I live in a part of New York State that gets about 200 inches of snow per year. As a result, our vehicles see a lot of road salt. Therefore, after about 8-10 years in this climate, the steel fuel lines on our cars and trucks are getting pretty crispy with rust. Eventually they start leaking and need to be replaced. Also, with fuel lines, one leak is usually followed by another about a month later, leading to endless repairs to old vehicles. Anyway, I have read that E85 capable vehicles have stainless steel fuel lines and other fuel system parts that are necessary to keep the system completely moisture free. I believe this has to do with the fact that ethanol will quickly corrode regular steel fuel lines when mixed with moisture (which is inevitable, of course). Therefore, wouldn’t E85 vehicles such as the Chevy Impala, Ford Taurus, and various full-size trucks and SUVs offer an advantage to those who live in climates such as mine, even if a drop of ethanol never runs through their fuel system?
However…isn’t a pain to replace complete fuel lines from tank to intake? On my 1993 Corolla, which started leaking fuel in 2005, I cut out a section of the line that was leaking and replaced it with rubber fuel injection hose. To replace the whole line would be a complete disaster. I supposed you could do this on a fairly new car (less than three years old) but would only be a worthwhile project if you were going to keep the car for 20 years up here. Also, power steering and brake lines will rust out too.
I agree. In fact, since the line may not rust thru in your years of ownership, or it may be made of better materials than you think, then it makes no sense to replace a line until it rusts thru, or appears to be on the edge of rusting thru.
if that makes any sense…
E85 or flex-fuel vehicles have what are called a hardend fuel systems. Because of the corrosive nature of ethanol, these fuel systems have to be made of materials that can tolerate the corrosive nature of ethanol. And one of the materials used is stainless steel fuel lines.
So the fuel lines should never fail due to rust, no matter the concentration of ethanol used.
Tester
I think he was asking if the salt would corrode the fuel lines since they were SS, instead of the lines used in normal vehicles.
Salt does not corrode stainless lines either; that’s why exhaust systems, at least up to the catalytic converter, are stainless since the EPA requires the emission system to be guaranteed for a very long time. The rest of the exhaust system is oftem carbon steel and has to fe replaced much more often.