The shape of fuel things to come?

[tricky]

No problem Kev.
There's quite a lot I think I understand about ethanol and its effects....however from my point of view I have absolutely no problem with running E10 once the tuning is tweaked to suit (Obviously rubber fuel lines and the like should be of an age post 2002 if possible).

My personal concern is long term storage of E10 due to the ethanol absorbing water from the atmosphere via the air vents...apparently once the water content is greater than 5%, then the water content doesn't remain in suspension anymore (its the water and oxygen in the fuel that then cause the corrosion of soft metals btw), hence me having a 'control sample' sitting on my shelf in a jar. In summary until I understand how long it can take to separate which clearly at the moment is months, I'll make sure I winterise the bike on E5 or better.
Belt and braces would be Aspen fuel, but that's £40 a gallon!
Apologies for boring you all.

 

[kevscrivener]

You have nothing to apologise for mate.

I for one am grateful that we have people such as you within our ranks who are prepared to use their skills and share their knowledge to the benefit of those less educated and experienced.

Regarding your point about water suspension; I found a similar issue the hard way with one of my BMW's. The bike had stood for a few years prior to my purchase with a small amount of fuel in the tank, in a tin-roofed shed; said fuel had evaporated and left what looked like amber resin in the bottom. The tank probably hadn't been cleaned for years, and water droplets had collected just behind the fuel tap, these over time caused the bottom of the tank to corrode. One day I filled it up, found what I at first thought was a leaky fuel tap which turned out on closer examination to be significant pinhole corrosion which was causing a leak; the fuel was pretty much being held in by the paint. Carbs were unaffected as prior to storage the owner had switched the fuel off and run it till dry. BMW's are indeed beautifully made and designed, but the shape of the tank leaves a natural water trap. This by the way is a 1988 bike, so we are only talking about 25 years from new till it happened.

Lessons learned; firstly, treat new, or particularly replacement used tanks with something like POR 15 which is ethanol proof. Secondly, if storing the bike for a while, either drain the tank, remove it and store it somewhere dry to avoid internal corrosion, or fill it up with fuel that you then drain out and use in something less fussy (45 or lawnmower seems to work well) and thirdly, swill out tanks on a regular basis and clean/change in-tank filter.

The Beemer fix was painfully expensive, as repro tanks for that model aren't cheap, even the India-made ones, and due to that good second hand ones cost more as well. I was very fortunate to score one in the same colour as the bike and suitably aged, and even that cost me £300.

Edit; as regards buying fuel, I always try to source from filling stations which have a high turnover. You don't find many low volume sellers these days and it galls me that I'm reluctant to support them as small businesses, but I carry in my head a bit of advice my old dad gave me many years ago, that if they don't shift much petrol you're more likely to get stuff that's gone off.