tom_kauf wrote:alexeiwoody wrote:Any updates on stock block subarus lasting more than 12 months on e85?
Especially curious to see ones over 150,000kms?
Nope, cynner posted the question but you can see no one replied. I haven't heard of any stock engines blowing headgaskets on E85. Maybe those like me with stock engines will be alright then. And anyway, there's never any way of saying it was the E85. The numbers are still pretty low (too low compared to the number of people running E85, to make a definitive correlation)....for me anyway.
My theory is:
if it breaks, it needed fixing anyway 
. Good opportunity to make it stronger.
There is a strong chance noone replied because there isn't anyone in that criteria on this forum
This very moment there are 2 stock block libs getting rebuilds after running e85 for 12 months or less. You don't see them posting publicly, and it's understandable that newer members will draw the conclusion that there is no issue. One of them had a brand new block and wasn't pushing crazy power. The other car had less kms on it than yours.
Why do we suspect it's e85? Because e85 gives you such a boost of torque.
What is the first thing to go in an oem ej255 once you have too much torque? The headbolts and as a result the gaskets.
Is it a major failure? Although the repair bill is high, it only takes a very small amount of movement (fraction of a mm) by the bolt to let the gas past the gasket. Most of the time, you won't notice any difference in performance, until it's been happening for a few months (depending on how you drive it could be 12 months) and the gasket gets completely worn.
Were either of these 2 libs running aftermarket studs? No.
Do cars with stronger studs last longer on e85? Yes.
Why? Because a stronger/more rigid stud design made of better alloy has a higher clamping force and can withstand higher pressures from within the chamber.
The basic science is pretty straight forward and as for real life evidence - we have very few members running e85 with turbos. 80% of them have a rebuilt engine. 10% currently getting a rebuild. 10% haven't ran e85 for more than a year. It's a similar story on rexnet, in case you missed bass_straightener's post. I'm happy to pm you where to look
Tom, I usually follow the same logic with my car - if it breaks then it must've been on it's way out. There is, however, a difference between a component breaking while doing a job it was designed for and it breaking when you run 150% load through what was only ever made to last at 90%.
At the end of the day, it's your car and to quote the H twins "you can do, whatever the FFFFFFuck you want to do!"
