Can any car take ethanol-based gasoline, and if so, where do you find it (in New York)?
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Answers by: Craig | jer | Jon | Rich Collins
Ethanol-based gasoline is not the same as bio-diesel! Do NOT put ANY kind diesel in your car unless it's a diesel engine.
Your car needs to be specially prepared to take E85. Ethanol will eat through the standard rubber hoses, lines, fuel injectors, and fuel pumps in a normal car. That's why the DOT only approves a 10% ethanol blend at normal gas stations (read the sign on the pump, it will most likely inform you of a 10% ethanol, instead of the old MTBE additive).
There are conversion kits available for cars, but none are emissions approved. Converting a standard gas car to ethanol/flex-fuel actually makes it WORSE for the environment and won't improve gas mileage. There is also only one conversion kit available, and it's only available due to a loophole in regulations.
E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) in the US is mostly available in the midwestern states that grow a lot of corn, which is used primarily to create ethanol. Since the price of transporting the ethanol very far offsets the savings, it's hard to find outside of that part of the country at this time. According to this site:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/motorist/alternativefuel.html
There are no private E85 fuel pumps in the state of NY.
More useful info on conversion kits and E85 in general can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85