The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk ethonal

Fellow Brothers;

Just a safety note here. The lawn tractor was running rough and the problem was traced down to dry rotted fuel hose (10 years old). I replaced it with GATES barrier fuel hose (more expensive than regular fuel hose). So you might want to crawl round the truck the next time you are doing an oil change and check your fuel lines, as I did 2 weeks ago when I was getting the '55 Pontiac ready for a show, and low and behold, the line that I had replaced 10 years ago from the fuel tank to the hard line was cracked. A fire waiting to happen.

John G

John,

I just had the same expereince with my fire engine. I found by accident a flex gas line I replaced about 8 years ago all dried out and cracking.

Mike B

And how do you know this is ethanol related?

in australia they wont let you put ethanol based fuels in boats cause it plays up with fuel lines cars any different i wonder ?

ethanol doesn't cause 'dry rot' or cracking, those are age and temperature related problems [maybe limited to the "Old Dominion"? ] - if anything it will soften some older formulations of rubber, causing the inside of tubing to gum up and feed junk into the system until things plug up, but I've been using E10 for the 15+ years my 58 has been a daily driver and it hasn't affected the rubber fuel lines on it, which were old when I got it

Bill

Back in 2002, John Sawruk (Pontiac drivetrain engineer) gave a tech talk at a Pontiac national show about the effects of ethonal on rubber fuel lines and to change out your rubber fuel lines to ethonal compatible (barrier hose) as the alcohol will "attack" the rubber. I got home from the show, I checked the car, which had the lines on for 5 years, they were cracked so I changed them out. On my 55 Pontiac, it is stored in a climate controlled garage and is driven about 150 miles a year and the fuel is treated with stabilazer.

As a test, pure some E10 into a mason jar,put the top back on and after about 2-3 weeks you will see the alcohol seperate from the fuel, over a longer time you will see 3 distinct layers, fuel, alcohol and water.

John G

I'm with Bill on this, all I can get is ethanol here, and it's no trouble. It's nice not to worry about tank condensation, and gas lines freezing. In fact, I don't think I've ever had a tank of plain gas in any of my old cars.

Perhaps we've had ethanol for so long up here (and before that, added it to prevent freeze up) that our rubber is different than in the states?

The effect of ethanol on fuel lines and the need for ethanol compatible lines is when you're talking about E-85, where it's a higher concentration. When it's E-10, don't worry about it.

Don't hold your breath that the barrier hose is much better. I used the barrier hose on my pickup about two months ago. Had to pull one off to do a repair and the inside is black and gooey.

Don't fool yourself about E10 being okay for these old trucks. You've just been very fortunate if you have not had a problem.

at least if you had a fire you were in a fire truck

my two cent/experience. I've ran the same rubber lines on my 37 since about 98/99. No problem. I do make sure to check and NOT put any E-85 in the tank but other than that I have no problems and I have let the truck set for extended periods over the years.

I might add, or ask, if the fuel lines you buy are "marked" that is suppose to be "ok with E-85"??? I suspect some consumers may be buying hose, or some old stock hose, thinking they're getting the "improved stuff".... .and the parts guy don't know the difference.
Just saying........