Anyone Made the Stupid Mistake I Made?

In a rush, I put 85% Ethanol in my car (also called E85) instead of regular gasoline. Now it's in the shop, getting the fuel tank drained and then they will look for any damages the ethanol could have done to the lines.
Anyone did this too -- and how did your car fare afterwards?

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So What Happened?™

Thank you all, for your responses, advice, and supporting words. They drained the fuel, flushed out the system, added new fuel, and ran a whole diagnostic on the vehicle as well as a test drive run. All checked out fine. They said as long as I didn't drive the whole fuel tank, damage is unlikely. Still, I have to keep an eye out for any future problems in the vehicle. I'm glad to hear others did not have much of a problem when they did the same thing to their poor cars! Thanks again and have a great day.

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H.M. answers from Chicago on September 06, 2007

I talked to my husband about the e-85 since he works in the service Dept at a dealership in Orland Park.He said that it had happened to another girl about 2 months ago. They had to clean the tank and the injectors. He said everything has been ok since. He did say that it could take a little while even after getting your car back from service to know the full effects. If it starts running weird in any way he said bring the car back and ask to have the oxygen sensors checked. But other than that there should be no long term damage.

Hope this helps.

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A.P. answers from Chicago on September 07, 2007

My girlfriends car ran out of gas and she used what she thought was gasoline at a friends house from one of those red containers...well it was disesal fuel...for a dulley truck!Apparently that kind of fuel is supposed to go in a yellow container. Not a good situation, but one time mistake, not going to hurt anything. When she started her honda suv, it chugged like a freight train, but they added regular fuel and her car has been fine ever since. Be careful and don't let them scam you at the dealership. Your car is fine, pay for the draining, don't let them tell you there is something really wrong. Good luck! :)

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S.A. answers from Chicago on September 07, 2007

Yes! I did the same thing a few years ago. I called my dad first, because he's very knowledgable about cars and he suggested I call the Ford dealer (I owned a Ford at the time). I called the dealer and they told me the same thing - to have the tank drained. I happened to be going on a long car trip the next day and my dad received other advice, which was to continually top the car tank off with regular unleaded gasoline - that way it would eventually dilute the E 85. That is what I did. It was a pain in the rear, but I didn't have any problems with my car following that mistake. If you weren't planning on going on a long car trip, the topping off probably wouldn't work so well because the E 85 would be in your car's system longer. It just worked for us. Good luck!