TheSamba.com :: View topic - tests.. ethanol and corrosion

Tue Oct 22, 2019 5:46 pm

This youtube video changed my mind, I am for sure looking for pure gasoline.

I get gas at a local BP station that sell 10 % . I had my carbs rebuilt this year and what the -- happened. Corrosion in carbs, hoses, pressure regulator, etc.

I believe Gulf, Sunoco are full gas. I am sure more. These tests were not for a week.

If you are running some ethanol in your gas, keeping water out of the carbs is really important.

I know there was another post about this but this is pretty damning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvS_D4_lF5U

Tue Oct 22, 2019 5:51 pm

I watched that yesterday and knew these kinds of posts were coming.

I put 90k miles on my '64 using nothing but e10 and had zero fuel related problems. Inside of the tank and carbs look brand new still.

Drive it enough to keep fresh fuel in it and it doesn't cause problems.

Tue Oct 22, 2019 6:07 pm

Fine, car your, you saw the video, your decision..

Is the guy in the video right, looks logical because that white clobs of a wax like substance was in my Holly Gas Regulator and in my Dells pump jets. Also the metal showed corrosion.

My car is not going to be rolling Ethanol experiment, so in year I can come back and say see I was right. Maybe wrong!

It is not a big deal to go to an Non Ethanol Station.

Hey, make your own decisions Not only check his video do your own research. Actully maybe you don't maybe like me you, ok I wonder how that crap got in my carbs and I have to pay big bucks toget them rebuilt.

Newer fuel injected cars, I would think no problems but Carb??

Tue Oct 22, 2019 6:18 pm

I saw that video also. How about putting a fuel shut off valve before the fuel pump, and running the carburetors dry?

Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:19 pm

I will say, I had a '66 C10 that I put a new carb on. Got it running good, but let sit for three years while doing other work to it and the carb was trashed when I got around to getting it running again. Was that ethanol's fault? Or my fault for letting it sit three years with a known-corrosive substance in the carburetor? :-k I misused it, it works great when used correctly.

People put hydrazine in cars knowing they'd have to flush the fuel system immediately... at least ethanol isn't that bad. :D

Quote: Lakes era racers who experimented with hydrazine found that a stock 90 horsepower flathead would pump out better than 300 horsepower simply by sucking this stuff through its Stromberg. These same racers also discovered Hydrazine’s major drawback for practical use. After running it through an engine, the carbs would start to cake up with a substance that resembled soap flakes. This nasty little by product was a shock sensitive explosive called the Methazodic Salt of Hydrazinium Acid, and was the result of allowing vapors from the Nitro/Hydrazine mixture to condense in a closed environment. Right, never mind this stuff will throw your crank on the ground after just a couple of runs, but if you happen to tap the carb with a wrench, it’ll blow your face off.

To add to the conversation, this is from the owner's manual of my **carbureted** 1988 Festiva. I have another owner's manual from a carbureted car (that I can't currently locate) that states that e10 is ok to use and using it won't void the warranty.

Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:44 pm

I like the fact Ford said they "should " operate correctly. I burn Shell premium in anything I own with a carb. Unless the rubber diagrams are made for ethanol, they dry out and get hard. Unless its coated with a barrier, aluminum starts corroding. Since I burn premium, I just take advantage of the situation and bump the compression for more power.

brad

Tue Oct 22, 2019 7:57 pm

Applegreen, actually not a bad Idea.

Astronaut, I know if I just let gas sit for a few months, yes it would be my fault also and that is what I do when the real winter comes to NY.

I think draining the carbs is a good idea.

Astronaut, the guy in the video did let the metal and rubber sit for a year.

So what he was showing was worst case scenario.

LIke I said not a big deal going to non ethanol station, but still have to deal with several months of sitting gas .
Draining is a good idea for the carbs and maybe something like Stable my be OK for the Tank. Running it with clean gas after the bugs hibernation is always a good idea.

Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:05 pm

I just cleaned one of my IDFs the other day. Car sat with 91 octane in the carbs until they dried out on their own. I don’t drive it much, so this happens often. Zero corrosion-related issues.

I also daily drive a stock 67. These issues don’t seem to matter much. If they are a concern, buy a filter that separates water, like Malpassi’s big glass filter. They have a metal one too that operates the same. Filter King.

I have a feeling that my local equipment rental place has pure gas. I used some once and my car drove and smelled way different (better)...

Tue Oct 22, 2019 8:27 pm

If you drive your car regularly the corrosion doesn't happen. If you let it sit for months or years it does happen. I opened up a motor that I was exclusively using pure gas on and the amount of carbon CRAP in the combustion chambers was astounding. That was the last day I had that no ethanol mentality. I jet accordingly and enjoy a car with good power, and clean burning characteristics. No dieseling. And easier fuel vaporization in the intake manifold = less heat needed on the intake. More is better but you can get away with less.

Those are just my obseevations.

-Frank

Wed Oct 23, 2019 3:42 am

I’ve found in my racecar, I get considerably better fuel mileage when running Non- Ethanol fuel. The Champcar Series that I run in has a mandatory pit stop rule every 2-Hours. When running the ethanol fuel we have to stop for fuel in about 1 hour,50 minutes or we are dangerously close to running out. With the non ethanol we still have fuel to spare at the 2-Hour mark.
The engine seems to be running better as well.

Wed Oct 23, 2019 7:30 am

If you look at that guy's testing protocols for previous testing you'll see that he doesn't have a clue. For instance, look at his "mothball for octane" video, he took about 60 mothballs and ground them up into a gallon of gas and proclaimed that the old rumor was a total myth since the lawnmower didn't run n the white slop he made. In this particular review, nowhere does he state that he did the correct mix of fuel stabilizer per gallon of fuel. If he follows how he does things I'm betting that he poured in some gas and then poured in some stabilizer. In other words, a glug of gas to a glug of stabilizer. For instance, Lucas stabilizer mixes at 1oz per gallon, what's his mixing method? It's not there. I don't trust anything from that guy.

Wed Oct 23, 2019 8:43 am

Burn whatever you want. I have 30 years experience with 10% ethanol blend and no fuel related issues so far. My intention was to use it until it caused a problem. I suspect it will start causing issues any day now.

Wed Oct 23, 2019 9:55 am

If you want. Here’s a link to check.

https://www.pure-gas.org/index.jsp?stateprov=NY

Wed Oct 23, 2019 10:25 am

the problem with corrosion isnt the ethanol itself...the problem is that ethanol will blend with water like putting in a bottle of drygas...so its all a matter of how much water is dissolved in the gas at any time...if you're lucky enough to deal with stations that dont wind up with water in their fuel, you'll probably never have a problem...in addition ethanol is a great solvent, so carb internals are "too clean" so the water can attack....old leaded gas would coat the insides and kind of add an extra barrier against corrosion but non ethanol unleaded doesnt do this...just rebuilt the carb on the generator in my 93 motorhome...it was definately corroded but not to the point of being unrebuildable and this was after 25 years of 10% ethanol and there were periods of time where that generator wasnt fired up for several years in a row...so personally as long as you drive often and put stabilizer in when parked for long periods you should be fine...attacking rubber is another story of course and using ethanol compatible stuff is a must....i've also seen stuff parked for a couple of years so completely fubar that i swear dirtbag stations are dumping some sort of toxic waste in their fuel as "filler" or just as a way to dispose of it so in the end you are just at the mercy of whatever crap they're selling you

Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:25 am

I agree, if you use the car on a regular basis there should be less problems if any.

The Rubber hoses are a given problem but a cheap fix.

We also known as Volksworld said It is not the ethanol it is the water it absorbs that is the problem. Well there have been several posts on how to keep water out of our carbs, during rain or even washing your car. Stock cars with OEM air cleaners and single stock carbs, no problem but try keeping water out of the air filters we use on our duel Dells and Webers.

Than add the gas stations that rarely drain there tanks.

This may be a totally moot point, I just went for a walk and passed 5 gas stations. All including Gulf which is listed as a pure gas station, have 10%. One of the guys at station that specializes in Classic cars said he is worried they are talking about raising the percentage??

Wed Oct 23, 2019 11:47 am

Interesting site on were you can find Pure Gas in the US and Canada.

what is interesting is the DIY test to see if the gas as Ethanol in it.

The water expands???? What does that say about Ethanol !

Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:53 pm

lots of us have no choice. I'm in TX and there isn't any ethanol free gas for hours in any direction

I do have a truck that sits for weeks (this summer it sat for a few months, AC went out). It has a weber 38/38 DGES on it, if it's easy to pull the top off I'll see what the float bowl looks like. It runs fine...

Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:54 pm

The Link for the DIY Test

https://www.pure-gas.org/about

Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:58 pm

that site is junk, Map doesn't work, and when it did it was misleading

it listed places as having pure gas, when in reality, it was cans of VP (or other) racing or aviation gas.

Wed Oct 23, 2019 6:53 pm

I put a fuel shutoff valve on all my engines and run the lines empty, or, if the tank is small enough, simply run them dry. I hate alcohol in fuel systems. Since we are damned to use them, take precautions.