yet another E85 myth busted..

[novaderrik]

dropped my gas tank today to put a new fuel pump in, and everything looked all shiny and new inside the tank. no signs of any sort of corrosion to be seen, and there weren't any chunks of any kind in the fuel sock. it's been sitting for 3 months with a half a tank of a 50/50 mix of E85 and 87 octane, so if it was gonna cause problems, it would have started to corrode.
i'm pretty sure the E85 did not kill the fuel pump- it has always made a little bit of noise since i got the car in the spring of '04- and it had sat for 12 years prior to that, so it never saw E85 until i got it.

 

[EyesofThunder]

I had run off and on 100% E85 in my 99 K2500 Suburban and when my pump died (155K miles, stock pump, which is actually very long life for those) my tank was very nice and shiny inside too, nothing bad at all seen. All seals good.

dropped my gas tank today to put a new fuel pump in, and everything looked all shiny and new inside the tank. no signs of any sort of corrosion to be seen, and there weren't any chunks of any kind in the fuel sock. it's been sitting for 3 months with a half a tank of a 50/50 mix of E85 and 87 octane, so if it was gonna cause problems, it would have started to corrode.
i'm pretty sure the E85 did not kill the fuel pump- it has always made a little bit of noise since i got the car in the spring of '04- and it had sat for 12 years prior to that, so it never saw E85 until i got it.

 

[Pablo]

I think people get E85 and sulfuric acid confused judging by the way they talk about it.

 

[EyesofThunder]

You are very correct, it is HARD to dispel the corrosion myths.

What a GM guy told me is the REAL issue is the plain steel, which in itself is unaffected by alky, but being alky likes water, and if water DOES get in (not that hard with leaky tanks in the ground, poor handling by the oil transporter, etc) if let sit, the water will rust the steel pipe and then the alky will clean the rust and eventually you will have a leak.

Being many GM cars have plastic fuel lines now, and plastic everything in the tank ("fuel card" or fuel gauge sender, fuel pump etc) except the actual pump itself, there isn't much at all that can cause problems. Most if not all fuel press regs already had the viton rubber in the early 90's if not late 80's because they knew 10% ethanol fuel was something the politicians were starting to push.

So yes, with careful inspection, many cars are ok with E85. But it is a judgement call still, fuel system does need to be in top shape.

I have also heard the plastic type injectors handle it inside better, as the fat body injectors use the fuel to cool the windings and the plastic ones don't. gasoline isn't conductive, ethanol is. So it will much more rapidly deteriorate the windings as compared to gas. How fast? Don't know, probably got 5-10K on my 99 K2500 on E85, and not a problem yet, so who knows how directly the fuel touches the windings on them older fat body style. When you are updgrading, go with the thin ones anyway, you can run much higher fuel pressure with them so it will broaden your hp range on same injectors.....

I think people get E85 and sulfuric acid confused judging by the way they talk about it.

 

[brian_k03]

How corrosive is e85 in regards to exposed aluminum?
My fuel rail isn't anodized and I'm wondering just how bad it really is.

 

[EyesofThunder]

Good question. I would like to know myself.

How corrosive is e85 in regards to exposed aluminum?
My fuel rail isn't anodized and I'm wondering just how bad it really is.

 

[GNVYUS 1]

Board member on the Pontiac forum had a build up of white mucas from contact of aluminum. Stainless, nickel, anodized are all great materials for E85.

 

[Buick_noob]

A dealer told me when I was shoping for a HHR SS that not to fill the gas tank with E85 because a guy in a truck did and the warrenty did not cover it. I guess something happen to his truck? I would guess this guy might of had at least 2 gallons of gas and the rest E85. I put 70% of 92 and 30% of E85, I guess I will try the 87 50/50 mix when I get back.

 

[bsdlinux]

LOL and it continues

 

[Pablo]

Guys

why not go get some e85 (or denatured alcohol from the store) and drop a piece of whatever you are wondering about in it. Heck get some 190 proof booze from the liquor store. Let us know if the aluminum/rubber/steel parts you are wondering about start to fizz and smoke before your very eyes or after sitting for awhile.

 

[bsdlinux]

Guys

why not go get some e85 (or denatured alcohol from the store) and drop a piece of whatever you are wondering about in it. Heck get some 190 proof booze from the liquor store. Let us know if the aluminum/rubber/steel parts you are wondering about start to fizz and smoke before your very eyes or after sitting for awhile.

Agreed +1

In timeless words of Grumpy " Why do you give it whirl and let us know how it goes"

Well if miles where whirls I would have at this point given E-85 over 20,000 whirls.

The only thing that E-85 has ever done to my car, is clean the hell out of the 22 year "STOCK" fuel system and make the car run like a bat out of hell.