Ethanol in Classic car Engines

Irish911 · 10-31-2012, 10:00 AM

Thought others might be interested in seeing this.
HVA: Ethanol in classic car engines.mov - YouTube

DRACO A5OG · DRACO A5OG's Garage

Well that was depressing :-(

tazzieman · tazzieman's Garage

My ol' landrover has wine in the differential , but I never put booze in the donk. Total waste.

pwd72s · 10-31-2012, 02:42 PM

The joy of saving the planet...

Jerome74911S · 10-31-2012, 03:46 PM

Where can we find any evidence that products like Stabil Ethanol Treatment actually work, or not?

KNS · 10-31-2012, 04:28 PM

Ask "Lubemaster" here on the board. He recommends adding a treatment with oxidation inhibitors in it.

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

Filled up with this today..

Irish911 · 11-01-2012, 03:04 AM

There are a number of web sites that will tell you where you can find ethanol free gas stations in the US and Canada. I don't know how accurate they are however.
Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

SiberianDVM · SiberianDVM's Garage

There is also an ethanol free ap for the iPhone, that is also free.

bdisco · 11-01-2012, 04:31 AM

Just this summer I had an issue when switching tanks on my zero turn lawn tractor. The problem turn out to be the clear rubber in-tank fuel hose had completely disintegrated, completely gone.

I use fuel stabilizer when I put it away for winter. Is there a product we should be putting in at every fill up or are they just snake oil?

And the wife laughed when I put an extinguisher in the car.

db_cooper · db_cooper's Garage

Ethanol is a fact of life is most metropolitan areas. The EPA tightens regulations. Ethanol is considered the solution by the mad scientists at the EPA.

Our older 911s were not designed with ethanol in mind. Thankfully we can get away with E10. A solution I use on my older machines..1986 911..1991 VW Vanagon and 1974 Laverda 1000 is a regular dose of Marvel Mystery Oil in the fuel tank. 4oz per 10 gallons.

My thinking is ethanol is very "dry", a solvent to some rubber/vinyl hoses and corrosive to aluminum.

I think the MMO provides some lubrication and protection from ethanol. I don't have any hard data points, only my experience, for example:

The 1974 Laverda is a three cylinder DOHC on liter engine with three Dellorto all aluminum "pumper" carbs. The gaskets, "O" rings and pumper diaphragm are very old school and in 2005 ethanol quickly destroyed the floats, several parts and corroded the float bowls.

I rebuilt the carbs with NOS parts and since then added MMO to every tank. I have replaced the fuel lines once since then due to discoloration. I have had to adjust the idle and mixture screws perhaps twice in 7 years.

MMO seems to keep the fuel from attacking the sensitive parts in these old carbs. I'm certain it works well in the old VW and Porsche Bosch fuel injection systems too.

304065 · 11-01-2012, 06:11 AM

It's bad stuff. The alcohol evaporates reducing the octane content.

Oil, including MMO which I love, has an octane rating of zero.

The solution is race gas as a storage fuel, for off-road use only.

BE911SC · 11-01-2012, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by db_cooper

Ethanol is a fact of life is most metropolitan areas. The EPA tightens regulations. Ethanol is considered the solution by the mad scientists at the EPA.

Don't forget the very powerful corn lobby.

HarryD · 11-01-2012, 11:03 AM

I use Marine Stabil. It is my understanding it has an extra dose of corrosion inhibitor and keeps the water/ethanol mixture mixed witht he fuel so it does not accumulate in the tank. I have used it for several years with no observed bad effects or problems.

MMO is a great product but it is primarily a lubricant with, what I think, is a limited ability to tame the ethanol/water emulsion.

We all have out snake oil theories.