[VijayAnand1]

They say the devil is the details..

Notwithstanding the Ethanol/Methanol dilemma for us petrolheads, christening it as Gasohol, E5, E10 and soon E20 and god forbid not E85 - which led me to ponder what exactly does this fuel transpire to the innards staring with feed system, fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel hose, the injector.

During the process of changing the fuel filter on one of my motorcycle, was piqued to delve a little deeper as to what exactly does this humble filter do in keeping the crud out of the system or the effects of E5, E10 for that matter.

Being late night of a drill this was, with the good side of me saying "why not" while the wifey side of me protesting, "why would you". For once, I decided to cut the noise, sneak in silently, get the toolbox, hacksaw and start hacksawing far from fallout..


1. Filters both OEM, before opening up the damned one.



2. After an arm pump and 15 odd mins later... I find this... Aghast was the sight!





3. Keeping aside the hacksaw. A little about this filter. This is 3000 km ONLY run fuel filter. Absolutely no performance issues, it was doing its duty as it was supposed to to the nick, until I intervened due to my untreated OCD.

If you'll look towards the bottom of the filter housing and the base of the filter where the metal plate is glued to the paper element, you will see minute talc-ish particles. Flexing my neck a little close with my tongue sticking out, I find these were not rust particles but were calcified petroleum impurities along with the petrol itself which has varnished to glory.




4. The keen eyed in you would have seen the powdery element sprinkled on my palm. This was just a preview of what was to come tapping the damned paper element.. fine premium petroleum talc..




5. One last view before bidding adieu to the silent hero who works real hard in silence so that we can make all the noise riding... Notice the remnants on my palm! These were sprinkled graciously as soon as I tap the element.. They say a lot don't they!



The prime reason for me jotting this seemingly side-swiped aspect of a fuel feed system is to help people understand that it's elements like these that do an exceptionally hard job behind to give you what it takes, when you need it.

The key takeway here for me was that with improved fuel chemistry and more older vehicles plying on the road, this prods us to take a protracted look at how modern fuel can, in a way cause sinister issues, right from bloated/softened rubber hoses, accumulating water inside the fuel tank, melting the glue off of crucial filter/pump housings and what not.
It's time to take care of our gasoline brethren, especially yesteryear ones, motorcycles or cars for that matter, so that they don't fade into time.. which my gut says with flex fuel engines on the floor, the good old ones will eventually fade into the abyss of time.

Now, after cleaning all this DIY muck, it was time to reflect..

It was a fun learning curve for me, why? The fact that this filter looked sinister was exactly what prompted me to do this late night dissection and was extremely chuffed that I did. Trust not your fuel station, but your fuel filter, because as I said in the beginning, the Devil is the Details.

I sincerely hope this helps us all petrolheads and thanks for sticking till the end.

Cheers!
VJ

[sagarpadaki]

Wow that's a nasty looking filter element! Hard to believe it is just used for 3000 kms.

I echo your thoughts. Filters - fuel, air, oil are the silent unsung heros that keep the engine running

[shankar.balan]

Thanks Vijay.
To add to your findings and your post, this is what my fuel filter looked like after having done 46700 odd kms of running and 9 years into the life of the car. The recommended interval for changing the fuel filter is 30,000 to 35,000 miles in my car’s case, so I reckon I was just about on time. It was necessitated by a sudden ‘stuttering’ which occurred and was subsequently set right after some solid troubleshooting, strong steps and change of parts.
This was in May/ June 2021. I changed the Fuel filter to a new OES Kengst and driven around 12000Kms with the new one since then. I expect that I ll probably change it again in another10000 kms.
One more element that influences the condition of the filter is the ambient dust as you can see. Fine dust will go in, especially in our Indian conditions.

[dsr001]

Thanks Vijay! And Shankar too..

[dmplog]

Wow, what an amazing thread! A true petrol head at work.
It's enlightening and heart warming in equal measure.
While I get ethanol is going to stay in our fuel mixture going forward, we need to be aware of the side-effects of it clearly. This way we can take care of our beloved vehicles!

[mayankk]

But we need a control case here, don't we? About what a fuel filter looked like with E0 (?) fuel?

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by mayankk

But we need a control case here, don't we? About what a fuel filter looked like with E0 (?) fuel?

Mayankk, good point. Let's look at this video as an factuarial example. Here, this gentlemen, in the name of science uses actual metal/rubber components with the gamut of Ethanol blends out there. And I think science itself has made it pretty clear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvS_D4_lF5U

Strongly recommend you to watch this one.

Matter of fact, as I've mentioned in my post, Ethanol though does have its teeny weeny advantages, the long aspect of it doesn't look great though.

Now, as a bonus to you, you might be interested to know what sort of fuel station I frequent to or do I mix and match fuel pumps? Absolutely not. For the most part, I stick to a single pump where I reside. The factors might vary when you're required to re-fuel elsewhere, but again, those wouldn't be statistically significant when compared to where I tank up frequently.

Cheers!
VJ

[kosjam]

While enlightening, I don't think any of the dirt you have found on your fuel filter is due to ethanol. It might be a solvent, but unless you have rusting inside your fuel tank, this sort of brown dirt caught in your filter element can only come from the petrol you have filled up, possibly, if the tank at the petrol pump was not cleaned in a while and/or tank was almost empty, causing the pump to pull the sludge that usually collects in such tanks over a period of time.

Secondly, the while talc like powder is a component of the petrol itself. It has been in petrol long before the Ethanol blending even began. In fact, it was considered to be a quick way of assessing whether the petrol you are putting in your vehicle is clean or not.

The thread is good as a standalone one discussing the internals of a dirty fuel filter, but I highly doubt it was caused by Ethanol.

[VijayAnand1]

Originally Posted by kosjam

While enlightening, I don't think any of the dirt you have found on your fuel filter is due to ethanol. It might be a solvent, but unless you have rusting inside your fuel tank, this sort of brown dirt caught in your filter element can only come from the petrol you have filled up, possibly, if the tank at the petrol pump was not cleaned in a while and/or tank was almost empty, causing the pump to pull the sludge that usually collects in such tanks over a period of time.

What you've mentioned is pretty rudimentary, since most do have the insight i.e. petrol pumps like any other do accumulate water, dust and sediments, and you will eventually find a fraction of it snaking its way to your vehicle's tank, pretty basic. Now, I just like you, wanted to delve a little deeper, as to the what ifs.

Now, you might be right.
Dirty fuel station sump? Check.
Bad fuel perhaps? Check.
Water in fuel? Check.
Bad fuel itself: Check.
Badly rusted fuel tank innards? Check.

I've never mentioned Ethanol as the sole culprit, it perhaps might be one of the catalyst acting as a sinsiter agent accelerating the issue. Mind you, I ain't no chemical engineer. But just curious!

Oh, mine's a plastic fuel tank for that matter.

Let me quote from an excellent comment I came across recently while surfing this issue..

Eric Williamson
Hey! I'm an engine design engineer that's designed fuel systems and engines from big diesels to small 2-strokes. You mentioned not having a way to measure the effect on the rubber components. The 2 biggest problems with elastomers exposed to ethanol are swell and embrittlement. You can measure swelling by measuring dimensions (or volume) before and after, or you can measure mass change (be sure to dry the sample out before weighing). For embrittlement the best way to measure is measuring durometer. Without having a durometer tester you can use a fixed load to press a dull point (like a punch) into the elastomer and measure how deep it sinks into the sample under this load.

I used to design consumer-grade 2-stroke outdoor power equipment. I'd always tell people if you use E10 the degradation of elastomers (fuel lines, carburetor diaphragms, etc...) will kill your product long before the engine dies.

Cheers!
VJ

[shankar.balan]

Jay Leno’s video of 8 years ago. I would prefer to listen to him since he is a true blue Petrol head and top drawer collector of lovely automobiles.

https://youtu.be/DL_8SkZjEPc

[rroy92]

Feels like premium petrol is the way to go for a long healthy car.

Even more so for CNG Vehicles which rarely run on petrol. Some modern CNG cars don't even use Petrol to start which will result in fuel going bad in the tank.

What would be the density of no ethanol / E10 / E20?
Would this info help identifying the fuel at a petrol pump at a glance?