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Ethanol in fuel

Motodrocher

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Good article Fuck ethanol: The rant - Common Tread - RevZilla

My friend who was working in Honda service told me to use regular gas with 10% alcohol only when I'm about to use the whole tank within a week at most. It is good for road trips when you fill up every 300 km several times a day or if you commute a lot and one tank lasts you no more than a week. But when it comes to occasional riding he always tells me to use premium gas just because it has 0% ethanol even though our bike has injectors...

Trusting him in bike maintenance more than anyone I know I'm doing exactly like he advises and hope to have no problems within next 100K km with my ride.

Just an idea worth sharing I believe:)
 
The reality is that where I live, we have had pretty much no choice but to buy 10% ethanol gas. It's been that way for 15 years or so. I've had no issues with it. Even when left all winter, I add stabilizer and have no fuel related problems at all.

While I don't mean to poo-poo the article or the general concerns about 10% ethanol, I think the concerns are sometimes overrated. I think areas more recently impacted by the introduction of ethanol fuels are more alarmed than need be.
 
The reality is that where I live, we have had pretty much no choice but to buy 10% ethanol gas. It's been that way for 15 years or so. I've had no issues with it. Even when left all winter, I add stabilizer and have no fuel related problems at all.

While I don't mean to poo-poo the article or the general concerns about 10% ethanol, I think the concerns are sometimes overrated. I think areas more recently impacted by the introduction of ethanol fuels are more alarmed than need be.

I think the real problem lies with older bikes where rubber parts and fuel lines can be attacked. Plastic KTM tanks can also have a problem with it, and I think some Ducatis also have problems with it in the USA, which is subject of legal action. I think your use of a stabiliser during storage will have helped you. The suggestion is that the Ethanol can drop out of suspension in the fuel and lie in the bottom of the tank. The problems seem to arise in relation to that.
 
The problem is huge for carburetor engines and the article is mostly about the older bikes. But using premium gas with 0% ethanol for storing or when using bike once in a while will dramatically decrease gunk buildups in the tank and in fuel lines.
 
10% ethanol on modern bike no problem if not left too long without proper stabilizer. Older bikes or more than 10% different issue. 15% starting to show up in some areas and it isn't even legal to put in a motorcycle but is not always well marked. AMA is actively fighting the 15% expansion. Fuel tank issues only on older bikes, but not very old. When I was with my son on Antique Motorcycle Cannonball (Older than 1930 build date) some bikes had trouble with the carburetor fuel floats that would not work in the different density 10% ethanol in the U.S that was not sold in other countries.

There have also been many cars damaged by more that 10% when the distributor did not properly mix and higher percentage in the gas station tank. Car manufacturers and government are not in agreement on which cars will tolerate 15% ethanol. Have a problem with damage on too high a content and good luck figuring out which gas station and which tank of gas caused the problem.
 
It is a very small proportion of the population in the USA that can get ethanol-free fuel today, even when buying 'premium' gasoline. In many cases, ethanol is the method by which gasoline's octane rating is elevated up to the 87, 89, 91, or 93 octane rating it carries. In many other cases, regulations regarding reformulated or oxygenated gasoline lead to ethanol being used as the cheapest available oxygenate. In many cases where ethanol itself is not used as the octane booster, ethanol derivatives or products are the octane booster(s) in the fuel. In many cases the ethanol is there, but simply not labeled.

Regardless all that, only poor blending/formulating results in trouble for any but the oldest or poorest-condition vehicles. If the fuel companies don't try, ethanol can then cause problems. If they _do_ try, as they should and, in my opinion, are required to, ethanol does not cause problems.
 
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