Ethanol in gas

[rainycity]

Has anybody else heard that you shouldnt put gas with ethanol in your bike (older especially I guess)
because if eats up the seals or something like that?
I`m asking because a co-worker was talking to me about it but I hadn`t heard that before.

 

[weekendrider]

Alcohol is hard on plastic's and rubber. In the '80's when it had the first go round it didn't play well with the OEM components compounds.
Fast forward to today and manufacturers have caught up. ie. cars coming from the factory E-85 ready.
Stability is still a problem the alcohol will vaporize if not contained in an air tight environment.

Do you have a choice in your area? Can you get 100% gas?

 

[rainycity]

Yes, I have a cenex station about 3 miles away. Here`s is a website that you can go to
check to see if there are any around you.
http://pure-gas.org/
It doesnt have all of them but it has a lot of them categorized by state and city.

 

[Brassneck]

I've found that fuel lines get hard/brittle faster...gaskets, etc. too. Just add it to the regular service procedure of checking things and replacing when needed.

 

[mrtwowheel]

Carburetor cleaner can be very destructive to rubber and plastic parts too. Viton o- rings are supposed to hold up to the alcohol better than the butyl ones. I remember the old carbs on cars, no plastic, no rubber. As far as gum buildup, 100% gas used to gum up just as bad, my experience. Seafoam and Stabil can keep the gum at bay, a small dose of two-stroke oil even works pretty good for the gum.

Scott

 

[rainycity]

I try and look at most of that during those times, thankd goodness they just dont happen that much.
Hey Brassneck, you ever go to that backfire moto on the third Wednesday of the month?

 

[Michaelo]

Get the 98 octane.....cannot go wrong with it...

 

[Brassneck]

Hey Brassneck, you ever go to that backfire moto on the third Wednesday of the month?

Yep, whenever I'm in town and free...went to this past month's event...great turn out, lots of bikes (300+ I'd guess) and a few XS650's. It's fun! If you decide to go this next month (Aug 17th I think), let me know!

 

[Travis]

Ethanol absorbs water when it sits and that can corrode your carburetors. It seems like more and more carburetors are getting ruined from corrosion. I don't use gas with ethanol in anything besides my car and truck. Everything else like the chainsaw, mower, weed whip, motorcycles, etc all get premium because that's the only thing around here without ethanol in it. Basically anything with a carburetor or anything that might sit for a while gets pure gas.

 

[angus67]

My corner store 1 mile away just started selling 92 non ethenol. Only my daily driver cages get ethanol because i go threw it so fast. I have a 122mile commute 6 days a week.

 

[mrtwowheel]

I've seen the badly corroded aluminum, but really, that was after years of sitting, not 2-3 months.

 

[weaselbeak]

I was around long before ethanol. Rotting fuel lines, gummed up carbs, filters, etc, were far more prevalent then than now. "Sugar coated" carb internals were common as cat shiite. Ethanol has been blamed by lazy mechanics for everything under the sun since day one. Fuel systems have been ethanol tolerant for 40 years. Almost all gasolines in Iowa have varying degrees of ethanol content, and Iowa has the lowest average cost of vehicle repair and maintenance in the entire USA. If you want to believe the detractors, fine. Explain why our roads aren't full of dead cars. No, you don't leave it sit around for 5 months in your weed eater or chainsaw. But it will run just fine in pretty much everything made.

 

[mrtwowheel]

Sounds nuts, I thought so too before I tried it.....TC-W3, yeah, smokeless 2-stroke oil, about 1-1/2 ounces for a 3 gallon tank. I've used it in my Goldwing and two CB750C's for about 3 years, every 2nd or 3rd tankful of gas. No, I'm not a chemist. I even get a slightly higher idle RPM when it's in there. The CB750 plugs read just on the lean side, just like they have since these bikes were new. I believe it's doing all kinds of good stuff including stabilizing the gas and alcohol. I've picked up my own chainsaws that have sat for 5 years or more with mix of TC-w3 and ethanol gas, start right up and run great until the tank was empty, they couldn't do that if there was water in the gas.

Carburetor gum........that was a great source of income for dealers every spring (Ha, when dealers serviced bikes), even when I was in diapers more than half a century ago.

Scott

 

[richardthemotorcycle1]

I have a 1981 XS650 Special, never had an issue with Ethanol in the gas, all the times I cleaned carbs never had any signs effecting my carbs. I do use the higher octane and also I firm believer in sea foam (great stuff).

 

[fredintoon]

Sounds nuts, I thought so too before I tried it.....TC-W3, yeah, smokeless 2-stroke oil, about 1-1/2 ounces for a 3 gallon tank. I've used it in my Goldwing and two CB750C's for about 3 years, every 2nd or 3rd tankful of gas. - - -

Hi Scott.
remember RedeX? Or was that only in the UK?
Anyway, back in the day gas station attendants would offer you a shot of RedeX (out of a fancy chrome RedeX logo'd squirt gun) at a penny a shot, one shot per gallon recommended.
RedeX was sold as an "upper cylinder lubricant" and it's believers worshipped it like it was the WD40 of it's time.
You could also use it for a "Redex tune-up" You buy a pint can of the stuff, remove your car's air filter, rev up to max and pour a thin stream of RedeX into the carb until the motor bogs down to not quite stalling. Then let the revs build up and repeat the procedure until the can is empty.
By which time the area is full of blue smoke and the neighbors all hate you but at least all the combustion products that were inside the motor have been cleaned out.
So yeah, a half-ounce of stroker oil per gallon of gas will do your bike the world of good. It's a proven technology, right?

 

[mrtwowheel]

Fred, here in the US we had Casite Tuneup, used just as you described. Casite worked great for sticky valves.

Scott

 

[angus67]

Peeps do the same with seafoam. The secret ingredient is kerosene.

 

[Travis]

I've seen the badly corroded aluminum, but really, that was after years of sitting, not 2-3 months.

Yeah that's what I was talking about. I meant anything that had the potential to sit for a very long time.