[cgrey8]

I just watched the Motor Trend's video about Gas vs E85 that's now on Youtube and the funny thing is, we've been talking about the pros and cons of E85 for years. They even brushed up against the discussion of AFR, and the fact that WB O2s will continue to report gasoline-centric values even though the actual AFR is quite different. I'm actually disappointed they didn't make mention of using lambda values instead of AFR values. But my guess is they didn't want to confuse and bore people when they weren't there to get a lesson on WBs, but instead were just interested in the gas-vs-E85 aspects.

Anyway, there was very little about what they discussed or their test that was a surprise to me. But at the end when they discussed pros and cons, there was one I hadn't heard before here or anywhere and that's when you convert to running E85 full time, you shouldn't attempt to use a traditional paper fuel filter and instead should be using a stainless filter. My guess is the E85 has a tendency to melt/soften/crack the glue material that holds them together.

So, that got me to wondering, is there any chance somebody makes a plug-n-play stainless fuel filter for old Fords that use the "canister" style fuel filter with the spring lock connectors?

Looking on AutoZone, they offer Duralast, Motorcraft, and Fram filters. The Duralast description indicates its filter material is IRON. While that isn't paper, I'm not sure that's better in the case of E85 due to the hygroscopic nature of E85 (a big reason it's corrosive). The other two are paper-based. They do have some performance see-thru filters either claim the filter material to be nylon or simply don't state. So what are the affordable options for people wanting to run E85?

And I guess more importantly, is it that big of a deal or is this one of those issues that's more of a theoretical possibility of failure than an actual risk? But if you are paranoid about it, then change the filter more often. Or are there actual cases of fuel filter failure from people out there running E85 on a regular basis in vehicles that didn't come from the factory as a FFV?

[SlowBox]

I have nothing to add in the way of stainless stock-style filter replacements, but fwiw I have never, ever seen any of the negative effects E85 is famous for in my personal fox. I have to drive a ways to get to the closest pump and the car is my daily so the longest it's had corn in the tank was 14 days, but the way it's discussed in horsepower circles would make you believe I'd have seen something. My fuel system is completely factory stock, save for a white box parts store pump, decapped Explorer EV-6s, and the cheapest paper fuel filter vatozone sells. My personal belief is that most of what you read and hear is simply bad tech that's been regurgitated long enough to be considered legit. If there was an E85 pump local, I would run it year round.

[cgrey8]

That's kind of my take on this as well. But I thought I'd ask the question if anybody had heard of a problem with paper filters. Just using horse-sense, I'd think if E85 was going to be problematic for paper, then they would quit making them for E10 and E15. But I've made assumptions before and didn't take the time to ask the question. So I thought I'd ask the question...

[85GT]

My 08 Crown Vic is a Flex Fuel. I would guess all of the fuel system is E85 compatible. Takes a canister type filter. If I recall right, the new one I ordered but not installed yet, looked like same ends, but maybe a little bit smaller in diameter. If I can find it in the garage, I'll take another look. When I eventually change it out, I'll cut open the old one.

[cgrey8]

I looked up that filter on AutoZone, and it is a canister style, but it's a noticeably smaller diameter than the Rangers use.

But that got me to thinking, the early 2000 era Ranger 3.0Ls were FFVs. So I looked up their filter and they use a filter that's the same size as both my Ranger's. Although they have 3 connections because they were returnless fuel systems. The "return" was built into the filter. The actual pressure regulator was in the tank, but it's just interesting to see a fuel filter with 3 connections. Anyway, the filter material for the FFV Rangers is listed as either IRON (Duralast) or Multi-fiber High Density Media (Motorcraft) which is the same material listed for the 89 Ranger's Duralast and Motorcraft filters respectively. So that answers that...stainless not required.