Quote:
Originally Posted by n54door
Indeed, it is a fuel that corrodes rubber (seals and lines), leaves a sticky residue, and has not been fully tested with our platform (and many other auto's), but what can be concluded about the cause/effect of 3 injectors going out at once as a result of using E85 fuel?
I would imagine many would be reporting similar incidents, but this is the first one I've seen where someone is linking injector failure to e85 fuel.
That said - I have some experience with E85 from my previous performance vehicle, and I can tell you, it is a very risky fuel to use to say the least. 
My injectors were gummed up at the injector tips from the e85 residue and carbon/oil vapors mixing and building up. They looked like solid black drops hanging off the injector tips. It eventually caused a lean condition and popped my engine. I wonder if this is the case here. |
Usually when most members on here have misfires due to bad injectors it normally starts in one cylinder and you can see timing drops in your logs. When I was running 40/50 sometimes 50/50 E85 I would log almost 3-4 times a week with 3 back to back runs. I had perfect timing, spot on boost, and fuel trims in check.
Then all of a sudden bam I had 4 bad injectors. No warning at all. No misfires starting in one cylinder then spreading. To me the common denominator was fuel.
Can it all be due to E85, I can't say for 100% but I believe they contributed to premature failure.
Also to those that say that's what the recalls are for I had these injectors replaced under recall. My SA also said that he's seen cases that when they performed the recalls they would scan the injectors stock number and according to BMW that injector was part of the good batch, only to see that injector fail 6 months later. So he said with injectors it's tough to predict if you have a good batch.
Am I condoning the use of E85? No. But I wouldn't run it as my DD fuel. I plan on using it again but only for something like a track day.