You're welcome

There's a lot of non-confidential research information available on alcohol fuels, and new stuff is coming out all the time. You just have to know where to look. MIT professors don't post on car forums.

Some of this research is fascinating and definitely relevant to what enthusiasts do in the aftermarket, or at least relevant to their tuners. Some is esoteric and not necessarily useful on a practical level for enthusiasts trying to make horsepower. You should see some of the combustion analysis being done these days.

 

As noted, I pulled my injectors after approx 1+ years of 100% E85 usage.
RC1000 injectors. Note too bad for sure. Approx the same level of PIB I had in my previous inspection. Cleaned the tips w/ 91 & re-installed

 

Like you just wiped the tips with 91? or ran it thru the whole car?



I know my car runs like crap on 93 with my e85 map.

 

You can soak the injectors in gasoline, or simply run a half tank or so of 93 through the car. You need to switch maps if you are running different fuels. There is a huge difference in timing between a 93 and E85 tune.

 

I believe Buschur recommends something like a tank of pump for every 1-2 tanks of E85.

 

I just wiped the tippys. Im not tuned for 91 either

 

Yes they are.

 

No problems here after almost a year. Going to get mine flow checked soon to see if they are internally clogged in any way.

 

Ran into a fellow EVO E85'r (novice user) who highly recommended using the Lucas Ethanol Conditioner (noted to clean injectors, correct any moisture issues etc,etc)

Anyway, bought a couple of bottles thinking I would begin the regime of using the product & keeping the injectors clean

Remembered our Gunk thread & the Guru / arghx7 who posted up noting the black gunk was PIB & that gasoline was the best defense. I PM'd him tonight & hoping he would chime-in

Ill probably return the 2 bottles tomorrow & run a 1/4 tank of 91 gas then switch back

 

^ you ever try it? I found this Seattle-based company too that makes flex-fuel/ethanol compatible injector and fuel system cleaner. I'd prolly try the Lucas first though too.. - http://www.bardahl.com/products/fuel...nj-maintenance

 

^^^ I did not. I returned it. I ended up switching over to 91 to clean the injectors as noted by the poster / arghx7

Been on 91 now for a couple of months & like it due to the availability. Ill switch back to E85 in early Feb for our first track day of the year

 

Interestingly enough I run a tank of 93 thru my car every 500 miles. I pulled the injectors at 1000 miles just to be sure they were clean. Id say they were like 95% clean. Q-tip'ing them would get them spotless. But, apparently the valves dont respond the same from 93 being sprayed.

If you run E85, your intake valves are gonna have a bad time lol.

 

^^ what causes it in the first place?

 

There was an awesomely in-depth thread on codsm about it. One guy, Thiazole on there, worked at a lab and was testing the gunk. He originally believed it was actually from the walls of the tanks that the E85 was being stored in, which some places were believed to be using their old diesel fuel tanks and were now storing E85 in them. I actually dont recall the verdict tho, I believe it was inconclusive in the end. It would happen when the E85 would cool down and the precipitate would form, almost in a crystallization process.

Others believe its from rubber hoses, which I certainly dont believe.


Here's the thread, its a long but very good read and there's a lot of concepts being tossed around down to the molecular level. So if you like science stuff, this will interest you http://www.codsm.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3965

 

I just re-read the thread. Cliff Notes is that appears to either be a gum in the E-85, or if the E-85 is being placed in old diesel tanks, its something from those tanks.

I'm pretty tempted to try out some of the fuel system cleaners rather than run a tank of gasoline.