Top Tier Gasoline, Ethanol and Engine damage

Well I can tell you the rubber sleaves, on the internal fuel pumps, in my 348 didn't like it at all. The rubber was disitigradeding baldy. But the sleeves were 20 years old. That it pretty much the biggest problem. If the rubber components aren't up to handling achohol then they will suffer for it bad the rubber degrading faster than normal.

 

What a coincidence...at lunch today a colleague mentioned to me one of the reasons he recently bought a new car was because of fuel injection problems on his previous one...and the tech pointed the finger at ethanol in gas!

 

I am currently dealing with the dreaded "fuel pump problem"
on BOTH my 456 cars. The GT is much worse off than the MGT.

The GT finally wouldn't start, so that squeeky wheel got the first
parts.

As soon as that one 456 is back on the road, in goes the other 456.

Meanwhile, the Callaway twin turbo languishes because of
an "impossible to diagnose" fueling problem.

EACH mechanic holds up parts they feel were "killed"
by ethanol !

I wish there was an
effective 12-step program for cars..........

 

There is!

Never vote for an already elected congress-critter.

 

The fuel pump on my 2005 SRT6 fell victim...
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How do you know that Lencap is bald?

 

Huh?

 

drive it

 

I don't think there's anything you can do to prepare your car for ethanol fuels other than installing Scuderia Rampante fuel hoses. Replacing components with similar parts from newer vehicles or the aftermarket (which can be expected to be ethanol tolerant) may become a hot business. All of those fuel system components that weren't originally specced to be tolerant to ethanol content will be in danger. What can you do to protect your car? If you can't find a gas station selling pure gas unleaded, buy unleaded race fuel. You may not need the octane, but it's not likely to have ethanol in it.


Note the nomenclature is the percentage of alcohol in the fuel, not the percentage of gasoline in the fuel.

E10 has been around for quite a while and is almost everywhere. That doesn't mean it's not hard of fuel system components. E15 is coming thanks to the ethanol lobby. It's not allowed to be used in MY 2000 or older vehicles, but does that mean gas stations are going to have both E10 and E15 pumps? I'm skeptical; I certainly haven't heard what the solution will be there. Also, anyone that knows anything about the public knows that almost all people aren't going to be reading some label telling them which fuel pump is right for their model year. These horror stories of cars ruined by ethanol will get a lot more prevalent and it's for sure that mechanics will be making good money for years to come replacing fuel systems.
http://www.dailytech.com/E15+Fuel+Could+Damage+Cars+According+to+Automakers+DOE+Says+Whatever/article24706.htm

P.S.- For a 2005 MY vehicle to have a fuel system failure from ethanol in fuel is inexcusable and I'm not confident that was the root cause; I was validating production fuel system components for ethanol resistance back in the 90s.

 

Try the Lucas upper end lubricant? My mechanic says it will counteract the harmful affects of the crap gas we now have, clean and lubricate the upper end and improve fuel economy. Stuff seems to work, older cars run better. No affiliation etc.

 

We have one station who advertises zero ethanol fuel. I use him exclusively. I learned in the 70s when they tried "gasahol". Awful stuff that killed mileage,

 

Interesting this thread popped back up. My weed eater died today. Pulled it apart to find the fuel line in the tank broke into 3 pieces. It's 3 years old. I've never heard of fuel lines breaking into pieces in these little tools. My Dad had an ancient chain saw, similar setup, never had to replace the fuel lines.

 

E10 is not E10.

It is closer to E15 or even E20 depending on when you buy it.


America needs to "get with the program." Germany killed E10 via refusal to purchase, willing to wait in lines to do so and rolled it all (almost) back to E05.



There is more to it but at least we have (near) GAS !!!!!!!


Gasohol is gunna "KILL" you guys. Some literally.

NO "If's" just "When."

 

Imo, anything added to gas is going to drop the octane, I'm a little surprised this site wasn't mentioned...
http://pure-gas.org/

You are so lucky, there are a ton of them in NC, 3 in your immediate area...
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=NC

Lots of studies on the effects of ethanol but this one about 3 yrs ago comes to mind...
http://www.hagerty.com/Hagerty-corporate/Press/Press-releases/2009/09/30/ETHANOL-STUDY

 

I just purchased some 100 octane "race gas" from the 76 station in San Jose.

Keeping my finger crossed I tested it for ethanol content thinking maybe I would get lucky.

Not a chance. Same 10% content as the rabbit piss sold all over this nanny state.

 

Listen, It sucks but we'll have to deal with it and replace parts as needed until the govt tosses ethanol from gas but that's a long shot.

My soon to be solution in the mean time (only for the 308) is to force phase separation to remove the water and ethanol using this.

http://www.amazon.com/Moeller-DuraMax-Transfer-14-Gallon-Rolling/dp/B000MT94QA?tag=5336432772-20

 

So you just put a gallon of water in it first? Then fill it with E10 and shake it up.

Using a siphon pump, just keep the intake for the pump above the water line...

Good idea!

 

Yes. Thats what a lot of people are doing. This gas container will allow the water and elthanol to pump out first since it is gravity fed.

Add water to the the gas and shake it up and the ethanol and water will fall out of solution and settle at the bottom. This will lower the octane of the gas so start with 93+ or add lucas octane booster (because it is not alcohol based) to bring it back to spec. Some octane boosters are alcohol based so why put back what you just removed.

Use an ethanol dye that will color the ethanol and water blue so you know when the crap ends and you get to the good fuel.

Do your own reaserch before you try this so you fully understand the process and what it does to the fuel.


http://www.fuel-testers.com/quikcheck.html

 

Here is the thread in the 308 section that will tell you about e10 and all of the issues we face as owners of older performance cars.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=361508&highlight=ethanol

 

...sounds easier just to move from California. LOL.

 

E10 has a lower heating value per mass than E5, so it's normal you see a drop in mileage (although not as much as your 8-9%).

I personally wouldn't risk filling it in my tank, but fwiw, a vintage car magazine here has soaked identic carburettors here in E5 and E10 for a year, and the E10 carbs (including their gaskets) came out better than the others.

 

Buy 100+ high octane racing gas. It is expensive but it won't eat your fuel pump

 

Did you see see my previous post about the race gas?

It had the same ethanol percentage as the 91 Shell fuel in Santa Cruz.

My guess is if it isn't VP out of a 5 gallon jug...you better test it.

 

In correction to my previous statement that I don't think there's anything we can do to counteract ethanol, I see there are products you can dump in the tank that claim to neutralize ethanol in fuel.
I'm leery but haven't given it any research (nor even any thought, really).