Put E-85 in my 2001 Saturn. What should I do?

I have a 2001 Saturn SL-2 with a manual transmission and a 10 gallon tank. I put 6 gallons of ethanol in it by accident. What should I do? Is it safe to fill it the rest of the way with regular fuel and run it or will that do damage to my fuel system/engine? Do I need to have my tank drained and my system flushed?

2010-06-12T19:22:34Z

I understand that prolonged use of ethanol will damage the rubber parts of my engine. My question is will one half tank be enough to do damage? Will the ethanol really screw up my fuel injectors on contact? I'm pretty sure my car has electronic fuel injection, and an O2 sensor that adjusts oxygen to fuel mixture....

2010-06-12T19:45:18Z

I understand that prolonged use of ethanol will damage the rubber parts of my engine. My question is will one half tank be enough to do damage? Will the ethanol really screw up my fuel injectors on contact? I'm pretty sure my car has electronic fuel injection, and an O2 sensor that adjusts oxygen to fuel mixture....

Also, I already had to start it to drive away from the pump. I moved less than 20 feet. Is that going to be a problem?

walanrusa2010-06-12T18:31:21Z

Favorite Answer

You cannot use the engine with too much ethanol in it. There are rubber seals in the fuel system that will turn brittle when they come in contact with the alcohol in ethanol. This could cause a fuel leak somewhere down the line. You need to siphon out the ethanol in the tank as is suggested in the other responses.

A232010-06-12T18:27:55Z

Now you have about E-45 in the tank. Cars are expensive so I would try to siphon out at least half of it so you would be driving on E-20. Some people have driven on E-85 when the car is only supposed to use E-10.

?2010-06-12T18:29:48Z

I would fill it up with gasoline, and not worry about it ONE time should not hurt anything, re fill it as soon as it gets down a little (3/4 tank) Some stations sell 10 % to every one anyway, but I dont buy there, I prefer to buy real gasoline

Kenny2010-06-12T18:28:07Z

Do not drive it. Have it towed to a shop and have them flush out the tank. If you drove it, there is a good chance you screwed up the fuel injectors.