A Word to the Wise

Don't use E85 Ethanol unless you have an engine that can take it.

Are you sitting there saying "duh..."??? Well, I had no idea that E85 Ethanol couldn't just go into any engine. I had to fill up last night around 6pm (I had about 8 miles left) and that's when I saw the sign - $2.79 E85. I thought to myself "Ethanol is good for cars" and "Jere will be happy that I got the good gas"...

Well I don't know why, but I mentioned it to him this morning as I was getting out of the car to go into work. "Oh by the way, when I filled up last night I got that Ethanol gas. It was only $2.79." He got this serious, stern look on his face. "Reagan, did you put in E85 or E10??" I thought hard. "E85". Again he asked. "Reagan, did you put in E85 OR E10?". I could picture the gas station sign in my mind and I was positive, it was E85. I was confused "Wait, why are you freaking out?!" Jere had a grave, stern look on his face. "What kind of handle did it have?" I replied "I don't know, I don't remember what kind of handle it had. I thought it was normal gas handle..." Jere explained what the gas I chose could do to the Jeep. He turned the car off and we sat there contemplating what to do. It becomes a difficult situation when you have one car and it could break at any moment because of something you did. We decided he would drive it to a mechanic shop we have used before and see if they would drain the gas.

Here is some information on E85 if you are as ignorant as I am :)

Jere told me that it could corrode the sealings and that it burns hotter than normal gas. Meaning that it could burn out stuff in our motor. The mechanic said that he had another person (possibly another Jeep owner) come in after filling up 5 or 6 times. He said that some times the car won't even start back up at the gas station after filling up. We're hoping that since the gas was in there for only a little over 12 hours and driven minimally that it hasn't effected anything!

Don't make my mistake and actually ruin things in your car. We walked away paying $41 for the wrong gas and $40 for the mechanic to drain and check it over and then another $50 for regular gas. But, that's way better than paying for new seals and fuel lines!!!