E85 Can Mess Up Your Engine!

The rod bearings were near perfect as well.  They had a light stripe on them near the oil feed hole. The rods were covered in a light layer of rust, nothing major, it was like tarnish.

The crank had a layer of rust all over it from all the moisture in the sludge.  The acid-laden oil put a layer of light corrosion right where the oil feed passage was.  The crank was still fine, a light micro polish would clean it up perfectly.

The rings were a disaster. I have never seen such badly suck rings in any engine in my life. Not even engines that never had the oil changed.  Although E85 burns much cleaner than gas,  E85 is a pretty powerful solvent and with the engine running rich while cold, it washed down the oil from the cylinder walls and turned it into a sticky goo. The goo went into the ring grooves and stayed where the heat of combustion cooked it into a sticky carbon mess.  The compression rings were so stuck they could not be pried loose and look at how gummed up the oil rings are, the separator cannot even be seen, it’s jammed with hardened goo!