Portland E85 and injector tip gunk
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Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 26
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From: Vancouver, WA
When I first got Aarons 2150s, they worked flawlessly. In fact, the night they wrecked me, they did just fine for a few pulls. It seemed out of nowhere the buildup got the best of me. If the inector completely shut off, that would have been fine, I would have been on 3 cylinders (hurah for the Subie rumble!) and it would have been a matter of cleaning the injectors.
Cylinder 4 went wayyyyyy lean (kept spraying fuel, but not enough to keep the AFR rish enough and the EGTs cool) and melted a large hole in my head and put a couple divots in my block while destroying the head gasket. Luckily, my head and block are salvageable, but by no means was a it cheap and easy fix.
Keep an eye on your injectors, guys.
Cylinder 4 went wayyyyyy lean (kept spraying fuel, but not enough to keep the AFR rish enough and the EGTs cool) and melted a large hole in my head and put a couple divots in my block while destroying the head gasket. Luckily, my head and block are salvageable, but by no means was a it cheap and easy fix.
Keep an eye on your injectors, guys.
wow, that short story gives me the creeps. I am now gonna make it a routine to check my injector tips more often. kinda of an eye opener on E85 use, good info
Last edited by EvoFredo; Dec 12, 2011 at 01:01 AM.
That sucks! Well I can say that even with the build-up in the above pic I have had the injectors out several times and have *not* seen even a little bit of build-up on them. However, on the intake manifold, directly across and downstream from the injector (right where it would be spraying) the gunk begins. Yuck.
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EvoM Guru
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From: Tri-Cities, WA // Portland, OR
here is my experience...from the beginning. I switched to e-85 and new injectors on stock turbo, then a month later upgraded the turbo and injectors again. At this time i noticed my new injectors were gunked up after only a month of use ( maybe 1000 miles max). so after i swapped in the new injectors/turbo i decided to keep an eye on them, so every few weeks i would pull them and inspect. did this 4 or 5 times within 4 months and every time they would have gunk built up in the tip. I was only filling up twice a month at most. clean tank and new fuel pump/sock. So i started filling up cans and filtering them before i filled my tank, this did nothing. Sometime while this was going on i did an EGR delete, this made a significant difference as they have been noticeably less gunked. I believe the issue is related to oil vapors entering the manifold..end of story. I am going to delete the pcv and see how that works.
This issue is also not just limited to the PNW, it has happened in other parts of the country like Colorado and Florida. If anyone remembers goad_white03 that moved to Florida not too long ago, a Evo buddy of his had a similar incident to 4thstroke's, but he lifted his head, torched the head gasket, put a groove in the head and blew apart part of his radiator.
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EvoM Guru
iTrader: (50)
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From: Tri-Cities, WA // Portland, OR
I'm thinking of trying this stuff if I start getting rough cold starts again:
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/aqs.aspx
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/aqs.aspx
Sometime while this was going on i did an EGR delete, this made a significant difference as they have been noticeably less gunked. I believe the issue is related to oil vapors entering the manifold..end of story.
I'm thinking of trying this stuff if I start getting rough cold starts again:
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/aqs.aspx
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/aqs.aspx
I'm assuming if you let your car sit for awhile as opposed to DD, E85 could separate from the gasoline and degrade. This product would be great for weekend warriors. I DD mine, but I still will get this product. Thanks mrfred!
i have came to learn something this week, that the black stuff on the tip of the feul injectors might actually be the E85 eating away at the rubber fuel lines. i was informed that the fuel lines needed to be changed in order for that not to happen when you run e85. parentally they had this issue in the Subaru community and it was fixed by replacing the rubber fuel lines with metal ones. don't know how tru this statement is but it is worth a shot!
Thread Starter
EvoM Guru
iTrader: (50)
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 9,675
Likes: 132
From: Tri-Cities, WA // Portland, OR
i have came to learn something this week, that the black stuff on the tip of the feul injectors might actually be the E85 eating away at the rubber fuel lines. i was informed that the fuel lines needed to be changed in order for that not to happen when you run e85. parentally they had this issue in the Subaru community and it was fixed by replacing the rubber fuel lines with metal ones. don't know how tru this statement is but it is worth a shot!