E10 and my B31--what to do...

[John F.]

OK. E10 has now hit the mid-Bay. I have a '69 FBC w/1978 454s and the original tank. The 454s have good compression and no leaks, but the starboard needs to have the heads redone, and both motors are due for manifolds and risers.

I know a couple guys have run E10 in their stock tanks and have been fine, while others have had the "back goo" problem. It seems that the problems have been basically top end stuff--sticky valves leading to bent pushrods, residue on carbs and intake. Is that it, or have there been any bottom end problems?

I'm thinking of running as is, and if I have an E10 problem, I'll retank then and redo the top ends of the motors that need it anyway. If I don't have a problem, good...

I don't want to risk bottom end damage though. Has anybody had bottom end damage from ethanol?

Any advice or input appreciated.

[CaptPatrick]

John,

It's highly unlikely that you'd damage anything outside of the combustion chambers, valve guides, & carbs... It's all related to the disolved fiberglass getting cooked, caked, squeezed in, & coating anything that comes into contact with the goo. However, if you break rings, especially the compression rings, you would get a bit of blowby into the crank case & a very small amount of goo. Run compression tests now, make notes of the readings & re-check regularly to compare. A more frequent oil change might be wise...

Br,

Patrick

[Harv]

John,

After my port engine let go due to the black goo, my mechanic broke the engine down.
3 valves seized
2 broken pushrods
goo in the carb
goo in the intake manifold
goo in the heads
goo in the cylinders
cylinder walls had some scoring

Starboard engine was still running strong

[dougl33]

That's whats got me so confused about all this? How is it that one motor got wrecked and the other was still running strong? It's not like they were running off separate tanks.

How on earth can that be?

[Harv]

Doug,

It was probably only a matter of time if left unchecked.
First of all, the port motor was one or two years older than the starboard motor. Once the port let go, neither motor was started up again. In order to move the boat to the lift, the yard put some fresh clean gas on the boat in a drum and ran the fuel pickup to the drum.Ethanol is a solvent. Clean fresh ethanol probably has cleaned out whatever gunk may have been in the starboard motor since it had no more contaminated fuel coming in.

[John F.]

My bad...what I meant was longblock damage. If I'm running the risk of cracking rings and scoring cylinders, then I'd have to have pretty much a total rebuild done. I was hoping damage, if it happens, would be confined to the heads, carbs, intake manifolds. I wish I knew we were getting E10 here back in the fall--spring rock season is about a month away.

OK-who knows an aluminum tank builder around MD, or at least mid-Atlantic (NJ, Del, MD, VA, NC) that they'd recommend.

[Capt Dick Dean]

I have been using e10 for four yrs now. The fist thing was the complete crud from the tank to the filters at the tank. I didn't know what is was so all the filters on both engines were replaced. I opened the top of the gas tank 'cause I thought that there was more crud and I wanted to pump it out. But there wasn't any. The next filter bleed showed no water, just a little sediment. And that's where I am at today.

However I have always put a quart of Marvel Mystery oil in the crankcase and then the recomended amount in each gas fill up. I also change the oil just before the winter lay up and run it thru the engine. Last June I changed the oil to straight Mobil 1. And still add the Marval Mystery oil. The egines sound better and the oil pressuer is up a couple a pounds.

I also use 89 octane instead of 93.

I know of some boat owners who lay up for the off season with the old oil, changing at the start of the season. And use straight regular 30 weight oil.

And one Captain ran his engines at the dock @ 1000rpm for 45 min then shut them down. Did the oil get thru all the oil ports? Maybe not because the very next trip out, the port engine went down hard.