How Corrrosive is Gas with 10% Ethanol?

[hoss4659]

With what model year did Porsche begin installing ethanol resistant soft fuel lines? Should I be planning to replace soft fuel lines on a model year 1988 911 that is constantly exposed to fuel with 10% ethanol added? If so, who sells the material?
Thanks.

[540964]

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

[Hellafunctional]

Originally Posted by 540964

Ethanol-free gas stations in the U.S. and Canada

Thanks for the link! Looks like the closest one to me is around 60 miles

[theiceman]

Originally Posted by Hellafunctional

Thanks for the link! Looks like the closest one to me is around 60 miles

That is awesome ..... " honey i'm just going to get gas..... "

[PooShee]

The closest one to me is more then 60 miles away.
I have an '85 Carrera
Not a big fan of additives on a regular basis and obvisouly fill up with 93

Any fuel experts here have a good routine for fill ups.

I dont want an additive that cost $30 per fill up and one that is going to cause problems...Or a good thread, the search function seems to come up with a bunch of subjective hear say.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by hoss4659

With what model year did Porsche begin installing ethanol resistant soft fuel lines? Should I be planning to replace soft fuel lines on a model year 1988 911 that is constantly exposed to fuel with 10% ethanol added? If so, who sells the material?
Thanks.

I may be anal when it comes to upkeep, but those fuel lines are getting really old.
I'd replace them with modern fuel lines just to reduce the chance of fire and leaks from age let alone whatever the new fuel may be doing to them.

[Lyle O]

Big problem with ethanol is that it absorbs moisture, and we know this is not a good thing for the metal bits in the system. Compatibility is marginal but OK at 10% for the hose materials in our cars, but don't confuse age with compatibility. 30 year old hoses should be replaced. In any event, NEVER use gas with more than 10% ethanol. Then you start getting into many other issues, including polymer leaching out (oligomers) and really screwing things up. This is true for new cars as well, unless the vehicle has been certified for E-85 (even then the problem with oligomers persists for some plastic fuel lines). Ironically, ethanol provides higher octane...

[RichardNew]

Race Trac has started selling non-ethanol in Florida and GA. I have 3 stations within 15 miles of my house. I've started using non-ethanol in all my collector cars since I actually rusted out the sending unit float in one of my cars. I think the tank has 20% water in it. Ok, so i'm exaggerating a little.

Richard Newton

[Bill in OKC]

A new-to-me problem was even admitted by the EPA - the formation of acetic acid in e10/ethanol fuels when water is present. Warning: Not for the faint of heart.

http://www.epa.gov/ordntrnt/ORD/NRMRL/gwerd/pubs/corrosion-in-stp-sumps.pdf

[HawgRyder]

One problem I ran in to.
Fueled up with 5% or 10% Eth gas on the way to Sturigis a few years ago(riding old Harley).
Within 30 miles...it had cleaned out the gas tank and clogged the fuel filter....cleaned fuel filter...ran another 100 miles or so...same prob...cleaned filter...been good ever since.
So my take is this: gas is OK...but it floats? or loosens deposits in the tank...causing them to flow downstream to the filter.
In the Porsches...this might clog the filter in the tank.
You might need to clean out the tank after using E10 gas.
After the cleanout...I think the system will run a lot better.
Also...new fuel lines for sure...better to be safe.
Bob

[Jack Stands]

The ethanol does seem to act as a solvent to clean things out. This problem as been widely discussed in some Motorhome forums as they have a tendency to sit in storage for quite a while, then get driven on trips. When ethanol laced fuels are first introduced into the system, they seem to quickly plug up the fuel filters until the old surface deposits in the fuel system are dissolved.

The stored ethanol fuels do not do nice things to Webers. After sitting for a while, it looks like Jello in the float chambers.

I think routinely driving the car is the best thing you can do to prevent old fuel from sitting in the car. I'm tempted to get an electric fuel pump to be able to pump the fuel out of my cars in winter storage to use in my daily driver, the refill them with fresh fuel sometime during the winter months.

[Karter18]

This stuff is supposed to work very good to protect all systems from Ethanol.

[HarryD]

I have been using Marine Sta-Bil. It has a fuel preservative and a corrosion inhibitor. Seems to help.

[Quicksilver]

Originally Posted by PooShee

. . .
I have an '85 Carrera
Not a big fan of additives on a regular basis and obvisouly fill up with 93

. . .

Two years ago I was chasing a vacuum leak and in the process of removing the intake manifold obviously the fuel lines had to come off.
The fuel lines were completely dry and never leaked a drop. Their visual condition was excellent...

Once the lines where removed the crimped hose connections easily spun around with zero resistance as if they were a bearing. I was shocked.

Straight to my fav-o-rite hose vendor to get the lines replaced with something more permanent.

Just say "No" to Car-B-Qs!

[cgarr]

If ethanol absorbs moisture "water" isn't that a good thing so it runs thru the system rather than seperating out?

I keep drums of fuel at the airport and have never had a problem in 15 years, steel drums and aluminum fuel tank.

[Jack Stands]

I believe that av-gas is ethanol free.

[HarryD]

Cgarr. The problem is that the ethanol keeps absorbing water until it separates from the gasoline.

[Jesse16]

Seems to me none of this is a problem for a car that is driven regularly and use many tanks of gas. All my cars "rubber" is relatively fresh within the past 10 years. Obviously an 80 vehicle is much less likely to have a problem vs. a 60's or 70's. I've searched and used ethanol free gas and found it to have 0% better mileage and the stations to generally be very sketchy and the feeling that everything including the fuel is likely old. They do sell 93 no eth. gas at a junky station outside the gates of CMP in SC. That pump seems to get used regularly.

[Hellafunctional]

Originally Posted by theiceman

That is awesome ..... " honey i'm just going to get gas..... "

I would probably need to fill up again the moment I get back home. Anyone here running mfi? I would like to know how your mfi pumps/systems are holding up.

[Gene Smith]

Pricy- but effective

AvGAS is only good for fuel and exhaust systems that tolerate LEAD. This is "LowLead" fuel. It will plug catalytic converters.

Aviation fuel is supposed to be completely ethanol free. That is why pilots can "bleed off" a small amount of fuel onto the runway from wing tanks to insure there is no water in the fuel tank. Ethanol would put that water into suspension and it could cause malfunction when the wing tanks go below freezing at altitude. AvGas is used by the Simone Museum to protect the fuel systems of their 3/4 BILLION dollar race car collection. If you store your car over the Winter it makes sense to run down the street gas and get a load of aviation fuel.