Should I try running E85? Or stick with unleaded.

[SnowDrifter]

That was after 450h of run-time. Equivalent to 10-12k miles of normal driving.

I think the info on cylinder wall wear tells much more of the story

 

[swathdiver]

Well here's my take Chris. Since October of last year, my truck has used 1,074 gallons of fuel. 586 gallons of that was E85. My engine still does not burn a drop of oil between changes unless I regularly spin the engine past 3,000-3,500 rpms. About 600 miles were while towing 2,500 to 6,000 pounds while burning E85.

I would think that if my rings were worn down that much from E85 that my engine would burn oil. It's usually dirty oil that contributes to rings going bad.

In October I over-filled the motor with oil a little bit and did not get to correct the mistake and then forgot about it until just now. When I get home tonight and let her cool off some, I'll check it and see if any burned off.

 

[SnowDrifter]

I'm not arguing appearance vs. performance. To be honest I'm not arguing anything LOL. Just having an intellectual discussion about the pros and cons of different fuel types.

I couldn't find anything about a difference in ring wear, just that paper on bore wear. And as it is, wear is cumulative. An uptick in wear doesn't mean worn out, only a reduced lifespan. How much, however? I couldn't tell you. Information is just that... It's... Information. What you do with it depends on your scenario.

What's appropriate to use depends entirely on your usage case. If you don't keep a vehicle long term (less than ~175k), minor variations like that are of little to no concern. If you're like me and like to keep things long term, then it's appropriate to dig into discussions like this a little more.


I was thinking about this a little more though. The main concern of high ethanol content fuels seems to revolve around moisture and its effects on surfaces it comes into contact with - anything ferrous. Makes me wonder if we'd see any stainless-type alloys should this type of fuel become the norm.

 

[swathdiver]

I'm not arguing appearance vs. performance. To be honest I'm not arguing anything LOL. Just having an intellectual discussion about the pros and cons of different fuel types.

I couldn't find anything about a difference in ring wear, just that paper on bore wear. And as it is, wear is cumulative. An uptick in wear doesn't mean worn out, only a reduced lifespan. How much, however? I couldn't tell you. Information is just that... It's... Information. What you do with it depends on your scenario.

What's appropriate to use depends entirely on your usage case. If you don't keep a vehicle long term (less than ~175k), minor variations like that are of little to no concern. If you're like me and like to keep things long term, then it's appropriate to dig into discussions like this a little more.


I was thinking about this a little more though. The main concern of high ethanol content fuels seems to revolve around moisture and its effects on surfaces it comes into contact with - anything ferrous. Makes me wonder if we'd see any stainless-type alloys should this type of fuel become the norm.

I understand and talking about it is good. I was under the impression that anything not plastic is stainless steel as in the fuel rail with regards anything that comes in contact with Fuel until it enters the combustion chambers.

 

[SnowDrifter]

You'd think, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Fuel pump is mostly plastic, but the motor has to be ferrous by principle of operation.

Filter IIRC is just a screen, but that's plastic if you have an '05+ and its built in with the fuel pump.

Fuel lines are a mix of plastic and not sure what the metal is. I've seen it rust so perhaps galvanized steel?

Rail is stainless

Injectors are iron/steel. Spring steel, plus the plunger(or whatever the technical term is) has to be magnetic so that's iron/steel. Nozzles are steel.

Head is aluminum. Valves can be made of a variety of things. Steel/nichrome/stainless/titanium. Our vehicles use solid steel - no sodium filled shenanigans there.

Valve seats - honestly I'm not sure.

Pistons are aluminum. No worries there

Rings are molybdenum coated spring steel IIRC.

Cylinder liners (or block) are iron.

 

[09 L9H]

Mine is also always in 4auto. I thought thats where it was suppossed to stay. Do you get better mileage with it off? When i hit the top button it says stabilitrack disabled. I thought i was suppossed to be driving around in that mode but i didnt wanna damage anything.

There's no mechanical harm done when you drive around in 4A. From what I understand it just keeps your front axle locked and ready to engage. I have seen about 1 mpg improvement in highway driving with it off. Also not sure what "top button" you're referring to, the only way I know to disable stabilitrak is to press and hold the TC button for 10 seconds or so.

It'll never knock on E85! Why do you not make use of the 6-speed?

It'll also never knock on 91 or 93. Honestly, when I ran 87 I never noticed a knock or even pinging. So there's that haha. Also not sure what you mean by not making use of the 6spd.

 

[swathdiver]

There's no mechanical harm done when you drive around in 4A. From what I understand it just keeps your front axle locked and ready to engage. I have seen about 1 mpg improvement in highway driving with it off. Also not sure what "top button" you're referring to, the only way I know to disable stabilitrak is to press and hold the TC button for 10 seconds or so.

It'll also never knock on 91 or 93. Honestly, when I ran 87 I never noticed a knock or even pinging. So there's that haha. Also not sure what you mean by not making use of the 6spd.

I misunderstood what you wrote. I thought 4A meant you drove around in 4th gear.

 

[09 L9H]

I misunderstood what you wrote. I thought 4A meant you drove around in 4th gear.

Lol, no. That would make me a mega idiot

 

[swathdiver]

You'd think, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Fuel pump is mostly plastic...

Let me pose this question. Does the material matter if the item is always submerged or covered in fuel?

 

[Scottydoggs]

T
It'll also never knock on 91 or 93. Honestly, when I ran 87 I never noticed a knock or even pinging. So there's that haha. Also not sure what you mean by not making use of the 6spd.

by knock we mean knock retard, you cant hear it, but your engine can suffer from it. when you get kr the pcm pulls timing, making your engine fall flat. so no knock is best. e85 has a 106 iirc octane rating or in that area. with that much you can run more timing then normal every time. (its like race fuel really) more timing, more power. to a certain point, then it becomes counterproductive.

kr is mostly a wot deal, wont see any unless your pounding on it.

when i bought my truck i saw up to 4 degrees KR while scanning it. i own a tuner so i fixed that, and still im able to run more then stock timing. i run 93 all the time.