Reminder: If you're running pure E85 all the time...

[sakudog]

To change your oil more often! At this point, I'd say every 2500 miles or 3 months regardless. You can smell E85 in your oil when you change it. I've been told this by several top tuners with much more experience with E85 than I have and I thought tonight I'd post this as a reminder.

Additionally you can do some of your own research, GM & Ford recommend a 3K oil change cycle if you use E85 more than 50% of the time!

 

[Firechaser]

Thats actually good to hear, I noticed that in my car and I contributed it to the longer crank times on cold start w/ cylinder wash....that always bugged me and I thought something was wrong...now I know it's common.

 

[John Larkin]

My oil looks sooty when I check it. Not brown or black, it's still translucent, just black-ish, not yellow.

 

[696]

X2, Just changed mine and I could REALLY smell the E-85 as well. Def doing a 3 month or 3,000 on mine.
(Just bring what Jeff said back up for the "Spring Cleaning's" coming up...)

 

[Turbo6inKY]

I've had my oil analyzed at Blackstone, there's a thread in this forum with a copy of the report:

http://www.turbobuick.com/forums/threads/blackstone-oil-report-for-car-on-e85.392956/

After 3,352 miles on the oil, running E85 about 60% of the time while on that oil, there was no trace of fuel, or water in the oil and wear was so low Blackstone recommended extending my change interval to 4,500 miles.

Additionally, I followed up with them to ask about their experience with E85, and their response was that they have seen absolutely nothing in their testing of oil from engines known to be running E85 that would indicate any negative effects whatsoever.

If your engine is running correctly and not so rich that it's dumping fuel into the cylinders and washing out the rings, there's no reason to cut your oil change intervals at all while running E85.

 

[Rafs-T-Type]

I just mailed my chip in to add fuel to the cold start to prevent prolonged cranking. She fires up nice now.

 

[696]

I saw your report. I was ANYTHING but rich til I just got my "new" chip. My car starts fine, runs great (10.8 at the richest, usually was 11.0-11.3) no indications of being overly rich. When I changed the oil I could smell E-85 in it. My oil is conventional 10-30w oil with a bigger Wix filter but I will be changing it more often as long as I have those conditions.

 

[Hot Air]

I'm wondering if everyone is running VERY rich? Remember, stiochometric (ideal) with E85 is 10:1. If you are less than that, engine is rich, more it is lean!
Conrad

 

[Rafs-T-Type]

I'm wondering if everyone is running VERY rich? Remember, stiochometric (ideal) with E85 is 10:1. If you are less than that, engine is rich, more it is lean!
Conrad

The more reading I do the more rich I feel I'm running. It seems like most like to target about 11.4 for a nice safe mixture. Some go way leaner. I would like to see a few dino runs to see what the car likes.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Could it be that the TB's are experiencing this phenom due to the wt of the drivers rt foot??

 

[Rafs-T-Type]

Could it be that the TB's are experiencing this phenom due to the wt of the drivers rt foot??

It's not my foot. It's the lead that I keep in my shoe

 

[Chuck Leeper]

It's not my foot. It's the lead that I keep in my shoe

Better there, than in yo a$$!

 

[kidglok]

i guess this would all depend on how loose the rings are and how rich the engine is being run at?

 

[Rafs-T-Type]

After checking some of the other turbo car forums it seems common for people to run a diesel oil such as Rotella 5-40 as the oil works better with E-85 and they mix better, as in it doesn't degrade the oil as much. They also talk about Brad Penn oil a lot too, however Brad Penn says not to use it - http://www.penngrade1.com/CMSFiles/File/March 2011_E85_TECH_LETTER_BRAD_PENN.pdf. A lot of people claim they have used the 2 together though, with no ill effects, noting that the engine should reach at least 170 before shutting it down. Also seems like the guys like to change oil more frequently.

 

[Nick Micale]

..........Additionally, I followed up with them to ask about their experience with E85, and their response was that they have seen absolutely nothing in their testing of oil from engines known to be running E85 that would indicate any negative effects whatsoever.

If your engine is running correctly and not so rich that it's dumping fuel into the cylinders and washing out the rings, there's no reason to cut your oil change intervals at all while running E85.

The information you posted from the lab is really not applicable to the turbo Buick application as their data is based upon late model vehicles that are not boosted?

I find gasoline powered turbo cars get more contaminants in the oil than non-boosted applications, and we are dealing with an engine design and metallurgy that is 50 years old. Newer cars have very precise fuel injection/computers, and are designed to run lean as compared to our performance cars.

If you are running a stock computer, it cannot compare to modern technology, and we usually prefer to run a little rich rather than lean.

Spending $20 on oil every 1-2000 miles to me is just good insurance protection. It makes no difference how "good or expensive" the oil is, it all gets contaminated just the same.

 

[Turbo6inKY]

The information you posted from the lab is really not applicable to the turbo Buick application as their data is based upon late model vehicles that are not boosted?

I find gasoline powered turbo cars get more contaminants in the oil than non-boosted applications, and we are dealing with an engine design and metallurgy that is 50 years old. Newer cars have very precise fuel injection/computers, and are designed to run lean as compared to our performance cars.

If you are running a stock computer, it cannot compare to modern technology, and we usually prefer to run a little rich rather than lean.

Spending $20 on oil every 1-2000 miles to me is just good insurance protection. It makes no difference how "good or expensive" the oil is, it all gets contaminated just the same.

But the report I posted was from my 1987 Grand National, so I think it's completely applicable. The age or type of fuel injection system is irrelevant, and so is whether you're running a tad rich. The ethanol isn't getting into the oil in any meaningful amount on my car, with a stock ECM, 60lb injectors, and TurboTweak chip. Viscosity is fine, and contaminents are within reason for a normal engine of this mileage.

Running rich is one thing. Dumping more fuel into the cylinders than the car can burn and having it end up in the oil is another matter completely.

 

[Turbo6inKY]

I saw your report. I was ANYTHING but rich til I just got my "new" chip. My car starts fine, runs great (10.8 at the richest, usually was 11.0-11.3) no indications of being overly rich. When I changed the oil I could smell E-85 in it. My oil is conventional 10-30w oil with a bigger Wix filter but I will be changing it more often as long as I have those conditions.

Your nose can pick up E85 in concentrations lower than would matter, plus you're inhaling crankcase vapors. The key is whether it's diluted the oil (which shows up as too-low viscosity numbers on the Blackstone reports).

If you're looking at the difference between 1000 mile oil changes and 2000-3000-4000 mile changes, it would be worth it to send a sample in. $35 will tell you what interval you can change at safely plus give you a picture of how the motor is wearing.

 

[bison]

If you are running e85 you are likely running high boost. This translates into high cylinder pressures and a lot of blow by. Id be changing my oil every week. I change mine after about one minute of wot and I run gasoline. The oil takes a beating on any high cylinder pressure application.