10% Ethanol mess

[Rick_L]

A bit OT because it's not a 55-57, but this can happen to any car.

My "other" car is a 67 Nova SS that I updated a bit in the late 90s. Nice original rust free sheet metal, repainted it back then, and put a mild 350 backed by a 200-4R. It's starting to need another freshen up, needs paint (90s paint was lacquer and has aged) and interior, but it's not all that bad. I haven't driven it much over the last 2-3 years.

The last time I tried to drive it, it started and ran but ran badly. Never even got away from the house, it was a big effort just to get it back in the garage. That was a few months ago.

This week I took the carb off and took it apart. It's an Edelbrock 1405. Needle and seats were stuck closed, no fuel in the bowls at all. The floats had big black deposits on them and the bottom of the float bowls did too. Everything else was coated with an awful varnish.

I've never seen anything like this. What a mess!

Looks like it will clean up though. It's probably a better carb to have this happen to than a Holley because of the way it's made - easier to clean than Holley metering plates. I hope the rest of the fuel system is OK.

Advice to self and anyone else. Start and run these things often if they are in "storage". I guess a fuel additive like Stabil is a good idea too.

Too bad I can't buy fuel that doesn't have ethanol in it anywhere near local. Using the premixed non-ethanol fuel in my 2 stroke stuff has really helped there.

[chevynut]

Advice to self and anyone else. Start and run these things often if they are in "storage". I guess a fuel additive like Stabil is a good idea too.

Too bad I can't buy fuel that doesn't have ethanol in it anywhere near local. Using the premixed non-ethanol fuel in my 2 stroke stuff has really helped there.

I don't understand why some of you guys have so much trouble with ethanol fuel. Is it the humidity? I use it in my chainsaw, trimmer, blower, and ATVs and I don't use fuel stabilizer or drain them in the winter. I haven't had any problems at all. One of my ATVs is a 2000 and I've owned it since around 2005 or so. It starts right up after a winter of sitting. I took the carb apart over a year ago and rebuilt it....it was pretty clean inside and all I really needed was a new o-ring at the manifold to head.

[WagonCrazy]

Same dried varnish issues in my Edelbrock 1406 carb about a year ago too. Evaporation while parked for long periods of time in hot weather. The ethanol seems to be tearing up the rubber in the throttle plunger dohicky too...I've changed that out 3 times in 8 years now. (there's another name for that carb component, and it slips me at the moment what it's called).

[chevynut]

Same dried varnish issues in my Edelbrock 1406 carb about a year ago too. Evaporation while parked for long periods of time in hot weather. The ethanol seems to be tearing up the rubber in the throttle plunger dohicky too...I've changed that out 3 times in 8 years now. (there's another name for that carb component, and it slips me at the moment what it's called).

Seems to me that's Edelbrock's issue, not a fuel problem. We've had ethanol in our gas for years and they should be using compatible materials, because they DO exist. If they keep selling rubber parts that disintegrate in ethanol, I'd quit buying their parts and carbs.

[Olderthandirt]

My sons 944 Porsche has gone through three fuel pumps. He replaces it starts & runs it for about 1/2 hour lets the car sit for a couple of years, tries to start it & pump is junk. Sitting fuel just kills it. This year he drain the fuel to see if it will last.

[markm]

I replayed to this last night, were did it go.

[chevynut]

My sons 944 Porsche has gone through three fuel pumps. He replaces it starts & runs it for about 1/2 hour lets the car sit for a couple of years, tries to start it & pump is junk. Sitting fuel just kills it. This year he drain the fuel to see if it will last.

I'm not sure that has anything to do with the ethanol, but it might if he gets water in the bottom of his tank. We have at least one gas station in town that still sells 91 octane ethanol-free gas. I've seen no need for it as my cars all run great on the 10% ethanol. I have a Porsche Boxster S that sits all winter, and I've never had any fuel-related problems with it. I start it once in a while just to lube things up during the winter, and it's stored indoors.

Is stuff like Stabil works to keep the ethanol from causing problems, why doesn't everyone use it? I can't see how it could prevent the rubber from being attacked, though. To me that's a poor choice of material. I think Viton is pretty much impervious to most chemicals.

[Rick_L]

There's no doubt in my mind that the formulation for 90/10 fuel is different in your location (Colorado high plains) than the formulation in my area (gulf coast). The vapor pressure curve for both summer and winter fuel has to be very different.

But I think this makes little difference if you let this crap evaporate totally out of the fuel bowls. Maybe humidity makes a small difference, as I'm sure the average water content in the atmosphere is probably 5-10 times, maybe more, in Houston relative to Colorado. What I'm seeing is what appears to me to be something that's water related.

And this is what I did - I let it all evaporate. And I know better. I'm just commenting on the results.

I think the biggest deal besides the nasty looking deposits (which in reality may be cosmetic), was the needle/seat sticking closed.

Cnut, do you even own a car with a carb?

[chevynut]

Cnut, do you even own a car with a carb?

My 57 4-door has a carb but I've never driven it. It's a driver and a friend of mine drove it to my son's house and it's sat in his barn for years now. I plan to sell it soon. My 56 2-door sedan has a carb, but again I've never driven it. I bought it and pulled it into my garage and it's sat there for years. The other 56 is a parts car, but it supposedly runs (never tried to start it) and it has a carb. And as you know, my Nomad is EFI as well as my truck and Porsche. My CJ3B is going to probably have a 4.3 EFI Chevy V6 in it to replace the carbed 4-cylinder I pullled out of it.

I probably never will own one of those antiquated things again unless I buy or build a restored muscle car. To me they're like a vacuum tube TV...they work, but not very well. The last vehicle I owned with a carb that I actually drove for transportation was an 85 Bronco II I had in the late 80's and early 90's. They went to EFI in 86. My mower and other lawn equipment and chainsaw have carbs. I wish my ATVs were EFI but they have carbs too....I hate them, but they work okay most of the time. When I rebuilt the carb on my Big Bear 400 the needle and seat STARTED sticking closed now and then. I never had that problem before I rebuilt it. As I said I've never had any issues with anything that I could say were ethanol related...except a hangover.

[Rick_L]

Cnut, FU.