this passed weekend i went camping and had to put 10% ethonal in my 180. and now today my check engine light came on. could that be he problem? what should i do. i did it be for and the samething happend. just kinda wondering

 

10% should not trigger a cel. I use 10% every day in my 225, since that's all they sell in my area.

 

I think lenny is talking about using straight ethanol, aka not blended with gas.

You first step should be to scan the car, and find out what CEL you're throwing.
Chances are you're going to need to change the fuel filter.
The ethanol is more than likely cleaning the fuel filter, and causing the car to burn the contaminates.

 

+1 with getting the codes.

Josh

 

If you used pure e85 type gas, you just wrecked all the seals in your car.... 10% is ok, e85=distroyed engine/fuel system.

 

whether you notice it or not, E10 (10% ethanol) seems to be the standard in most states.

The positive: It can soak up a ton of water, which means you don't have a big blob of water sitting in your gas tank, waiting to be sucked up and deposited in your engine (can run rough/stall)

The negative: It takes a lot more alcohol to make the same amount of power as gasoline.


I just found a station that sells straight gas here in VT. I filled the tank before I drove home to NY for the 4th. Normally, I'd average 28-29mpg with E10. With straight gas, before I hit the thruway (average 60mph) I was getting 36mpg. Once I hit the thruway and picked it up to 75mph, my average mpg dropped to 33.

Icing on the cake was that this station was selling 93oct for $4.31 while most other stations in the Burlington area who are selling E10 are priced at $4.35. Can't complain about four cents less a gallon, and making 4 more miles to the gallon.


In regards to your original question though, get your codes pulled, or we're about as clueless as you are. But E10 SHOULDNT make you throw a code. Cars have been designed for E10 use for almost 10 years now.