89 octane with ethanol
 

I was driving from South Dakota to Texas in my 85 F250 and stopped at a gas station that carried 89 octane gas that was cheaper than the 87 octane. So i filled my rear tank up and proceeded down the road. I made it about 500 yards from the gas station and my truck died and has not ran since off the rear tank. The fuel pump is fine so is the relay and the fuel lines are not clogged. This leads me to believe that either i got bad gas. Or that this 89 octane with 10% ethanol is a bad deal. While i was messing with my truck on the side of the interstate. A shade tree mechanic pulled up and tried to assist me. He told me that older carbuerated vehicles cant run this fuel because of the density of the fuel and it breaks everthing loose and clogs filters. Any truth to this. Any info will help.........

Well, first I would ask for a hit off whatever he was drinking. It must have been some very good stuff.


10% ethanol shouldn't even been noticeable in your truck or barely noticable. The problems with older vehicles weren't related to clogging, or fuel density or such nonsense. The problems were first with the rubber lines and gaskets. The alchol dries them out, and they would crack. Older carbs may also experience problems from the cracking of seals and gaskets, but not in 500 yards from the gas pump.

About 90% of all gasoline sold in IL, is 10% ethanol and carbed vehicles run it.

If the only thing you ever had in it was regular gasoline, it will clean all the crap from the regular out, but not that fast. It may have broke something loose and plugged the needle though. I run the 10% blend constantly in everything I drive, and never have any troubles. I have some old trucks that I ran, and fuel system problems were probably the only thing I never had to fix... ran an old Jeep for a while that had rust in the tank, and it kept plugging up from that. Once I changed the tank, no more troubles, still running the blend with no modifications, and it was carbed. Ran a 76 Mustang II for two years on the blend, never serviced the fuel system... so It isn't the fuel's fault, it was the prior fuels if anything. The ethanol blend will keep your system clean once it gets it clean... if it's dirty, it will let you know about it though.

I think you got a tank of bad gas. It's extremely rare, but it does happen. Probably water got into that filling station's tank.

I'd drain it and refill at a station that you (or the locals) trust. Drain the float bowl(s) of the carburetor, lines, etc, and run it. If you still have the receipt for the gas, I'd see about getting a refund.