e85 engine maintinence

[dirtracer24]

new to the foroum .looking at changing from methanol to e85. the main concern that I have and this is the reason I am getting away from meth is weekly and off season maintenance. with methanol keeping moisture out of the motor during down time was a huge issue. I have seen rust in cylinders after 2 or 3 days with out the proper attention even after firing the motor on gas momentarily to dry the cylinders. I have actually lost two engines in recent years due to rust on the cylinder walls. if the engines are not maintenance properly at the end off the race night the damage is almost inevitable and the type off racing I compete in and the amount of help I have its just not possible to get it done every night. so my question is what if anything is nesessary with e85. I have heard of some using marvel mystery oil but not how their using it foging or mixing etc. I used top lube with the meth but that is not enough. I am fully aware of the fuel system requirements my concern is the engine itself. thanks and sorry for the long post thanks in advance

[bigydaddy]

i just park mine in the winter. drive on the street and have never had any problems. the only issue is if it has not been run for 10 to 14 days the check in the accel.pump squirter tends to seize up. pushing down on the pump arms and tapping the squirters with the plastic end of a screwdriver always breaks them free. Hope this helps and have a nice xmas

[triplenickel]

I haven't seen what you're describing with the use of e85. If you're tuned properly & race every week on e85, virtually no maintenance is required. Keep an eye on your oil & change when necessary as you would on gas. As bigydaddy said, after about 2 to 3 weeks of sitting, problems will start to happen. Carb will start to get a white gel like substance inside as the ethanol evaporates. If you know you're not going to be running for awhile, just drain the carb, pump the squirters empty & spray some WD40 down the vent tubes & blow a little air down tubes to spread out the WD40 a little. Or you can run it once a week to always have fresh fuel in carb. If you will be down for an extended period, best to remove carb & bowls & blow it dry & spray it with WD40. Hope this helps.

[twistedz]

My vacuum pump pulls about a QT of water out of the oil every engine cycle unless racing

[triplenickel]

I get virtually no moisture in my catch tank from my vacuum pump, usually just a few drops after warm up & first pass. After that, almost nothing.

[windsor]

I was seeing some of the black goo (tar like deposits) in my intake manifold on E85. I tried running the Lucas fuel system cleaner and it didn't do much getting rid of it. Then I tried running two gallons of pump gas (91 octane) in with about 13 gallons of E85 and after running through a complete tank, my intake was spotless. When I tested the the 91/E85 mix it tested out at about E75 which is still more than fine for my 12.5:1 engine. I'll probably run a tank or two per year to keep the goo to a minimum. The carb always stayed pretty clean but I drive it several times a week. Some areas of the country don't seem to have a problem with this but I've tried several suppliers in the area and I always get the black goo. Just for reference, my wideband showed approximately one point richer at cruise when I added the pump gas. Good luck!