Jax Snacks Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Anyone having issues with their engine performance with the E-10 ethanol blend? Ever since this (state mandated) ethanol additive, my engine knocks and sputters sometimes after re-starting, but only when the engine is hot. Overall, the engine runs strong when traveling and performs well, just the occasional re-starts that knocks a bit. The funny thing is when the gas gets low (below 1/4 tank), it seems to start up much smoother! But after every fill up, the engine will knock after the 1st or 2nd restart. I usually start and restart the engine 15 to 20 times during a day of servicing and 3 or 4 of those restarts will knock a bit. Not a serious problem right now, just annoying. Just curious if anyone else is having issues with ethanol and an older engine. Anyone familiar with STA-BIL® Ethanol Treatment from Gold Eagle? Any good? Still doing some research myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Knock sensor is going bad. Seriously, sounds like a bad sensor. Gasoline burns at a ratio of 14:1. Then the gases are recirculated to burn again. Something in your EGR system (exhaust gas recirculation) is not right, allowing gas to return at a higher combustion level than it should be. Could be an EGR valve, idle air control valve, oxygen sensor. Even a stopped up catalytic converter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Anyone having issues with their engine performance with the E-10 ethanol blend? Ever since this (state mandated) ethanol additive, my engine knocks and sputters sometimes after re-starting, but only when the engine is hot. Overall, the engine runs strong when traveling and performs well, just the occasional re-starts that knocks a bit. The funny thing is when the gas gets low (below 1/4 tank), it seems to start up much smoother! But after every fill up, the engine will knock after the 1st or 2nd restart. I usually start and restart the engine 15 to 20 times during a day of servicing and 3 or 4 of those restarts will knock a bit. Not a serious problem right now, just annoying. Just curious if anyone else is having issues with ethanol and an older engine. Anyone familiar with STA-BIL® Ethanol Treatment from Gold Eagle? Any good? Still doing some research myself. I'm not a mechanic, only know enough to get myself into trouble at times but in this case I'm pretty sure Hillbilly has it right. If the engine is sound and has no mechanical issues ethanol should have no impact other than reduced mileage. This is due to there being less energy in ethanol than gas. Ethanol can cause problems in older engines by dissolving (eating) up rubber type seals and gaskets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I sell Stabil Products but can't endorse the one you stated. The other products have Cetane in them for diesel engines and are very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEREMYTINA Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 I sell Stabil Products but can't endorse the one you stated. The other products have Cetane in them for diesel engines and are very good. In the next ten years i bet we have a major switch in the fuel used to power most of the vehicles on the road. I see it being like the switch from Regular to Unleaded gasoline, to a significantly higher ethanol based fuel. Good bye to my adored classic muscle cars....they really will be antiques when you can't drive them any more. I am also willing to bet within 5 years we see a major increase in fuel economy to the tune of cars hitting 60+ miles per gallon easily. I personally will be willing to by an electrical vehicle within a few years if the price comes down by 10 to 20 %. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Well no one garage can seem to figure out what is really wrong. But the dealer suspects a head gasket leak. This engine is on it's last leg and the ethanol is probably agrivating the situation a bit. Gonna try some stop leak products as a last resort. Time for a new vehicle this year. Thanks for the comments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.vend Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 after spending several hundred dollars last year on my van which is similar in age and miles to yours it ended up being the spark plug wires, its an easy test, just have your mechanic check them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Don't ask how I know this but........... Put an Ohms meter on each end of the wire. Should have resistance of less than 12K per 12". Anything more is a bad wire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 In the next ten years i bet we have a major switch in the fuel used to power most of the vehicles on the road. I see it being like the switch from Regular to Unleaded gasoline, to a significantly higher ethanol based fuel. Good bye to my adored classic muscle cars....they really will be antiques when you can't drive them any more. I am also willing to bet within 5 years we see a major increase in fuel economy to the tune of cars hitting 60+ miles per gallon easily. I personally will be willing to by an electrical vehicle within a few years if the price comes down by 10 to 20 %. The same thing was said when we changed to unleaded fuel goodbye to the classic muscle cars. Guess what? we figuared out that if you change the valve seals and guides in the heads they run on unleaded. And we will figare out the the next change when it comes along. So I fully expect to be driving my 70 roadrunner with 440 and three duces and my best friend expects to be driving his 57 belair with 283 power pack off into our sunsets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEREMYTINA Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 The same thing was said when we changed to unleaded fuel goodbye to the classic muscle cars. Guess what? we figuared out that if you change the valve seals and guides in the heads they run on unleaded. And we will figare out the the next change when it comes along. So I fully expect to be driving my 70 roadrunner with 440 and three duces and my best friend expects to be driving his 57 belair with 283 power pack off into our sunsets I hope so, or I'll spend my days looking at my 66 Mustang w/ 289 hi/po. I'm only 30 so I haven't really been able to just go for a lazy Sunday drive in a long time. I am hoping to be able to do so when I retire...at 50. (vending aside that is) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I hope so, or I'll spend my days looking at my 66 Mustang w/ 289 hi/po. I'm only 30 so I haven't really been able to just go for a lazy Sunday drive in a long time. I am hoping to be able to do so when I retire...at 50. (vending aside that is) 66 stang very nice. I went thru a guardrail and over an embankment once in my cousins 65 stang (he was driving). My favorite mustang has always been the 69 or 70 Mach 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEREMYTINA Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 66 stang very nice. I went thru a guardrail and over an embankment once in my cousins 65 stang (he was driving). My favorite mustang has always been the 69 or 70 Mach 1 Ouch... Cherry red, deluxe pony interior, original valves, requires 93 octane plus two bottles of octane booster and lead sustitute everytime I fill it up. Original factory air (works). 3 speed A/T. Pony wheels, I have all of the original parts that came off the car when custom items went in. Original valve covers, air cleaner, tan checkered trunk mat, original hub caps, etc. Had a 77 Firebird Forumla until about 5 years ago. Cragar wheels, all original interior, working 8-track, headers attahced to 3" glass pack mufflers that, nice Cam, all black Amerflint paintjob. You could wake the neighbors 6 blocks away when you started it up in my garage with the door closed. Used to vibrate pictures off the wall inside the house. Man I miss that car... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 Ouch... Cherry red, deluxe pony interior, original valves, requires 93 octane plus two bottles of octane booster and lead sustitute everytime I fill it up. Original factory air (works). 3 speed A/T. Pony wheels, I have all of the original parts that came off the car when custom items went in. Original valve covers, air cleaner, tan checkered trunk mat, original hub caps, etc. Had a 77 Firebird Forumla until about 5 years ago. Cragar wheels, all original interior, working 8-track, headers attahced to 3" glass pack mufflers that, nice Cam, all black Amerflint paintjob. You could wake the neighbors 6 blocks away when you started it up in my garage with the door closed. Used to vibrate pictures off the wall inside the house. Man I miss that car... A friend of mine had a 74 trans am The last year they had round headlights and no smog control. 400 cu.in. with 4 speed and a 373 rear gear. He bought it at an auction because it looked like it had been run thru a cornfield. The fender flares were torn off and the eagle on the hood was missing We rebuilt the motor slighly larger cam made the scoop operational got rid of the quadrajet and added a holley spreadbore added hearders and bent our own pipe to make it look stock. At idle it sounded like any other trans am untill you put your foot in it. Was the fastest ugliest car ive ever seen. Shifted from 3rd to 4th gear at 120 and it was still going at 140 I chickened out because I thought the car was going to come apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 working 8-track, What an amazing piece of technology. The one I had in my car would change tracks everytime I hit a bump in the road. If I didn't like the tune that was playing I only had to wait until I hit the next pothole. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snack dude Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Thats why the cars had to be big. Big iron V-8s and enough room to store all those 8-tracks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEREMYTINA Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Thats why the cars had to be big. Big iron V-8s and enough room to store all those 8-tracks My only problem was finding 8tracks that were still playable. But it was definately still cool to me. I was born when cassette tapes were popular and CD's were hitting their stride buy the time I was purchasing my own tunes. Now every car comes with an MP3 jack or built in MP3 player.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission vending Posted March 26, 2011 Share Posted March 26, 2011 Thats why the cars had to be big. Big iron V-8s and enough room to store all those 8-tracks Problem is that they didn't make a car big enough to hold the number of 8-tracks needed to fill a 120GB ipod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JEREMYTINA Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Problem is that they didn't make a car big enough to hold the number of 8-tracks needed to fill a 120GB ipod. Does anyone really need that much media on their person? Can anyone really afford to LEGALLY purchase that much music to fill that thing up? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.vend Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Anyone having issues with their engine performance with the E-10 ethanol blend? Ever since this (state mandated) ethanol additive, my engine knocks and sputters sometimes after re-starting, but only when the engine is hot. Overall, the engine runs strong when traveling and performs well, just the occasional re-starts that knocks a bit. The funny thing is when the gas gets low (below 1/4 tank), it seems to start up much smoother! But after every fill up, the engine will knock after the 1st or 2nd restart. I usually start and restart the engine 15 to 20 times during a day of servicing and 3 or 4 of those restarts will knock a bit. Not a serious problem right now, just annoying. Just curious if anyone else is having issues with ethanol and an older engine. Anyone familiar with STA-BIL® Ethanol Treatment from Gold Eagle? Any good? Still doing some research myself. So Jax did you ever figure out what is causing your problems? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillbilly Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Pfooey on an Ipod or mp3 player. Have enough crap to keep up with as it is. Give me XM radio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
will.vend Posted March 27, 2011 Share Posted March 27, 2011 Give me XM radio. if it wasnt for my xmradio I would go crazier! lots of windshield time for me! I recommend xm to anyone that travels, that and a gps! I use my gps to locate new spots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Snacks Posted March 28, 2011 Author Share Posted March 28, 2011 So Jax did you ever figure out what is causing your problems? Not exactly! No one can really say for sure what is wrong. Their standard testing yields no problems. But the engine still runs strong and has pressure and does not overheat. Seems like no one does true engine diagnostic work any more. But they all have a "theory". Based on these theories, I suspect a "minor" head gasket leak or some other type of hair line leak. Lately I had some oil get into the coolant! So we added some head gasket stop leak treatment into the radiator. Seems to be holding up OK for now. I also only use high mileage oil and stop leak treatment into the oil as well. Hopefully, all of this "liquid engineering" will work out for another 6 to 8 months. I will not put any more money into it. And buy the way, those Ford Windstars really suck! Ford discontinued all mini vans a few years ago. Mechanics tell me they are a “strange” design. But it’s amazing an American made passenger type vehicle has lasted this long. Wish I had a Honda instead. I know the commercial grade Econoline cargo vans by Ford are much better, but I don't need a big gas guzzling cargo van for what I do. Thanks for the inquiry and always willing to listen to another "theory"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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