Ethanol in fuel, carbs, and vacuum hoses.

[J1000]

@J1000 has been running E85 in his 100 series for probably about 30k miles now. He would understand what to look for if there were engine issues, but he has not seen any that I am aware of.

I have read that you want to change the engine oil more frequently on E85, but that is all that I am aware of for the 106 octane corn juice. There is no change for E15 or less.

Slight correction, I've had my supercharger for 30k miles but I've been running it on E85 for over 100k miles now. All of the oil tests I've sent to Blackstone come back great. Actually better than when I first bought it. I just do normal 5000-6000 mile oil changes with full synthetic. I did add an oil catch can which fills up regularly due to extra condensation from E85, but otherwise just runs great!

 

[nuclearlemon]

I definitely failed for a bad gas cap once! That was frustrating and also a big relief that it was a very simple fix.

while it has been in the past, i had both nuclearmarshmallow and the old fj60 fail for gas caps after passing the sniffer

 

[nakman]

Hey this is the closest ethanol thread I could find... have a general question.

does ethanol-free gas run better or worse, relative to passing emissions? I need to recertify the 40 in May, and it's due for its quarterly tank of gas... so am just wondering if I should go back to Murphy's for the ethanol free? Or go get 91 at King Soopers? or does it even matter and I should start swapping spark plugs & oil, etc.

 

[Crash]

Don’t have an answer regarding how ethanol free works in the emissions arena but I would guess it would throw higher numbers at aircare Colorado. Isn’t that why ethanol is added to gas, to lower emissions? I buy 91 octane ethanol free at Pynergy Oil across from Suncor’s main office on Brighton Bl. Bart runs considerably better with it in the tank.

 

[RDub]

My recent experience with emissions on my 1987 60. It had the original Cat and passed five years ago by just adding some e85 to whatever was in the tank at the time. This time around it was a total fecal matinee, discovering the cat had gone bad and the EGR was not working properly. Dismal failures for HC, CO and NOx.

I tried the e85 trick before I found the cat and EGR weren’t functioning and it certainly helped but not enough to pass HC and NOx. In the end I replaced the Cat and got the EGR barely working, but NOx was still a bit high. Reading a bit about ethanol in gasoline I found that while it helps lower HC and CO it can actually add to NOx emissions. With my poorly functioning EGR I ended up diluting the ethanol in my gas with as much ethanol free as I could fit (about 8.5 gallons added to what was probably about e20), and disconnecting the HAC line to the distributor and retarding timing to around 5-6 degrees BTDC. Passed no problem. The new cat makes a huge difference in HC and CO.

After all those words, bottom line for me is if the emissions equipment is all working try it with whatever gas is in the tank. If HC is a little high add a little e85 and try again. Others may disagree, but this is my experience.

 

[simps80]

from what I have read ethanol feee burns cleaner in terms of emissions on older cars than ethanol gas and the opposite in newer cars with fuel injected emissions controlled vehicles

i don’t understand why but that’s what i have read

 

[nakman]

Ok, huh... so I am thinking I'll run down to Commerce city for a full tank of "Bart gas," then drive it a bit next couple of months.. by then I'll have some free space in case I need to try Ross' E85 trick.

think there's much value in doing a bunch of PM work? Or just go take the test and see how we do?

 

[RDub]

If you fail a paid test they give you a free test within 10 days. Just bring the fail paperwork and show them. It took me 7 tries to pass, but I made a lot of mistakes and misdiagnoses.

 

[Crash]

Go for it, as is, and see what if anything, needs attention.
As for buying gas at Pynergy, uh, let’s just say it’s an adventure! There is one 1950s era pump by the ladder(?!) to get into the office that needs to turned on by staff in the office. Then when you are finished, you take a picture of the pump reading you show the office person. Make sure the pump is zeroed out before pumping as it sometimes isn’t. You have to move the numbers by hand. It’s really funky but waaay cheaper than any other place that sells 91 octane ethanol free that I’m aware of.

 

[RDub]

If it’s running well I would just go try it today. Longmont seems to be a great station, they are all pulling for these cool older trucks to pass.

 

[RDub]

And they have a few grey beards working there that can actually drive a manual correctly.

 

[KC Masterpiece]

I bought some ethanol free today.....


Owch....

 

[J1000]

Hey this is the closest ethanol thread I could find... have a general question.

does ethanol-free gas run better or worse, relative to passing emissions? I need to recertify the 40 in May, and it's due for its quarterly tank of gas... so am just wondering if I should go back to Murphy's for the ethanol free? Or go get 91 at King Soopers? or does it even matter and I should start swapping spark plugs & oil, etc.

All things being equal, ethanol will lower emissions across the board. Ethanol has less CO2 and burns at a lower temperature than pure gasoline so NOx will be lower along with the rest. If there is incomplete burn then HC can be higher, though uncommon on a modern fuel injected engine.

The caveat is that ethanol has less energy density, so more fuel needs to be burned to maintain the same air-fuel ratio, on a modern engine and with only 10% blend this is no factor, but could cause a lean mixture in a carbureted engine.

A few years ago I could not pass emission in my Miata on 91 octane pump gas, but switched to E85 and passed. That car has a lot of work and turbo etc so that's an edge case but does prove the theory.

 

[simps80]

if it’s running well here then it probably has too much timing to pass assuming timing is bumped up for altitude like normal

i had to retard the timing back to book each time to pass with the 76 like back 5 degrees

there are pictures of before and after tests in that 76 thread of mine showing the difference iirc

 

[nakman]

So that was fun, always an adventure complying down here on the front range. Decided to go for the "just test it" method and forgo any type of preventative or preemptive maintenance. Went to Murphy's for 12 gallons of ethanol-free, then drove to Longmont to pick up some parts, then back down to the Dacono testing station off hwy 52, @Inukshuk recommendation.

It all started out great- not much of a wait, guy comes out first question is what color is this. 653 Olive obviously, the the ensuing discussion of is it olive brown or olive green... we agreed to disagree. He then asks that I go to bay 3 so he can perform a sniff test. Ok sweet I'm thinking, so maybe I can skip the rollers, 40 is nice and hot should be running really well.

So he wraps up that test, hops in then proceeds to drive off... 10 seconds later appears in front of bay 2 for what I can only assume will be the roller test. At least he didn't drive off with it. But then a good 10 minute meeting with 4 guys takes place, who knows what they're talking about maybe it wasn't even my truck.

They then switch drivers, and this kinda hesher looking dude with pit bull rockers drives in on the rollers for a good 5 minutes or so, at one point going pretty fast. I'm just cringing at this moment for a variety of reasons, but we got through it.

Then he pulls up, hops out, original guy waves me over and charges me the $25.50. Says congratulations, you passed, and your truck is sure fun to drive. Hands me the sheet.

At no point did they ever open the hood, or look underneath with the mirror deal. they never opened the gas door to check the gas cap. Just a sniff test, then a roller test, then a test score that looks like he had his thumb on the scale or something... look how close I was on CO for example.

But whatevs, was a great afternoon to drive around in the 40, and the sky is blue and beautiful, and I'm good for another 5 years. Renewed the plates on the way home.

 

[MountainGoat]

Glad you passed Tim. The whole thing is such a mind numbing scam.

 

[nakman]

Glad you passed Tim. The whole thing is such a mind numbing scam.

Oh get this at the DMV I had to turn in another signed affidavit that says I agree to drive fewer than 4500 miles/year... I asked the gal if there was record of the form I turned in 5 years ago, or 10 years ago... she said yes, if the last person scanned it they should have it. Sure enough they do. So I then asked does it show an odometer reading, and what was it back then? No idea- there's no record of my odometer reading at all, and really no way of knowing how many miles were driven. Ok yeah that's what I figured...

 

[IH8RUST]

There's hope, after all. Now, delete your reply so they don't realize we know they're unwise.

Oh get this at the DMV I had to turn in another signed affidavit that says I agree to drive fewer than 4500 miles/year... I asked the gal if there was record of the form I turned in 5 years ago, or 10 years ago... she said yes, if the last person scanned it they should have it. Sure enough they do. So I then asked does it show an odometer reading, and what was it back then? No idea- there's no record of my odometer reading at all, and really no way of knowing how many miles were driven. Ok yeah that's what I figured...

Please don't give them any new ideas.

 

[rover67]

Nice Tim! Similar to my emissions test except they did open the hood, then slammed it when they were done..

 

[60wag]

Maybe they retested it to get it to pass because they liked it?