Please excuse me if this is an old subject. My owners manual recommends that I avoid ethanol. Does anyone here know diffinitavely if ethanol is bad for my engine (1994 SE)? I have been told by a mechanic that it slowly degrades the rubber. I could handle a few rubber hoses, but if it eats at the rubber rings around the fuel injectors then $1,300 is a pretty heafty tax to pay for using ethanol.

I recently had all six injectors replaced. I wonder if the new injectors were designed for ethanol fuel?

By the way, I can no longer find a gas station in central Illinois that sells gas without ethanol. Even Amoco's pumps say, "may contain 10%."

 

They dont mean to run on ethanol as a fuel but they mean as a fuel additive. In stores they sell water remover additives and they contain alchol (primarily). The cheap stuff is methanol based (bad for our injectors), and the better stuff that is safe for our injectors and fuel pump is based on isopropyl alchol. Normally we dont need to run any alcohol through our fuel system. The winter is when we benefit most b/c water condensation is an issue. During the summer months ocasionally adding half a bottle before fill up is okay to do.

 

OK, but what about gas station fuel with ethanol added. If I can't find a station with ethanol free fuel then what am I to do. I guess the government expects me to sacrifice my car for the benefit of ethanol.

Don't get me wrong. I am not against ethanol. I put it in my Dodge van all of the time. However, my van was designed to run on ethanol added fuels. In fact, it could run on straight ethanol if I had to according to the owners manual.

 

O okay, I misunderstood you , I guess there's not much you can do. try searching the web to see if there is any complaints from automobile owners, and what they did about it.