hmmm, E-85 kicked the shit out of my gt pumps and wiring

shanezt

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had to drop the tank as i had a pump that had very high resistance (2.8m ohms) causing my master FPDM to go into thermal. got the fore hat out and was very surprised at what i found. the wiring connectors are rotting away BAD. one of the negative conntectors came apart (my high resistance), even the clamps are turning brown. the orings that hold the pumps in place are also rotting away, the outside of the pump looks really bad also. i have been on corn for about 6-7 months.

this time i will solder the wires to the pump. hope she makes longer this time, at least till i can switch to a return style.



pump.jpg




pump2.jpg
 

Bruha

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wow! can't wait to see what sleeper has go to say...
 

02reaper

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Looks to me like that short caused things to get hot, possibly caused a miniature fire. I don't see the fuel doing that.
 

shanezt

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Looks to me like that short caused things to get hot, possibly caused a miniature fire. I don't see the fuel doing that.

its corosion, there was not a fire in my tank. the wire and coating are perfect, only the damn female connector and the exposed terminals of the pumps. i soldered them this time and sealed the connection with shrink tubing, this will take car of it.
 

FORD4U

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i did some reading on e85 around two years ago, and it discouraged me to use it, yes it has a high octane rating but there are things about it that are not suited for our cars also, the alcohol in it absorbs water which is probably why you are having this corrosion issue, it will also break down certain rubbers which are often found in vehicles that are not designed to run it, when the automakers decided to run this stuff they did not just throw it in the tank and toss a emblem on the side of the car, the entire fuel system was changed to handle the characteristics of e85. I’m not scaring you away from this stuff but more like a fair warning if this pops up in the future and you are wondering why there is corrosion in the entire fuel system.
 

02reaper

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You didnt just suggest that he had a fire, in his gas tank, did you??? I think he might have noticed.

its corosion, there was not a fire in my tank. the wire and coating are perfect, only the damn female connector and the exposed terminals of the pumps. i soldered them this time and sealed the connection with shrink tubing, this will take car of it.

What do you think resistance does, hence why the fpdm went into thermal. Like a breaker in a circuit. On second thought, maybe the fuel is bad stuff. I don't know.
 
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vjay88

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i did some reading on e85 around two years ago, and it discouraged me to use it, yes it has a high octane rating but there are things about it that are not suited for our cars also, the alcohol in it absorbs water which is probably why you are having this corrosion issue, it will also break down certain rubbers which are often found in vehicles that are not designed to run it, when the automakers decided to run this stuff they did not just throw it in the tank and toss a emblem on the side of the car, the entire fuel system was changed to handle the characteristics of e85. I’m not scaring you away from this stuff but more like a fair warning if this pops up in the future and you are wondering why there is corrosion in the entire fuel system.

What happened above should not be from the fuel. Their are evo's that have been running around for 3-4 years now on E85 with the same style of connectors that go to their pumps as us and they do not look anything like the above. This was just a freak thing.
 

cobrajma

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i did some reading on e85 around two years ago, and it discouraged me to use it, yes it has a high octane rating but there are things about it that are not suited for our cars also, the alcohol in it absorbs water which is probably why you are having this corrosion issue, it will also break down certain rubbers which are often found in vehicles that are not designed to run it, when the automakers decided to run this stuff they did not just throw it in the tank and toss a emblem on the side of the car, the entire fuel system was changed to handle the characteristics of e85. I’m not scaring you away from this stuff but more like a fair warning if this pops up in the future and you are wondering why there is corrosion in the entire fuel system.

^^^THIS... e85 severely corrodes all metals and rubber not intended to run it as a primary fuel. Its absorbs an inordinate amount of water, and condenses in the tank when sitting. That corrosion WAS caused by the use of e-85. Even the "up to 10% ethanol" fuel causes the same corrosion, just not as quickly. See it all the time being in the automotive industry.
 

WS6JJP

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i work in the Auto manufacturing business i can tell you when they introduced the Flex Fuel option they did NOT change anything with the fuel system as far as special coatings or different rubber/silicone.
 

Silver03Termi

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What do you think resistance does, hence why the fpdm went into thermal. Like a breaker in a circuit. On second thought, maybe the fuel is bad stuff. I don't know.

I'm an IBEW Journeyman Electrician and in college to be an Electrical Engineer. I know how this stuff works. Its not like a breaker, its like an overload. There is a difference. This isnt a result of the fuel, its a result of either water or a bad connection. Loose connections cause arcing, pitting, heat, and could cause changes to the way the material reacts with the fuel or vise versa. Soldering the connection should fix the issue. I'm talking to a buddy of mine who is a Mechanical Engineer, he said he has something to put on the connections to insulate the connection and isn't subjective to the corrosive nature of the alcohol. I'll share that info, when he divulges all the details.
 
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Silver03Termi

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^^^THIS... e85 severely corrodes all metals and rubber not intended to run it as a primary fuel. Its absorbs an inordinate amount of water, and condenses in the tank when sitting. That corrosion WAS caused by the use of e-85. Even the "up to 10% ethanol" fuel causes the same corrosion, just not as quickly. See it all the time being in the automotive industry.

What's your back ground?

i work in the Auto manufacturing business i can tell you when they introduced the Flex Fuel option they did NOT change anything with the fuel system as far as special coatings or different rubber/silicone.

Other than an awesome new lower:rockon:, what's your back ground?
 

WS6JJP

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i work at Ford. All of the part changes are sent out through e-mails within the plant showing any engineering level changes and things like that. Im not an engineer myself, im a group leader and the area that im responsible for is right down from where they install the fuel lines, fuel tanks, etc. I would have seen any changes put in place when they introduced the flex fuel option on our vehicle that we build. Right now there arent any differences between any of the fuel related parts as far what the flex fuel option vehicles get and what the standard ones get, basically for what we are talking about they are the same parts (minus the sensors that determine what fuel the vehicle is running)
 

WS6JJP

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im not saying i know everything there but this is something i looked into because i was interested in what the certain differeces were. As i was converting my car into running e85 i thought what better place to look to see what the manufacturer is doing as far as any changes to protect parts from the extra ethanol content. Like i said, i couldnt find any differences at all.
 

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