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Sat Nov 13, 2010 7:00 am

Ok, is anyone having carburator issues with alcohol in the gas?
My buggy sits a lot and I constantly have to clean the chalk out of the bodies . It's not varnish. 1600 T3 W/Duel Solexes (stock 66 pancake engine)
My gas tank is bad so the rust dissolves to the point of getting through the filter (brown gas) This and the moisture left from the evaporation of alcohol reacts with the aluminum carburators.
It is the alarming rate of how often this happens that vexes me. I rebuilt these carbs - again only 5 months ago and the car sat for 4, these carbs look 2 years old, full of red and white chalk.
I am going to replace the tank next as I've tried to clean it out (I can get to the center of it through the relocated filler, I already replaced it's filter and cleaned out the sediment - no water in there, bone dry) Every spring I change the inline filter - actually more often than that.
I think the iron and aluminum, water,and alcohol just creates a bad corrosive mix.

I want to hear from you guys if you are having issues like this and is there a way to filter out water? How about fuel stabilizer would that help. Or do we need to take up arms and reign our country in?

Sat Nov 13, 2010 7:32 am

I have Webers and I call that stuff "the white fur", but it is the same issue.

I don't know if this will make you feel any better (it shouldn't) but I have a new tank and fuel lines and still have to pull off my carbs once a year and clean that stuff out. I've had this set of carbs since the mid 80's and it was not a problem until the last 10 years or so. I think this hardware prefers being fed distilled dinosaur, rather than distilled corn. Hard on any rubber o-rings too.....

Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:26 am

I coated the inside of my gas tank with the sealer kit from Eastwood. I also replaced the fuel line in the tunnel with a stainless steel one. This probably helps with the rust issue, but won't do anything to combat the moisture issue or the issue with the rubber parts.

YES, fuel stabilizer will help A LOT if you let the gas sit in the tank for long periods of time. We always use it in the bikes, the watercraft, the lawn mower, etc. - anything that will not use up all the gas within a month or so. Yes, modern gas has a very short shelf life, not like the good old stuff we had "back in the day"!

Lee

Sat Nov 13, 2010 11:26 am

glassbuggy wrote: Or do we need to take up arms and reign our country in?

Mine lives almost exclusively on a diet of Pemex from Baja. No problems with their fuel corroding things........

Sat Nov 13, 2010 12:35 pm

Thank farm state congressmen/senators. This is E-fuel has been jammed down your intakes by Conagra and the big grain companies standing behind posters of Dust Bowl era, small farmers. Just like Big Tobacco did...

The second largest people to benefit from this are lawn mower repair shops; who have replaced more carbs in the last couple of years than in the last 20. You could leave gas lay around a long time before it became varnish .. now it's months to become jelly worms - thanks to Corn.

Jim

Sun Nov 14, 2010 9:37 am

I buy gas based on price, so I buy mostly ethanol "enhanced" gas. No issues with it here. I don't use any additives either. And, I don't really store the cars, just the mowers.

I try to keep the gas tanks full during the winter ... it minimises moisture condensation in the gas tank.

Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:10 am

I have the body of one cleaned up but after a few days the corrosion is beginning - just from sitting on the bench (white spots) Is there anything to treat the bodies with ...WD 40 possibly?

Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:23 am

WD40 is more of a solvent than a coating. Eastwood sells a product called Carb Renew or something like that. It comes in silver or bronze. That would take care of the outside, but I'm not sure what to do about the inside.

Lee

Sun Nov 14, 2010 4:47 pm

glassbuggy wrote: I have the body of one cleaned up but after a few days the corrosion is beginning - just from sitting on the bench (white spots) Is there anything to treat the bodies with ...WD 40 possibly?
The carbs originally have some kind of a coating from the factory to seal up the pores in the metal. Epoxy or urethane might do the trick, but I won't be trying it out on my carb any time soon.

Sun Nov 14, 2010 6:18 pm

I put an ounce or 2 of marvel mystery oil in my tank when I fill up
No problems so far :D

Sun Nov 14, 2010 10:16 pm

I run E10 in every vehicle I own. Including my lawn mower and chains saws. I have never had a problem with any of them.
They have been running E85 in Brazil for years with no problems.
I think most of you are listening to rumors, and then panicking.
Do not use the braided fuel line. It does not hold up to the alcohol. But decent domestic fuel line works fine.

Sun Nov 14, 2010 11:00 pm

I don't know how it would work on the inside of the carbs, but Gibbsbrand penatrating oil is suppose to work will on keeping and restoring aluminum and magnesium. The www.roadster.com site shows some pictures of Halibrand magnesium wheels that reversed the corrosion.

Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:54 am

Panic?

You'll see more crap "growing" in float bowls when they are dry stored than when they have fuel in them. WD40 would work fine as a storage medium on your bench, but you would then have to clean the carbs before installing them.

I've never heard of anybody painting the inside of a float bowl with anything to prevent corrosion, but that doesn't mean you can't or that no one has, of course. Seems the fuel alone, unless it is contaminated, will do a fine job. You would stand a good chance of introducing FOD with whatever you used to coat the inside.

I put a healthy dose of Seafoam in my carbs when I store cars for the winter. Smokes a bit when I first fire them up, but I don't have any issues with crap in the float bowls anymore. Storing them dry can be a problem in my damp marine climate though....unless they are in a heated part of the house, they will sweat with temp and humidity changes, and get those corrosion spots. Wrapping them up in an oiled cloth works to a certain extent.

As I mention further up this thread, I have had one set of DCNF Webers for over 20 years....only had issues with them if I thought I could skip a yearly float bowl inspection and cleaning.

Mon Nov 15, 2010 2:31 pm

I just run premium and avoid the hassles all together. Yes alcohol will corrode aluminum over tiime, Yes alcoohol will strip the rust out of all your fuel tanks and fuel lines.. It will also strip non comptable tank sealants out of your tanks. Yes it attracts water but it also suspends it in the fuel, and yes it will eat rubber lines, that's why E-85 vehicles use teflon lined hoses and injector seals and finally...Yes, I avoid it like cholera......in my old VW's

brad

Mon Nov 15, 2010 4:34 pm

I've seen folks run E85 in their lawn and garden equipment, that stuff destroys the fuel pump diaphragm in the carburetors really quick. Probably has the same effect on VW rubber and diaphragms.

Mon Nov 15, 2010 5:05 pm

Russ Wolfe wrote: I run E10 in every vehicle I own. Including my lawn mower and chains saws. I have never had a problem with any of them.
They have been running E85 in Brazil for years with no problems.
I think most of you are listening to rumors, and then panicking.
Do not use the braided fuel line. It does not hold up to the alcohol. But decent domestic fuel line works fine.

They have also been building vehicles to use ethanol for that long. Alcohol is corrosive in aluminum engines, however it also attracts moisture in fuel. There's a reason ethanol is blended locally and NOT at the refineries and pumped through the pipelines. it is corrosive and degrades the pipelines, the stroage tanks and the lines designed for gasoline handling.

I've got several lawnmower repair bills, a few thousand dollars worth of Marine engine repairs and a 20 year old Stihl saw that never took more than two pulls to start until I had no choice but to use e10. It now is temperamental as hell, has had the carb rebuilt twice and needs a new carb due to corrosion. The ethanol eats throught the primer bulbs and pump diaphragms in small engines. the mechanics also will tell you in hte spring, the lawnmowers will look like there is moss growing in the fuel tanks from the moisture. The primer bulb disintegrated under the pressure of my finger starting my year old weedeater, All due to ethanol. All of them also had the same white corrosion(aluminum does oxidize and ethanol is an oxidizer). Race engines that race on alcohol are usually pickled at the end of theday with gasoline or another fuel because methanol and ethanol eat the engine literally. I had a farm store in pennsylvania where i got my gas for my small engines. They used to be able to sell 100% gsoline until this summer when the Federal government forced them to sell E10. You've got to use fuel stabilier if you plan on storing anything that won't be used fairly frequently. Anyone that says they haven't had problems is either way more forgiving of poorly running engines or jsut lucky.

Mon Nov 15, 2010 6:58 pm

I retired from the automotive fuel systems manufacturing. (Mahle Filters)
Everything we used was tested, and we never found a problem with any of the materials we used. If you are having problems with your carbs, and diaphragms, It is a manufacturing problem, not an ethanol problem.

Tue Nov 16, 2010 8:45 am

I've been running this in my small engines and a couple guys here are running it in their bugs, austin healeys, etc after having similar carb issues. Good idea with the recent bill passed to raise the ethanol ratio in pump gas. FWIW

-Matt/EW

http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-fuel-guard-additive-system.html

Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:39 pm

I find this interesting - From the Eastwood ad-

''What is Phase-Separation?
Ethanol and water readily dissolve within each other. When the two reach their maximum saturation point, the water separates and is released into the fuel. The higher the ambient temperature, the sooner phase separation occurs. Phase separation can occur in as little as 30 days. Click Here to learn more about Eastwood Fuel Guard and Ethanol-blended fuel. ''

When I took my line loose from the carbs, it wasn't gas that came out, It was seperated water- and lots of it. This car had sat for only 5 months and that tank was dry when I put fuel in it last. Newer cars are most likely designed for this fuel blend, but carburators are -in most applications not.
This is interesting , as I thought it may be. I hadn't seen any talk here about the issue. Lets get this out into the light.

Thu Nov 18, 2010 9:46 am

Good article in the January 2011 Hot Rod magazine about what the acohol is doing to rubber fuel hose and the switch to the use of PTFE (Teflon) line hose because of the deterioration problem.