# Fuel rail deposits.. what causes them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Power/Fuel\ **Tags:** hyundai, elantra, gasoline\ **Created:** [January 24, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407 "2011-01-24T17:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernd](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bernd/32/157_2.png) [@bernd](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bernd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/1 "2011-01-24T17:37:10Z")
I found a white to yellow, chalky substance adhered to the inside of the fuel rail on my '97 Elantra. This led to the failure of the fuel injectors. I was wondering if anyone has seen this before and what causes it. Bad gas? Water in the gas? Ethanol? Aluminum oxide formation from the aluminum fuel rail itself? ---
**Author:** ![bernd](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bernd/32/157_2.png) [@bernd](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bernd)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/2 "2011-01-24T17:38:19Z")
Here is a pic of what I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/3 "2011-01-24T17:50:49Z")
The most likely thing is basically cheap gasoline - not so much for what it has in it, but for what it doesn’t have in it (adequate detergents). Have a gander at these links: [http://www.aa1car.com/library/us10325.htm](http://www.aa1car.com/library/us10325.htm) [http://www.toptiergas.com/](http://www.toptiergas.com/) I’d clean it all up and start going with Top Tier providers. ---
**Author:** ![circuitsmith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/circuitsmith/32/40376_2.png) [@circuitsmith](https://community.cartalk.com/u/circuitsmith)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/4 "2011-01-24T18:41:21Z")
Water almost surely plays a role in this, and ethanol can harbor water. ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/5 "2011-01-25T00:48:01Z")
“…ethanol attracts water.” I wouldn’t put it quite that way. Ethanol absorbs water, but it doesn’t attract it. Attraction is a force that pulls on something; like magnetism. That’s not the process here. If water happens to come in contact with ethanol, there is an excellent chance one will absorb the other. ---
**Author:** ![bernd](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bernd/32/157_2.png) [@bernd](https://community.cartalk.com/u/bernd)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/6 "2011-01-25T01:03:48Z")
Thanks, all. The first article was interesting in that I didn’t know about the scaling back on detergent formulations and mixing of grades, etc. I wound up replacing the entire rail and injector set with used ones from a junker. I get gas at a variety of stations, so I can’t single out any one place. ---
**Author:** ![Caddyman](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/caddyman/32/23_2.png) [@Caddyman](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Caddyman)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 4:22am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/7 "2011-01-25T04:22:00Z")
Aluminum is NOT the best metal for this application…14 years is a long time…Did dissimilar metals meet at that connection? The injectors all have voltage applied to them. ---
**Author:** ![ok4450](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ok4450](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ok4450)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/fuel-rail-deposits-what-causes-them/60407/8 "2011-01-25T04:47:15Z")
I’m in agreement with Caddyman about the use of aluminum on something like this. Most are steel. Moisture and aluminum has also grounded airplanes, led to costly repairs, and on occasion has even dropped one to the ground vertically; sometimes in pieces.