Ethanol in the oil.

[Goran Malmberg]

https://youtu.be/AELXSsFHvWY
I made a short film about whether the oil in an engine is diluted by running on E85. It flourishes strong rumors that this is the case, the motors therefore tear up themself after a few mil. Sounds awful, I do not want to ruin my expensive engine that way. Time to therefore check the state of the oil after 3000 kilometers. It shows that new oil need 10 sec to flow through an orifice, my used oil needed the same 10 sec. I then diluted the oil with 25% ethanol and then the oil passed at 3 sec. As usual, the alarm is heavy over estimated.

[greenamex2]

Originally Posted by Goran Malmberg

https://youtu.be/AELXSsFHvWY
I made a short film about whether the oil in an engine is diluted by running on E85. It flourishes strong rumors that this is the case, the motors therefore tear up themself after a few mil. Sounds awful, I do not want to ruin my expensive engine that way. Time to therefore check the state of the oil after 3000 kilometers. It shows that new oil need 10 sec to flow through an orifice, my used oil needed the same 10 sec. I then diluted the oil with 25% ethanol and then the oil passed at 3 sec. As usual, the alarm is heavy over estimated.

Thanks Goran, educational even if I don't understand the language.

[Goran Malmberg]

Originally Posted by greenamex2

Thanks Goran, educational even if I don't understand the language.

The film does show the time it takes for the oil to pass the orifice, sort of showing the fact. Now the issue is more complicated than this simple test. If there is interest I may publish some more later on.

[Notso Swift]

The issue with ethanol in the oil is that (being hygroscopic) it will hold water that with race car engines (or anything else idle for extended time) will lead to pitting in the bearings from corrosion, found this one the hard way
My engine builder advised the Simple fix is to change the oil after an event not before
Road cars are not an issue if they are run to temp and not sitting

[AndrewBurreh]

Hey, would it be possible for you to add subtitles to the video? Doesn't matter if in English or Norwegian - youtube can automatically translate subtitles to other languages.

[JohnD]

Goran,
Quote your OP, "new oil need 10 sec to flow through an orifice, my used oil needed the same 10 sec."

In other words there was no effect. Purposely diluting the oil with ethanol (what a terrible use for snapps!) and finding that it is less viscous is what is predicted, and shows your engine oil isn't diluted.

You're worrying about something you need not worry about!
John