Can you use E85 mix in your car?

When you fill up your vehicle with regular unleaded, it is tempting to use E85 gasoline, which is far less expensive than the regular unleaded gas that most vehicles use. But can you use this cheaper E85 gasoline? And what can happen if you do?

First, if your car is designed for E85 ethanol gasoline, chances are extremely good you already know this. Most will say something about ethanol with the vehicle's brand insignia on the rear of the vehicle. And they also have special yellow gas caps to draw attention to anyone who may be about to fill up with regular gasoline as well as a Flex Fuel sticker label inside the door.

Now, what if you use E85 ethanol gas in your car that is not designed for it? First, fuel efficiency goes dramatically down. This means you need far more E85 gas to go the same distance as you would normally go with regular gas. Second, E85 is very corrosive, so it eats through rubber parts in a car engine, meaning gaskets, injectors and fuel lines will need to be replaced, and that can run into the thousands of dollars, which will more than negate the savings from using the cheaper fuel.