So I have a 2000 Honda Civic LX that is around 130k miles now. In Las Vegas, I put E10 (I hadn't known what it was before this...), and had to get it fixed. The engine light had started blinking and my car had started shaking (similarly to how it would feel when the cylinders mis-fire) in less than 2 minutes of driving the car.
The mechanic in LV cleaned out the fuel lines, pumped out the gas from my fuel tank, drained my engine of the bad fuel, replaced the fuel pump and filter, replaced all 4 fuel injectors, and had to replace my distributor (because it had burned out...). The repairs were good enough to get me 400 miles away from Las Vegas (back to my home in CA), and it's been over a week since the incident.
However, 3 days ago, my car started shaking again and the engine light started blinking. I immediately pulled over and called a tow truck to take it to my mechanics. By the time my mechanic got to look at it yesterday morning, the car wasn't showing any signs of shaking at all. He let me take it back that day, and I drove it around a bit with no problems. But obviously, there's a problem somewhere.
At the time when it started shaking again, my gas tank had been down to 1/4. Do you think there could still be remnants of the E10 gas in my tank? I'm really at a loss of what to do.
My friend suggested that I fill my tank with premium gas for a tank or two to flush it out. Would that hurt my car? I typically fuel with 87 octane and my manual says that 85 is the minimum.
He also suggested that I try using seafoam. But I don't know what it is and it sounds intimidating...
I would greatly appreciate any advice I can get.