10 month old E85 in my tank..

[Astatenate]

What do I need to do? Car spun bearing about 10 months ago. I had built short block made and in the process of currently installing. I can have injectors flow tested and cleaned. But what about the e85 in my tank and fuel lines? I have the DSX aux pump so idk about dropping the tank as I don’t want any leaks from where the DSX kit drills into my tank.

[silversleeper]

Originally Posted by Astatenate

What do I need to do? Car spun bearing about 10 months ago. I had built short block made and in the process of currently installing. I can have injectors flow tested and cleaned. But what about the e85 in my tank and fuel lines? I have the DSX aux pump so idk about dropping the tank as I don’t want any leaks from where the DSX kit drills into my tank.

I'd run it through as I was breaking in the new motor. One tank its a good breakin number.

[Full_Spectrum]

You really dont want to run year old E85 thru a new engine.

Id connect a fuel line from the output of the DSX pump into a fuel jug. Make a small jumper harness for the pump, and use it to empty the tank as much as possible.

Get your injectors cleaned while youre at it.

Details matter- do it right.

[JB'sZL1]

Yeah, I'd siphon it all, put 5 gallons of fuel in, run that through the jumped pump and clean the injectors as FS wrote. I've cleaned diesels that have sludge and bacteria in the system. Old E85 not only goes bad, but can also get bacteria and fungus. It's no fun chasing that out of a system. Get it out, and get it out now is my $0.02.

[SamHouseIII]

Drain as much as possible and refill tank with fresh gas.

[silversleeper]

10mo old fuel isn't all badly oxidized like being stated. It's not going to freeze up your injectors or intake valves or plug up filters. It wouldn't be ideal for tuning purposes which is why I said I'd do breakin on it then go for more of a final tune, start with a safe tune that runs, without knock, then go back for fine tuning. The older fuel won't be as volitile and will make less power but more importantly might not knock where the fresh fuel might knock at the same spark advance. So if you do a tune on it you might damage your motor after running fresh fuel if you final tuned on old gas. Running 10mo old fuel won't hurt it at all, I've had cars I didn't run for a year and ran through the gas no problem. But whatever advice you choose to follow, it is the internet.

[JB'sZL1]

Not rippin' on you Silversleeper, but let's call it accurately. He doesn't have gas in his tank, but E85. One can add stabilizers to gas to preserve, and antibacterial additives and stabilizers to fuel (diesel), but I know of no such thing for E85, which has a shelf life of 6 months, and then starts going bad. I have chased down gel and fungus in heavy trucks...not a fun thing to do and quickly gets time consuming and expensive. I would not want that sitting in my Z for any longer than the prescribed 6 months. There is also a good reason to run a full tank of gas after every two tanks of corn.

I just wouldn't play with it since it's already 10 months old.

[silversleeper]

Originally Posted by JB'sZL1

Not rippin' on you Silversleeper, but let's call it accurately. He doesn't have gas in his tank, but E85. One can add stabilizers to gas to preserve, and antibacterial additives and stabilizers to fuel (diesel), but I know of no such thing for E85, which has a shelf life of 6 months, and then starts going bad. I have chased down gel and fungus in heavy trucks...not a fun thing to do and quickly gets time consuming and expensive. I would not want that sitting in my Z for any longer than the prescribed 6 months. There is also a good reason to run a full tank of gas after every two tanks of corn.

I just wouldn't play with it since it's already 10 months old.

And gas starts going bad about 6mo too. You'll know it's bad when it smells like varnish not like gasoline.
I simply wouldn't bother taking apart things and siphoning at 10mo. Others would as you say. Up to him. If he throws a rod bearing next mo will he lose sleep he didn't change the gas. Some would. Too many variables. I have seen people catch their car on fire siphoning, or end up with a fuel leak, so risk vs reward there too. I burned my face on a leaky holley dual pumper carb back in the day. Gas leaks are something that should be repaired sooner not later was the lesson learned.
Edit: Some might be wondering how do you burn your face on a gas leak. Easy the gasket to the carb float bowel leaks, and you get a small puddle on the intake and it catches fire every week or two. You get out and simple blow out the small flame and drive on. The hood isn't on because it won't clear the high rise intake and you are too poor to buy a race hood etc. One time blowing the stubborn flame around cought the intake fuel-air on fire which does a POOF back thru the carb to your face making your eyebrows look interesting.

[Full_Spectrum]

Originally Posted by silversleeper

10mo old fuel isn't all badly oxidized like being stated. It's not going to freeze up your injectors or intake valves or plug up filters. It wouldn't be ideal for tuning purposes which is why I said I'd do breakin on it then go for more of a final tune, start with a safe tune that runs, without knock, then go back for fine tuning. The older fuel won't be as volitile and will make less power but more importantly might not knock where the fresh fuel might knock at the same spark advance. So if you do a tune on it you might damage your motor after running fresh fuel if you final tuned on old gas. Running 10mo old fuel won't hurt it at all, I've had cars I didn't run for a year and ran through the gas no problem. But whatever advice you choose to follow, it is the internet.

Sir, 10 month old E85 will indeed be really nasty and will clog filters and injectors.
Sure, you *could possibly* start and run the car, but 10 gallons is at least 120 miles of driving on E85, and that is a long way to go, and for what?

But hey- you do you.

To the OP- I would strongly suggest you remove and dispose of this fuel.
You'll want to start with fresh gasoline, clean injectors and filters. Your tuner will also need gasoline to do your initial tune, and he/she will then add E85 to tune for that.

[silversleeper]

I'll paste some info below. It has not been my experience in a sealed gas tank for fuel to go so bad in that period of time. Again believe what you want. If you've seen it it's been different than my experiences and e.g. what's described below.
Some debate isn't a bad thing as long as we talk about our experiences and good reference info. I am not calling above postings false or lies. Just don't know what conditions and lengths of times were involved. I don't disagree fuel and be a mess if left to rot. My offroad bike's carb was ruined letting fuel sit for years until it evaporated into varnish. I did add sta-bil but that was a fail.
https://eflexfuel.com/us/blog/does-e85-go-bad :
There Is No Concrete Expiration Date On E85. Does E85 Go Bad?

It can last years, or it can go bad in as little as three months. Its longevity depends on a lot of factors, including:

• The amount of moisture in the air
• Whether the fuel system is sealed

E85 Will Last Longer If Your Vehicle’s Fuel System Is Sealed

Almost all modern fuel systems are sealed. This is a good thing because:

• A sealed fuel system doesn't let any air or moisture in. Therefore there's no moisture for your E85 gas to absorb.
• Your E85 gas can't evaporate because it has no way to leave a sealed fuel system.

So if you have E85 sitting in your fuel system, chances are it's still good.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I just remembered on the way home from work I have a few sealed container bottles of 40% ethanol a few years old in my pantry. I took out one and examined it, and didn't look too polluted. I tasted it just to be sure, tastes just like it did years ago. Are you all still sure ethanol breaks down so fast?

[ariZona28]

Here's a thought. You leave your 10 month old fuel in, saving what? $75 - $100? You run your painstakingly built engine for a few days and you developed some odd problem. Was it the fuel? Tune? Parts problem? Assembly error? Remove this variable so you're not second guessing yourself once you get your ride back on the road. Fuel is cheap, anguish is emotionally expensive.

[Risingson05]

Originally Posted by ariZona28

Here's a thought. You leave your 10 month old fuel in, saving what? $75 - $100? You run your painstakingly built engine for a few days and you developed some odd problem. Was it the fuel? Tune? Parts problem? Assembly error? Remove this variable so you're not second guessing yourself once you get your ride back on the road. Fuel is cheap, anguish is emotionally expensive.

+1 - process of elimination sometimes helps out a lot when some thing goes wrong . For me peace of mind is important .


That’s some decent tequila btw lol

I too have read that ethanol shouldn’t be in your tank for more than 2-weeks any truth to this or is this just general “rule of thumb”? ..
And also what was posted few posts back - you have to cycle in a full tank of gas between using e-85? This will be my first time messing with e-85 with the z so I to would like to know .

[silversleeper]

Originally Posted by Risingson05

+1 - process of elimination sometimes helps out a lot when some thing goes wrong . For me peace of mind is important .


That’s some decent tequila btw lol

I too have read that ethanol shouldn’t be in your tank for more than 2-weeks any truth to this or is this just general “rule of thumb”? ..
And also what was posted few posts back - you have to cycle in a full tank of gas between using e-85? This will be my first time messing with e-85 with the z so I to would like to know .

Cars since the 80s have been made more resistant to ethanol in the fuel because of federal requirements to add 10% "oxygenated" fuels. I don't doubt it causes more deterioration of some things, so e.g. if my fuel pump only lasts 5 years instead of 10 I'll buy a new one. The alchol (seems like some letter missing there but that's because of the missing consumed tequila above) absorbs more water so it might cause rusting in my Injector Dynamics injectors but that seems unknown. They say on one hand they are alcohol resistant then again not depending what day of the week they wrote it. All I can say is I leave it in my tank year-round. Been running it more than 2 years no problems. And it wouldn't surprise you I don't change my oil every 3000mi either.

[Happy_Dan]

Well, just my two cents here which is all it's worth.
Some interesting discussion, but as Silversleeper notes, there are a lot of variables. So, if I am building an engine, I am trying to remove all those variables. Not KNOWING for sure, I would not even think about it. I would remove the old fuel and start clean and fresh.

Good luck.