The Drach Man
Club Member
I've run my 96 FL for 16 years now, and the previous owner for 10 years before that, and in my ownership have had to replace the nitrile gasket in the fuel gauge compartment twice, both times in the last 5 years or so. I've used Hylomar blue to beef up the seal, but it definitely failed along with the gasket, which literally fell apart. There's Hylomar in there again.....how long has E5 been around?
Well, I may have gotten the answer to the question I posed more than a month ago. I filled up with E10 this morning for a long jaunt around Derbyshire and my fuel gauge cable lead pipe is pissing fuel this evening.
Now, I may be unsure right now whether it's the Hylomar blue or the nitrile gasket which has given up the ghost (again) but I've put a spot of Hylomar in a bottle with E10 overnight to see what happens. I'll pull the fuel gauge tomorrow and see what the gasket is doing...too pissed off tonight. And the weather is shaping up good this week....
edit: I googled "does E10 affect nitrile gaskets?" and one result indicated the following:
"Suitability of Corkrubber Gaskets in Gasoline-Ethanol Blends
https://www.scientific.net/
Conclusions
For immersed specimens, a significant aggressiveness was observed with low and medium
percentages of ethanol blends......"
The article defined 'low' and 'medium' as up to E25 I think, and noted both E5 and E10 in these categories....and 'aggressiveness ' meant the gasket warped, hardened, or was otherwise fu@ked.....
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