When E85 Sucks!

Don't get us wrong, we love E85, but there's certain conditions when E85 can wreck your engine!

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[MinusPerformanceSvc]

Been running E85 in a 4G63 for 12 years plus. I cycle between periods of 91 & E85. The reason for the high carbon deposits on a E85 motor is that E85 is lacking, in percentage, the PIB cleaning solution found in regular high octane gas (PIB = Polyisobutylene). Injector gunk is very common on E85 run motors due to the low percentage of PIB. Learned this from a petroleum engineer.

[hollywoodquiet]

Mike is the only person I've seen talk about his blown engine with a smile. If I ever get some sort of terminal disease or cancer, I would like Mike to break the news to me. And if at all possible, read me a bed time story about bearing tolerances.

[Rickgrott]

I am a lifetime race engine builder for 45+ years. What this man is saying is all true. I see a lot of cylinder wall wash etc. E- fuels are great for HP.
But like everything good comes with a price to be paid. GREAT VIDEO !!!

[InsertPandaHeree]

The way you explain things, slowly, precisely makes it easier to understand, atleast for me.

[joshuafarwell]

As a full time e85 user for 5 years in all my vehicles i pretty much conclude the opposite. It dissolves carbon deposits, cleans fuel injectors, and alcohol does not magically turn into gunk; its a liquid or a gas. The injectors being clogged is from the alcohol cleaning out your fuel filter and those debris ending up getting stuck in the fuel injectors. The solution is to change and upgrade to a better fuel filter suitable for e85.
Ethanol doesnt do any damage at all to the metals in your engine unless youre running your engine rich all the time. I run my engines at 1.1 lambda during normal driving conditions so im getting a similar amount of liquid fuel per air as it'd be getting on gas to avoid washing lubricant off the cylinder walls.
If you dont warm up your car to 190°f youre treating your engine like shit whether youre running gas or alcohol. Alcohol is the superior fuel in all ways aside from cold starts and needing to refuel more often.

[worthamsgarage]

Thank you for making this video, I feel like this is something that really doesn’t get talked about with e85

[eficalibrator]

1) Laminar flame speed of ethanol is FASTER than gasoline. This is why OEM flex fuel calibrations run LESS timing at part throttle with ethanol than gasoline.
2) If you do a ton of cold starts without warming the engine up, you will make sludge regardless of fuel type. Running a colder thermostat makes this worse. The engine NEEDS to get up to normal operating temp and stay there to keep the oil healthy.
3) His assertion that "ethanol does not burn clean" is tied to samples that were run under enrichment more (race engine). Of course you'll have more carbon deposits at lambda=0.8 than at lambda=1.0.
4) "Detonation" (he means knock) from crevice volume of fuel is largely tied to over-fueling. Check the toon.

Properly done, E85 is not that bad. He is correct that "short hop driving" is bad, but that goes for any fuel.

[HILLBILLY_HARD]

My uncle bought a 96 dodge Dakota brand new. Changed his oil religiously every 3k miles. He only drove a few miles to work and home every day. I took his valve covers off after around 100k and his engine was pretty sludged up! He was very surprised but I explained to him that the short trips don’t evaporate the moisture out of his oil and that causes buildup. I think that truck is still running but definitely had some sludge issues. Short trip driving is the worst no matter what fuel you use!

[Ridesharemoney]

I’ve been running E85 on my Chevy Impala for the past six years. I never switched to gasoline and never add additives, but I do drive it about 40 miles a day that keeps everything running smoothly. The short daily 1-3 mile drive drives kills engines.

[wythetrumpet]

As a user of E85 in a high performance street car, I found your video very helpful and informative! Many Thanks! 👍

[RichLion]

Thanks for this video! That's horrible and is an E85 nightmare.

My E85 rules:

- Don't let it sit for long periods.
- Do oil more frequent oil changes.
- Don't do lots of short journeys, cold starts will also contaminate the oil way faster.
- Do longer trips to let oil come up to temperature and evaporate any water contamination.
- Use flex sensor if possible and run some 93/98 petrol through from time to time.
- Use a decent Ethanol stabilizer/additive to help protect against corrosion.

[chuckzamzow]

Had a flex fuel vehicle and I always put 91 in after 2nd to 4th tank and changed the oil at 2, 500 miles. I didn't do alot of short trips with but kept on top of the issues discussed.

[alexhise]

We typically drain the oil and fuel after a race. Fuel goes in a steel barrel and we swap gasoline back in and the oil goes into a modified water heater. It cooks the oil for 4hrs at 240f before shut off. Then ready for next race day. Obviously not much in common with street cars. A dual fuel system based on temperature would probably work best

[LilB]

I have a 2013 impala, I rarely run E85 in it, but I do drive city all the time, so it’s definitely going to cause more frequent oil changes. I was happy to see on my most recent oil change, my oil life meter was at 0% with 1800 miles left to go according to the oil change sticker which was set at 5000 miles. I run mobile one synthetic 5W30 but I always change mine at around 3000 miles due to my frequent short trips around town. Normally my oil life monitoring system seems to run me to about 5K before indicating a need for an oil change. This time it was around 3K at 0% life left. I guess the oil life monitoring systems are coming along because when these first came out, it would run people to 10k at times or more before indicating the need to change the oil. Thank you for this amazing video, and for sharing your knowledge with the world!

[Turboactive]

Coming up on 100, 000 of using E85 in my LX470. Flex fuel is the way to go. I have a catch can and it definitely fills with water quickly.

[sodazman]

For my Evo, I only use E85 during track days and go straight back to 98 after that, otherwise it fouls spark plugs, injectors and even rusts the exhaust. The condensation issue with E85 can't really be fixed unless you use it up regularly and drive decent distances weekly, it needs heat to boil away the condensation. C16 race fuel is the best I've used - clean and zero detonation, but E85 is much cheaper.

[woods]

E85 will absolutely do everything said here and more. Including stripping oil from valve stems, drying out valve stem seals and oil leaching into the engine at idle. It happened to me in my F150 5.0L over one winter.

[stevebarnette]

Awesome and hard lesson learned. Very informative to see the engine internals and diagnosis what happened. I love having E85/Flex Fuel in my turbocharged S2K but will be more careful and aware after seeing this video. Thanks for everything, guys!

[alexfreund]

Wow, the deposits on the pistons were surprising and the oil ring even more so! This is very valuable information living in the midwest with cheap and plentiful flex fuel options, thanks!

[pierrepotvin]

Thank you for all the useful and priceless information. I've been a commercial driver for thirty years. The current transportation company I work for, and the two previous companies are in the livery business (Transporting people). All three have a number of flex fuel vehicles that can burn E85 fuel or regular gasoline. At the insistence of the owners and their mechanics, we, the drivers, filled the fuel tanks with 87 octane gasoline exclusively. No problems. I am about to purchase a nice, mint condition, used minivan that has the flex fuel system that can burn either E85 or regular gasoline. I will fill the tank with 87 octane ONLY. Also, the oil and filter will be changed frequently. Thank you very much. I have great respect for your knowledge and how you explain things.