Question: I just bought a new car 2003 Nissan Altima 2.5S V4. By mistakenly we have filled E85 ethanol gas full tank. I would like to know would there be any problem In future?
Is there any way we can get rid of that fuel? Can we switch back to regular fuel would that cause any problem? Please suggest me something right away.
Answer: E 85 fuel means that it's 85% alcohol. Regular unleaded gas is normally about 10% ethanol. Alcohol in the fuel can be damaging to many different components. Especially rubber components. Running E 85 in a car that does not take it can cause the fuel pump to go out, rubber fuel lines to deteriorate, fuel injectors to fail and oxygen sensors to fail. If the cars is running real bad right now the best way is to drop the gas tank and drain out all the gas. Then fill it with fresh regular unleaded fuel run the car for a few minutes and also have a professional fuel injector cleaning done
You can try and just run the car into all the ED five is out but you may still has some residue that will cause problems in the future. You are going to also need to have the computer codes cleared because running this fuel will cause the check engine light and several different trouble codes.
If the car is running real bad, which it probably is, I would not suggest just running the car because it can cause spark back, engine misfires etc. If running the car hard enough you can do internal engine damage.