Mark II – Engine woes

[stevejgreen]

Re: Mark II – Engine woes

Excerpt from a document here or there discussing the commercial storage of Ethanol fuels. Informative, and suggests that a car laid up for some time might suffer from layering of the fuel. An empty tank may be better than a full one.

"Ethanol blends well with gasoline, but it also is completely miscible (mixable) in water. When water infiltrates a tank, (e.g., through sump covers and loose fittings at the top of the tank), the ethanol in the ethanol-gasoline blend will absorb the water, which, if enough is present, will overwhelm the ethanol’s ability to remain blended with the gasoline. Because it mixes easier with water than gasoline, the ethanol will be drawn from the gasoline into the water at the bottom, separating from the gasoline. The product in the tank is no longer a homogeneous blend of ethanol and gasoline, but two layers of product, a layer of gasoline on top and an ethanol layer on the bottom referred to as “phase separation.” Phase separation can be a problem for vehicles’ fuel lines and ignition system as the product is no longer an ethanol gasoline blend."

[milliemarlin]

Re: Mark II – Engine woes

Hi Andy,
“Have you put some fuel cleaner through it yet,” – Not yet but a couple of people have told me they notice a difference. I think this might be something to do once the car has been IVA’d.

Hi Jez,
“You can get injectors professionally cleaned.” – I did spot that. The best seem to do some sort of ultrasonic cleaning combined with passing some sort of solvent through them. Some companies also assess the injectors spray pattern and match them in some way. I felt that it was really something for the boy racers amongst us trying to get the absolute maximum out of the engine. I decided I would be happy with an average sort of engine. I was pretty sure they were unlikely to do much with a stuck injector – other than sell me a new one. Now that the injectors are back in the engine there’s not much that will persuade me to take ‘em out again. The last sentence is one of those I always seem to regret later.

Hi Steve,
“Storage of Ethanol fuels... An empty tank may be better” – True; but: I recon the problem with my engine was that all the fuel had evaporated either leaving behind a sticky deposit or allowing corrosion to take place. If fuel evaporates at some fixed rate, let’s say 1 litre/month, if there are 2 litres in your tank there will be double the residue in your tank. If there are 100 litres the residue will only increase by 1%. Also in practical terms it is easier to top up the tank than drain it. I seem to remember something I heard in the ‘60s about full tanks having less surface area that restricts evaporation (sceptical about that claim). From what I have read the most important thing is to run the engine occasionally to keep the fuel flowing through the injectors. This should also keep the fuel rail topped up.

I forgot to mention that one of my neighbours did own a Granada and confirmed that there was an engine light. So I think that solves the mystery of one wire, just one more to track down.
Paul

[milliemarlin]

Re: Mark II – Engine woes

Now that I think about it my explanation of fuel evaporation is flawed. Darn it! You will probably get much more evaporation from a 100litres than from 2.
Paul

[stevejgreen]

Re: Mark II – Engine woes

I came across this