What have I done?!?

[avemood]

So, just after I had my 240z in the shop for routine checkup, I filled her up at the BP which used to have no-ethanol gas. After I filled up, I saw that they had switched to 10%EtOH and I called the shop to see how bad I had messed up. (I have rubber hoses). They said just run it through and it would be OK. So I did- ran throught the tank in about 2 weeks and then put in a tank of no-EtOH gas. The car sat for 3 months before cranking her again. Son (4 y.o. who loves "daddy's race car") and I revved the engine for 5 minutes and smelled gas and there was gas on the ground when we got out- a good sized smear of it on the pavement.

SO- I guess I need new hoses, right?

AND- can the alcohol mess up the rings or other things within the engine? Keep in mind, I am a naif with this kind of thing- probably not whom most of y'all would deem worthy of stewardship of HLS 10862 but I still love my car and don't want to kill her with my stupidity. I am not a mechanic and have only used the car as an occasional driver- left the maintainence to the local old Foreign Car shop. I just haven't taken her in b/c I'm afraid to drive it now!

Thanks for any input!

Avery

[gnosez]

I for one don't think one tank of ethanol laced gas is enough to eat a hole or worst to your hoses.

We only get this type of gas in our area and I have not experienced a similar reaction after hundreds of gallons of gas/ethanol usage.

Are any of your gas hoses hard? When was the last time they were replaced? Three to five years is my max time limit for just about anything rubber on any of my vehicles.

[Darrel]

sounds like floats might be stuck after sitting for 3 months.

[Gary in NJ]

It's ethanol, not acid. Disuse is more damaging then bad fuel. That and these are 40 year old cars after all, they need some attention from time to time.

[Richard McDonel]

May I expand on this thread?

Here in western Canada, ethanol is not a big thing, although it might start expanding as we now have a plant making the stuff here in Red Deer. Only a minority of stations sell it right now. I frankly know little about it, but where I do have some experience is with its mineral cousin, methanol, which we used to run in our oval-track modified racer. That stuff is corrosive. After every day's racing we we would flush out the lines, pump, and carb with gasoline, and if we didn't, evil things would begin to happen. For instance, I used the wrong foam baffle material in my fuel cell once, and the stuff turned to porridge.

So my question is, how corrosive is ethanol as compared to meth?

[sblake01]

So my question is, how corrosive is ethanol as compared to meth?

No comparison! So much so that is doesn't even belong in this discussion. Ethanol is basically made from sugar crops, like sugar cane or corn while methanol is made from fossil fuel. Ethanol can make you sick, methanol can kill you. Ethanol in not nearly as volitale or incompatible with as many things as methanol. You can't store methanol in contaiers normally used to store fuel, unless stated on the container. I could go on but basically there's no comparison between the two. Look it up, it's basic science......

P.S.: I concur with the take that the use of 10% ethanol is not the cause of the OP's problem.

Edited February 25, 2011 by sblake01

[5thhorsemann]

Don't look now, but our government is pushing for a 30% eth. STANDARD mix. Which will among other things be almost leathel to the fuel delivery system of most vehicles made before 2013, even the flex fuel models. The mechanical ability of most politicians ends with using spark plugs for fishing weights. A mechanic friend if mine recomends using lead additive to your fuel every third or fourth tank (and when in winter storage)to to combat the effects of the 10% mix. It has benifits for the combustion chambers and prevents knock. But it also coats the inside of the fuel delivery system. Only use it on cars not equipped with a cat converter, it will destroy them. I'm not sure what will happen when we go to the 60 proff stuff.

[sblake01]

Yeah, but that's not what we're talking about here......

[Racer_Z_]

Modern rubber hoses have been redesigned to work with alcohol and not be attacked by it. If the alcohol did kill your rubber hoses, they were so old that they were ready to fall apart anyway.

Before you do anything else, do some diagnostic work and find out what and where it is leaking.

If you do start replacing rubber parts, think about a carb rebuild. It has rubber seals that will need to alcohol safe as well.

Rings? Not a chance.

Valve guide seals? Maybe. But that's to big a job and expense to just guess at. You'll just have to wait until push comes to shove and you know beyond doubt that it's time for a valve job.

Paper and metal are immune to the alcohol attack. It's just the OLD rubber that was made twenty or more years ago.

[260 z]

Before you do anything....get the car off the floor, open the hood and get gas flowing from the tank to the carbs. Then LOOK and see where the gas is leaking. Post your results then we can help you better. Right now every thing is a guess.