1984 Lincoln 10% ethanol /gasohol safe?

[Hillbillycat]

Hi guys,

new member and owner of 1984 LTC.
I´m in Germany and we have two choices for gas:
5% and 10% Ethanol blends with the 10% being quite cheaper. Since gas is almost four times the price then over in the States it really matters

My question:
Will I ruin my newly aquired 1984 Lincoln running on E10 gas?
Owner´s manual said up to 10% gasohol is ok unless car develops running issues.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

Most of our fuels are blended with up to 10% ethanol. Shouldn’t be an issue if the car is driven regularly. If it gets parked for an extended period of time, you may want to add a fuel stabilizer.

[Arquemann]

I only really use E10/95 in my Grand Marquis, haven't found any real benefits for 98. Mine doesn't knock at all even with E10 and a disabled EGR.
Looking at your other thread, I'd say the wrong fuel isn't the issue atleast.

I'd wager the overall fuel quality is better in Europe. My car has sat for six months during winter time twice now without any fuel stabilizers and has always fired up and ran just fine afterwards.

[kishy]

+1 I run E10 (all of our fuel except the highest octane sold at a given station is E10) in my EEC-IV CFI cars and it works just fine, including sitting for months unused.

IMHO the biggest risk to the fuel system is the tank getting rusty because of the ethanol's tendency to attract water. I've now run into two examples of cars where I believe this is what happened and it wasn't pretty.

If your car happens to have a carburetor (unlikely, but if it happens to be a Canadian spec car, it very well might), you may have some bigger concerns, but even then I'm not talking about the carb itself. Small sections of the original fuel lines are made of a rubber-style material, and may or may not be ethanol-compatible. If they are not ethanol compatible, they break apart over time. This is not a concern on a fuel injected example because they use steel and nylon lines (with the exception of the tiny piece inside the tank which has the same "may or may not" caveat).

[gadget73]

I can't get anything but E10 here, have been running it in all my cars for a long time, haven't had any problems yet. The 86 sat since late 2019 with the same fuel in the tank, had a bit of a misfire when I got it out of the garage a few weeks ago but topping the tank off with fresh and just getting it fully warmed up seemed to take care of it.

[sly]

Problem areas that may arise are rubber fuel lines. The section in the fuel tank from the pump to the hanger, lines that connect to the hanger from the body, stuff near the fuel filter, and the lines under the hood. If they are all still original, they may not stand up to the ethanol and melt over time. I do know that I've never had issues with any SEFI vehicle in that regard, but that's 88+ for me (86+ for SEFI in general). Your mileage may vary.

[Hillbillycat]

Thank you. That´s a relief )
I run a stock CFI, so I should be safe re the lines.

What about adding two-stroke oil to the gas tank to prevent rust (1:500 up to 1:200)? Read it will prevent tank corrosion and carb gumming. Would it hurt on the CFI?

[Arquemann]

Having oil in the fuel in that low concentration probably won't hurt, but CFI has basically nothing to do with a carb.
If you know that the fuel tank is rusty, you should get it properly cleaned. If the car has sat for long, checking the tank condition is a smart move. Easy thing is to first check the fuel filter and how the fuel looks coming from the fuel tank.
Generally I'd say just keep the tank quite full if the car is going to sit longer than a week or two.

[Hillbillycat]

I know it ain´t no carb. That´s why I thought I´d ask BEFORE adding the oil to the fuel.

Tank condition is unknown. Car had sat 15-some years after import to Germany in the late 90s.
Good hint on the filter. Can the frame mounted metal fuel inline filter be substituted by a clear plastic inline filter? That would make inspection easier.

[Arquemann]

For now just remove the old filter and catch the fuel into a clear container to see if there's any chunks or if it's brown or cloudy.
If you want to condition the fuel tank, maybe consider something like Motul's fuel system cleaner. I doubt the 2-stroke oil will do any harm in low concentration, but it probably isn't as useful.

The factory fuel lines / filter have quick disconnect fittings that you need to remove if you want to change the filter to different type. Then you might not have enough length on the lines. The quick disconnects get crusty and break easily after many years, gently pull on the plastic clips with small pliers or so.
Atleast my new filter came with new plastic clips, so it's not the end of the world if they break.

If you change the filter, make sure the plastic ones are rated for EFI fuel pressures. Yours is an '84 so it might have a low pressure and a high pressure fuel pump or just a single pump in the tank.

[DerekTheGreat]

I've stored my Firebird (Has GM's [superior] version of CFI, TBI) for three years with E10 in the tank. It fired up and ran just as it did before then. I started with an empty tank, added Sta-bil to it and then topped it off with gas. Three years is my cut off. I've done one year with a full tank minus Sta-bil with zero issues as well. Just be good at keeping gas in the tank and start the bastard once a year, twice if you insist.

[Hillbillycat]

Cool, good to know.