That is a very good idea. I run an external filter in addition to the cage sock on my other car (turbo). It would no doubt be difficult to do using the hardlines so you would need to run a new braided fuel line to your rail. Wouldn't be too big a deal for the added insurance.

Yeah, I'm not educated enough on the fuel system to know what the line pressure is on the main feed line... But i assume it is the lifter pump that raises the pressure for the di side so it may not be that difficult to find a glass bodied inline filter that we could inspect regularly for signs of particulates.

This is what i plan on doing in the next few months, along with an ethanol content sensor.

For the guys having e85 start issues it's not likely related to the filter. On the Hydra we use secondary maps for e85 and there is a separate map to deal with the e85 maps during cold start. On the oem ecu you guys probably have only one map for cranking enrichment and you just need to add more.

Also turn the ignition on and wait about 3 seconds before cranking to pressurize the fuel rail again. If you have changed your fuel pump you may not have sealed the pump properly and your fuel system is not holding line pressure.

When my car was oem there were times even on pump fuel it wouldn't start first crank so, key on, wait 3, crank.

As for the fuel filter failure I really don't see this being related to E85 as it's really no worse as a solvent than pump fuel and I would bet additives in race fuel are worse. Typically the reason e85 is more corrosive is because it absorbs more water and it has a wicking or drying effect on some rubbers. The rubber issue is low concern as the oem rubber lines etc. on Japanese cars have proven up to the task over very long periods of use on the Suby and Mitsu crowd.

Yea I wasn't too concerned about the filter, just curious what the startup cause could be. Like people have said, it could just be the switch to summer blend.. higher E85 content in the fuel plus all that stuff about fuel pressure/vapor/cranking enrichment, I'm sure that's a contributing factor.

The fuel filter degradation sounds like an isolated incident on a specific tracked car in very specific conditions. My car runs better than ever on E85 so no way I'm shying away from it now. :D

The crickets are caused by a washer exposed to high pressure with too much tolerance. The most likely cause is heat. Mazda had some recalls recently due to HPFP overheating from seasonal variations in fuel.

I had my doubts that ethanol might be to blame but people running pure Gas have seen crickets come back. Crickets usually happen after the engine is warmed up and especially during idle, that marks ethanol off the list since it would chirp all the time if that were the cause.

I can tell you that cars have been required by law to run E10 since 1985. There's very little risk that Ethanol corrosion is the issue unless you want to call Subaru's engineering skill into question. Occasionally there have been issues with individual companies using out of spec parts but they're rare. Most likely the issues are gremlins from production such as the HPFP overheating.

e10 is not e85. You may be right. Or not. I have no idea and you don't either lol.

The increased risk of corrosion between E85 and E10 is minimal though. Modern RF Gasoline is already very corrosive due to aromatics. And new fuel systems are pretty durable in regards to Ethanol resistance. Because if something is not, it will fail, doesn't matter if it's E10 or E98.

My point is just that everything at this point is speculation. It may be educated speculation, and there are smart arguments to be made on both sides, but it's speculation none the less. Nobody knows for sure, yet.

Filters
Since alcohol-based fuels tend to carry more water than gasoline, the filters can't be water-soluble. Paper is more sensitive to exposure to water than other materials, so they should be avoided unless the manufacturer states it is alcohol friendly. Most of the top-shelf filters use a metal or plastic screen to catch debris. Another issue with the filters can be the O-ring style fittings. Some O-rings not designed to work with alcohol will dry out.

Read more: http://www.popularhotrodding.com/tec...#ixzz2YcIUgrDw

Our cars have paper filters and the photos of the failed fuel filter in this thread are proof. People have been using ethanol way before these cars so no this is not a game of speculation, there are countless examples of this if you would just take the time to look. Yes we have paper filters and it would also be safe to assume that any o-rings in the fuel system are not designed to work with alcohol based fuels and will eventually dry out and leak. You may be fine for awhile but I know that I would love to run e85 in my FR-S but i would only do so if i made the proper modifications to avoid creating a big problem down the road leaving me with my nice brand new car out of commission.

They're in the business of selling E85 conversion kits. I doubt they'd make the argument that it wasn't safe.

Agreed especially since there isn't another person with this issue.

John

I don't care about who's right and wrong here. But what you used before E85 could very well explain why you had filter degradation while other people running E85 for thousands of miles aren't having this problem.

All it would take is some Toulene to eat through a paper filter.

You can believe a bunch of grease monkeys using conventional wisdom. Or you can believe chemists who know what they're doing. :iono:
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bumping this tread from the dead, is there anymore info from regarding the filter now?

Yes please. Can anyone comment on the possible long term detriments of running E85? I'm about to order a OFT and would like to know.

Check this thread from a few months ago: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64621