Lucas Ethanol treatment & E85 Goo
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,729
Likes: 814
From: Portland, OR
Lucas Ethanol treatment & E85 Goo After finding a lot of black E85 goo on my injector tips after just a few months of driving, I did the goo research. Lots of opinions there for sure.
Quite a few said the Lucas product works. Rotary1307 confirmed.
Jus pulled my injectors for winter maintenance and am happy to say it works. There was a slight hint of goo on a couple, but nothing like before.
Also checked the inlet screens etc. It's nice to have a microscope.
I built a crude injector cleaner that allows me to open the injector and spray brake cleaner through it while watching the spray pattern. Works well.
Ron
Quite a few said the Lucas product works. Rotary1307 confirmed.
Jus pulled my injectors for winter maintenance and am happy to say it works. There was a slight hint of goo on a couple, but nothing like before.
Also checked the inlet screens etc. It's nice to have a microscope.
I built a crude injector cleaner that allows me to open the injector and spray brake cleaner through it while watching the spray pattern. Works well.
Ron
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,729
Likes: 814
From: Portland, OR
I never get lucky with such things.
I also noted minor corrosion in the Edelbrock fuel rails. A hint of white powder where they did machining for the injectors. There were burrs left, and prob didn't get anodized.
Little **** you notice......
I also noted minor corrosion in the Edelbrock fuel rails. A hint of white powder where they did machining for the injectors. There were burrs left, and prob didn't get anodized.
Little **** you notice......
Last edited by RonSSNova; Jan 10, 2015 at 08:16 PM.
I have only had black goo on my filters, haven't had any issues with injectors. Unless you you want to talk about junk id2000s.
I didn't have good luck with the lucas stuff. But I didn't run it consistently either.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/jg...mqgaAjMm8P8HAQ
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Strangely enough I think injector design plays a big roll... Or perhaps the tendency of the injector to leak after shutdown. All of my delphi injectors had this issue. Switched to racetronix 160's a little over a year ago and I no longer have any signs of goo.
This could also be totally unrelated and whatever the "goo" was in our local fuel supply could be gone. The stuff has been analyzed and was believed by some to be residual traces of a chemical found in old ethanol free fuel tanks at the gas stations. When these tanks were introduced to E85 without proper cleaning this "goo" found its way into our E85. It then crashes out of the mixture at the injector tips and intake.
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...4&postcount=42
This could also be totally unrelated and whatever the "goo" was in our local fuel supply could be gone. The stuff has been analyzed and was believed by some to be residual traces of a chemical found in old ethanol free fuel tanks at the gas stations. When these tanks were introduced to E85 without proper cleaning this "goo" found its way into our E85. It then crashes out of the mixture at the injector tips and intake.
Chemical Origins of the Deposits
The deposits primarily consist of "Poly Iso Butylene," or PIB, a cleaning additive in the gasoline portion of commercial E85 blends. As far as we know, the ethanol itself doesn't directly cause this type of problem with injector and valve deposits. This PIB additive was never designed for use in high ethanol concentrations.
PIB is designed to soften engine deposits, but below a certain concentration (by total fuel volume) it is actually counter-productive. What happens is that with insufficient PIB by volume, the normal valve deposits don't soften. The PIB actually combines with these normally occurring deposits and makes build up worse.
Running PIB-free E85 is basically impossible in a practical sense. GM engineers ordered special batches of PIB-free E85, but in the real world the E85 still becomes contaminated with PIB because the entire fuel refining and transport infrastructure has traces of it. Still, with this very low PIB concentration E85 deposits can still occur at similar rates.
The deposits primarily consist of "Poly Iso Butylene," or PIB, a cleaning additive in the gasoline portion of commercial E85 blends. As far as we know, the ethanol itself doesn't directly cause this type of problem with injector and valve deposits. This PIB additive was never designed for use in high ethanol concentrations.
PIB is designed to soften engine deposits, but below a certain concentration (by total fuel volume) it is actually counter-productive. What happens is that with insufficient PIB by volume, the normal valve deposits don't soften. The PIB actually combines with these normally occurring deposits and makes build up worse.
Running PIB-free E85 is basically impossible in a practical sense. GM engineers ordered special batches of PIB-free E85, but in the real world the E85 still becomes contaminated with PIB because the entire fuel refining and transport infrastructure has traces of it. Still, with this very low PIB concentration E85 deposits can still occur at similar rates.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,729
Likes: 814
From: Portland, OR
Yes, it appears to have helped. I only had a tiny bit on a few tips which was a drastic reduction.
I used it at the recommended strength.
I suppose it's possible that our fuel supply changed. But who knows. It's not a popular fuel in Oregon.
I used it at the recommended strength.
I suppose it's possible that our fuel supply changed. But who knows. It's not a popular fuel in Oregon.
It most definitely is an issue with some suppliers
I had bad issues with it. And this was brand new station, new tanks, new pumps. And all new fuel system and fresh tank on car
If I cut the pump e85 with premium to give an e50 mix all the crap vanishes.
I would get buildup in the intake runner and valve just like showed. Plug my fine post pump filter aswell
I had bad issues with it. And this was brand new station, new tanks, new pumps. And all new fuel system and fresh tank on car
If I cut the pump e85 with premium to give an e50 mix all the crap vanishes.
I would get buildup in the intake runner and valve just like showed. Plug my fine post pump filter aswell
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Joined: Jul 2014
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It most definitely is an issue with some suppliers
I had bad issues with it. And this was brand new station, new tanks, new pumps. And all new fuel system and fresh tank on car
If I cut the pump e85 with premium to give an e50 mix all the crap vanishes.
I would get buildup in the intake runner and valve just like showed. Plug my fine post pump filter aswell
I had bad issues with it. And this was brand new station, new tanks, new pumps. And all new fuel system and fresh tank on car
If I cut the pump e85 with premium to give an e50 mix all the crap vanishes.
I would get buildup in the intake runner and valve just like showed. Plug my fine post pump filter aswell
Man Ron, yeah you sure were getting some goo. Here is a picture of my heads after have been on e85 for about a year. I took out my siemens 60# injectors after the same length of time, and they looked pristine.
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 4,729
Likes: 814
From: Portland, OR
With gas so cheap now, I won't be surprised if E85 goes away.