Bad gas for motorcycles

MSALLA

I let my GSXR 750 sit for 2 months while my shoulder was broken. When I started it up it was only running on 2 cyclinders. Not really being able to use my arm yet, I gave it to a bike mechanic I'm friends with. #3 cyl. was not getting fuel due to the carb being corroded. When the tank was pulled there was rusted sludge in the tank. Yamaha & other mfg. posted a memo stating that the new 10% ethynol fuel is corrosive and causing problems in bikes.
Ethynol is alchol which absorbs water. Water sits in the tank, fuel lines & carbs in a damp garage and causes. major damage.

dkg999

I always run the highest octane premium fuel I can in the toys! Either 92 or 93 octane from a brand name service station. I always drain the 10% ethanol fuel in anything that is going to set for a long period. It does draw moisture when setting. Doesn't seem to be a problem as long as the vehicle is in constant use.

MSALLA

Ya. I run 93 in my bikes but they still have that 10% ethanol content. I switched to Cam 2 in my gixxer. I don't get to ride it alot so I don't burn alot of fuel. If I did, the price of the cam 2 would kill me.

bobman1235

Common misconception that higher octane = "better". Higher octane just means that it takes more pressure to cause the gas to ignite without a spark. In most engines, you never get to that compression level, so there's really no point in having a higher octane, unless you just like throwing money away. The idea that higher octane "cleans" your engine is patently ridiculous. It all burns the same, and additives are government regulated to be the same accross all octane levels.

Unless your engine is in any way severely modified, just listen to your owners manual. No matter how smart you may think you are, I promise you the engineers of your engine know more than you do about what your engine needs.

And if your engine is supposed to take 87, but is "knocking" when you put anything less than 93 in it, all you're doing is masking a real problem.

More reading.

dkg999

Most of my toys, motorcycles and ATV's are fairly high compression. The premium fuel really provides less power (I don't think I would ever notice it!) because it burns slower, more evenly, and cooler. You get more even heat transfer across the piston, cylinder, and valves, leading to longer average life of those components, in the casual non-racing environment my toys are used in. I have had much better performance and less issues using premium, YMMV. In my kids 80cc and 90cc ATV's and dirt bikes, in hot weather the premium does result in less knocking, etc.

daniel_paul_

How the hell do you drain the ethynol???

edit: I just reread. do you mean you replace and put in non ethynol gas. How would I be certain there is no ethynol?

MSALLA

daniel_paul_ wrote:

How the hell do you drain the ethynol???

edit: I just reread. do you mean you replace and put in non ethynol gas. How would I be certain there is no ethynol?

The only gas I know of with out ethynol is race gas like Cam 2. And Sunoco has a Hot Pump at some stations that is 100 octane.

PolkThug

BP 92, Shake and bake!

bobman1235

100 Octane doesn't necessarily mean 100% octane and no ethanol. It just burns with the same characteristics of 100% octane, but there may be some other chemical in it to force that behavior. Just like there's such a thing as "110 octane" (in race cars)... it obviously isn't 110% octane, it just burns 10% easier than pure octane would.

MSALLA

The sun oil hot pump, I'm pretty sure dose not contain ethynol. As far as octane gose I thought it was resistance to ignition. Thats why you use it in high compression motors, to prevent pre-ignition. You know that pinging noise you hear that dose major damage to you engine. The higher the octane the more stable the fuel is, actually making it harder to burn.

dkg999

Most of our stations here in IL have no-ethanol fuel options. In IA it's a little harder to find, however BP's ultimate premium is labelled as non-ethanol.

To drain the gas, pull the hose off the petcock and drain the tank, spray some tank protector in the empty tank. Then run the engine until the carb(s) run dry.

bobman1235

MSALLA wrote:

The sun oil hot pump, I'm pretty sure dose not contain ethynol. As far as octane gose I thought it was resistance to ignition. Thats why you use it in high compression motors, to prevent pre-ignition. You know that pinging noise you hear that dose major damage to you engine. The higher the octane the more stable the fuel is, actually making it harder to burn.

Mostly correct. They both ignite by flame/spark the same, lower octane, as you said, PRE-ignites, ie ignites spontaneously under pressure. So if you have a high compression engine, rather than the ignition happening on the spark when the engine expects it, it will happen before the spark, causing... badness, as you can imagine.

Putting 100 Octane fuel in something that's expecting 87, or even 93, can't be good, unless you're riding a modified race bike. And if your tank is rusting out, you've got something else wrong. My bike is friggin' 20 years old, and I really don't ride it that much and only drain the tank in the winter if I remember (usually I just pour some Stabil in it), and my tank isn't rusting, so I don't know what the **** you guys are doing to your bikes. I put regular gas, and have for the entire time I've had the thing.