Ethonal please help

[mek86]

I love the GREEN government they solve so many problems. The dealer just called and told us the due to carbon build from ETHONAL the sensors on the car are being clogged. This will void our warrentee. It will cost 192 dollars to clean the left over GREEN crap from our car. TY US GOVERNMENT!

Can anyone tell me how to save 192 dollars every few months to do this cleaning?

[shorod]

What did you take the car to the dealer for to begin with? Did you give an estimate of their findings in writing? That sounds completely bogus. What kind of car is it, and what grade of Ethanol were you using? If you were using E-85 and your car is not a flex fuel vehicle, then that may void your warranty, but if you were using the E-10 or so that is much more common, that should not void the warranty unless your car requires premium only.

-Rod

[curtis73]

Its a typical dealer BS move... The manufacturer offers a warranty, the dealers try to convert you to pay it yourself, and 99% of the time it works.

If its under warranty, then make sure they foot the bill. If its not under warranty, then (sorry to say) they have no legal obligation to cover it unless the government forces them to issue a recall.

If its under warranty, take it to another dealer with a sob story about how "the other dealer wouldn't honor the warranty." They will kiss your butt in the hopes of making you a new satisfied customer and you'll have a better chance of getting it repaired.

Next time you're in the service department and you look at those awards on the wall from the car company, know this: some of those awards for "service excellence" are based on a service department's ability to convert warranty work to customer-pay. Seriously. We used to have weekly meetings on how to convert more customers so we could win more awards.

[Ragtop_Renegade]

I wanted to add it's not the government's fault. Government regulations on fuel compositions are based on consultations with automotive engineers - probably hundreds of hours. They determine the max percentage of ethanol that can be used in a gasoline fueled vehicle without it causing non-typical wear to the engine's mechanical or electrical components, or the emissions systems.

The cause of your problems are due to one of the reasons mentioned above:

1. You're not bothering to tell us you deliberately put e-85 in a non-flex vehicle. If so, That would be your fault. I won't feel sorry for you.

2. The dealer is trying to scam you into paying for a warranty covered repair - in addition to what Curtis said, another common ploy is to get you to pay for it, then bill the manufacturer for warranty service (double-dipping)

Lastly and not yet mentioned, the fudge-factor in the gas to ethanol ratios seems to be getting a bit bigger these days. Oil companies do not sell gasoline when people stay home and don't drive, like what happens when prices hit $4.00 per gallon. To keep prices down and profits up, it's certainly possible a lot of "whoops! looks like we might have accidentally blended that batch at 88/12!!! Oh well!" Is going on.

But the government's fault? c'mon!

Is that President Obama hiding behind you car with a 5 gallon can of e-85? OMG!