Reply With QuoteEthenol is corrosive to bare aluminum... it also does a really good job of turning fiberglass gas tanks into jelly...Any rubber fuel lines will not last long either.
My buddy said he heard something about ethanol is causing problems with older boats. They mentioned the aluminum gas tanks and the older fuel lines. Anybody heard anything about this?
Ethenol is corrosive to bare aluminum... it also does a really good job of turning fiberglass gas tanks into jelly...
Okay, Thats great what do you do???
stainless and plenty of it!
Run e-85, or drain the fuel when you are not going to run it for a while.
Methanol is even worse.
Just drain it. Every alcohol powered car on earth does it. It is not that difficult.
Run e-85, or drain the fuel when you are not going to run it for a while.
Methanol is even worse.
Just drain it. Every alcohol powered car on earth does it. It is not that difficult.
I would not say every alky car on earth. A few car & boat owners have listened to the wise.
I have had alky in my boat since April. Never drained & all lines are clear.
Problend alky treatment.
Morg, you are right. The additives make a big difference, but even running the additives we have seen problems over time. We had a white powder appear in our lines and nozzles and could not figure out what the deal was. The maker of the brands (we tried multiple over this time period) of fuel treatment all said that it could not have been the fuel. They said that their treatment could not let it do anything. Well after trying many different additives we decided to completely drain the tank and everything after every race and that day the problem went away. Oh I almost forgot, while running the additives we also had the fuel eat through the tank. Minor problem. Now we just play it safe and have not had any more problems.
Paul
I thought I read that ethanol readily bonds with water which creates the tank gunk.
I could probably do a quick search and confirm that but I'm too damn lazy.
Good article in this months car craft about it.
Story that means nothing...... :rollside:
When I worked on an IRL crew we had a "pickle tank", little deal that held a quart of gas and had a battery and pump. After a race, we popped a quick connect fitting, hooked up the tank, and ran it until the alky was cleared out.
My Howard flattie still has the fiberglass tanks in it, I have been careful to avoid gas with ethanol in it.....
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