

yup, this is confirmed. I got a call back from the master tech at my dealership, and he said the same thing, I should be fine. adding premium to help dilute it would help even more.

For once, they didnt need me to bring it in!!



normally I am not such a wuss @55 about my cars, but I love my ST and would have to kick my own @55 if I screwed it up with e85.

I finally have some pics of my st on this comp, so check it out in my profile!

 

[Dana OBrien]

or check it soon, dang it, i really have to figure this out.....

 

[Deleted deleted]

don't mess with putting premium in it... just top off the tank with regular 87 octane unleaded.

 

[Larry Gamble]

Don't worry about it...your dealership is trying to scam $$$$$ out of you.



I've got an '02 that I run E85 in without problems. I usually fill with E85 when I've got about 165 miles on a tank so it's roughly 1/2 gone. Then, the next time I fill up it's with 87 regular.



I'm getting about 17 mpg overall and I don't see ANY problems with this. At mixes higher than that, it might cause problems. One site I on flex fuels I found claimed that anything less than 50% is OK even for a non-FF vehicle.



With 87 octane still at 2.96 around here, I'll take the cheaper fuel in moderation.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

You should have asked here first. Even though the dealer told you it wouldn't hurt, they probably made a record of your call. Now if you have any issues with your engine, fuel system, emissions systems, etc., they may say you voided the warranty on those items by putting E-85 in your tank.

 

[Richard L]

E85 (Ethynol alcohol) can be highly corrosive to some parts of the fuel system However most systems can tolerate 10-15% alcohol fuels on a continueous basis with no ill effects. Most regular gasoline contains some alcohol up to about 10%.



I would guess that you could run a whole tank of E85 without any problems. But if you had your tank drained and immediately filled the tank with regular gasoline and ran it for about 20 miles to flush out any E85 residue, you should be just fine.



...Rich