GAS TYPE????????

:?: I was just wondering wut the best gas to put in my 1980 XJ650 Maxim was. Unleaded?? Premium?? or Super??

 

When i am going mostly downhill I use regular unleaded If I want to go Super fast I buy Super gas, but I never ever use Premium no way. Actually I use premium fuel from Chevron or the 76 station by the house I stay away from the mom and pops stations just prefer to use fuel from a store that maintains their tanks/ tests for water on a schedule. If you see the tanker truck dumping fuel keep on going

 

thank you for the advice im new to bikes and was just wondering

 

Well welcome to the site Shawndavis765. Try the regular if your bike does not ping it will be fine.

 

Go to some of your local stations and ask them if their fuel has ethanol in it. If it does, don't get your gas there. This is what gunk's up the carbs real quick.
There is only one station in my town that has, what I call clean gas (no ethanol) so I get the premium there. It has a higher octane which I like. Got to remember, back in 80 they still had regular leaded fuel and the octane was higher.
My bike runs real nice on it. Most bikers in town get their gas at this station for this same reason.

 

Here in Minnesota you can find whats called non-oxygenated gas. Its usually 91 or 92 octane & is supposed to be ethanol-free. My bike seems to like this better than the usual 10% ethanol blend. Anybody shed some light on this?

 

Your octane rating is based upon compression ratio. The higher the ratio, the higher the octane # you need to run to avoid detonation (a bad thing).
Shawn, I run 87 octane here in southern CA. without issue. I would try running the low octane first and if it pings, move up a grade. Do not worry about the leaded/unleaded thing, you will be just fine.
As for ethanol, I'm not sure I've encountered it yet but I'll keep my eyes (ears) open.

 

There are Three reasons for this ethanol has less energy than strait gas. Ethanol has a higher octane which lets fuel blenders use lower quality base fuel and still get the same octane rating on the pump. Lastly it works like a sponge for water and will even pull it out of the air watering down your fuel.
Good stuff!! :twisted:

 

Totally disagree!!!!
Not Good Stuff!
Ethanol is crap! It goops up your carbs! Don't get gas that has it!

 

Yamaha specified a fuel with a research octane number of 91 or greater. Research octane number is used used everywhere but North America. In North America we use the pump octane number (R+M)/2.

Pump octane number is roughly 5 less than research octane number. So a 91 pump octane ~ 86 research octane. In most of North America regular is 87, so it's just fine.

Tetra-ethyl lead wasn't used to boost octane, it was used to protect and lubricate (primitive) valves. Apparently the XJ valves are fine without lead because we seldom hear of a valve failure on them.

Which makes one wonder why people think they're not getting ethanol with premium, which is actually more likely to have it.

I'm afraid the days of getting gasoline without ethanol are pretty much gone. I'm under the impression that unless you buy it at the airport (inside the fence) it's almost certain to have ethanol in it. I seriously doubt the attendant at the station knows if there is ethanol or not.

 

This is totally wrong!!!!
At least here in Oregon it is LAW!
Stations must note on the pumps if they are selling ethanol.
All you have to do is ask. I don't know if this is a federal thing but I do know that is is a state thing here.
There is ethanol free gas. Just ask!
You do not want to put ethanol gas in your bike and if you don't care enough to at least ask then you don't care if your bike runs next year or not.

 

If your bike does not ping on regular thats what i would run. The higher the octane the slower it burns. These bikes are not computer controlled so the computer will not back down the timing when it senses ping. So you won't make more power by using premium.
Here in the Atlanta area i can't find gas without ethanol it will mess your carbs up quick if bike is not used regularly. Gummed up my carbs in less then 3 months when not in use

 

Owners manual recommends "regular gasoline". I would try to get it without ethanol, however we can only get ethanol free gas by going with the highest octane rating. I use regular without problems. The notation at the pump is "may contain up to 10% ethanol"

 

anyone who won't put ethanol gas in their bike should be prepared to do a lot of pushing

 

Only place I have found in NY with ethanol free is at the Indian reservations and I couldn't even make it to one without filling my tank with the ethanol stuff.

 

I'm guessing you mean Avgas, I wouldn't put it in my bike. Aviation cylinders have 2 spark plugs, Avgas is designed to burn slower towards the center instead of fast outward.

Unless I can ever fulfill my dream of a radial engine bike, I'll stick to the road stations.

 

This video from 76 explains all you need to know about gas: click on the super model video.
http://www.76.com/OurGas.aspx

 

with any luck you have one of these near you. My experience with ethanol is that it eats plastic and rubber fuel system components not originally designed to handle. IE factory tank liners on fairly new BMW's.

If we're lucky the green folks will catch on to the fact that it takes more petroleum to grow and ship corn gas than you would use buy just running dino gas through the tank.

as for octane rating, the lowest that won't ping is the best. on my first bike I would set my points to just barely ping on cheap arco gas then back off one RCH and run shell from there on out.

 

"Points" betcha two-thirds of the crew on here don't even know what those are, much less anything about gap or dwell.

Here in Michigan, although labeling isn't required, pumps with ethanol-laced fuel are generally labeled as such.

I run Mobil or BP midgrade or premium in the XJs, although I've run regular before with no apparent ill effects.

Here's something very interesting I've discovered over the years:

My old Norton is quite sensitive to the "quality" of the gas being burned; not so much octane (regular vs. premium) but quality. I can TELL crappy gas from "good" gas based on subtle but definite variations in vibration levels. Even in a perfect state of tune, Old British twins shake something fierce. Norton made great leaps in engineering the "Isolastic" system to allow you to ride the bike and keep your dental work, but it still vibrates, and a lot of that vibration comes thru the handlebar. I can tell by the "degree of buzz" in the bars at road speed (4K RPM) when I'm running poor gas or better gas. BP (Amoco) and Mobil make the bike run the smoothest, Sunoco is OK, Marathon and Shell will put my right wrist to sleep in short order, as will pretty much everything available over in Ontario. (Sorry, Hosers, but it's true.) So I use the "Norton Engine Happiness Scale" to choose the brand of gas I run.

 

I'd like to know why you think ethanol will damage our carburetors. That's not typically one of the problems associated with the fuel. I'm not a big fan of corn ethanol (give me the Brazilian sugarbeet stuff, however, and things change) but I've never heard that one.

The major technical issues with 10% Ethanol (E10) are with fuel pumps, which isn't really a concern for us. It's not because they clog; they can cause sparking issues with in-tank fuel pumps. In fact, our bikes could probably be made E85 safe with an intake valve upgrade and a tank liner treatment, if they aren't already.

Now, E10 does have slightly less energy density and a higher octane...two things that people seem to get confused. The premium fuel isn't premium for any reason other than that it actually needs MORE spark to ignite it. This may be a bad thing with the notorious weakness of our spark system.

Fitz is right...the quality of the gas has far more to do with the crude source and the cracking process than with any additives meant to reduce pre-ignition. Fitz, I know you know the truth, so I'm suprised you waste your money on higher octanes. Still enamored by the "Premium" label, even though you know better? Or do you notice that the higher activaton energy of higher octane gas gives you a smoother power stroke?

If our XJ's don't run well on E10, and being in California I really don't know, it's probably due to the HIGH octane rating combined with a weak spark. However, if that were the case you would also have problems with mid and high octane fuels as well.

Your mileage will be lower with E10, and your power may not be as high. But it is overall cheaper, even with the lowered mileage you get. And if you still can't outrun a car from a stoplight, you have other issues with your bike that a fuel type won't address.

Keep in mind the original Model T's were flex fuel vehicles. We'd probably be oil independent right now if it weren't for Prohibition. And it's not environmentalists that want to stop using oil, biofuel isn't that much better...I've been to the middle east, i'd rather not go back if I don't have to.

 

As I had mentioned in an earlier post.... Ethanol leaves a film that gums up your carb jets. If you have a choice to not use it, this is what I would choose. Well, unless you like pulling your carb rack and cleaning them every year.

 

The Norton runs much smoother on premium, but that motor wants higher octane to begin with.

The XJ seems to prefer midgrade to regular; I think it's because all the companies tend to "skimp" on whatever goes into regular.

 

Side Note:

What ever type gas you decide to use when you sync and tune your bike I believe you should stay with that level of octane.

 

Quite agree, the octane rating is too high for our ignition system to ignite easily.

I'm afraid I'll have to respectfully disagree here amigo.
Not all aviation engines use 2 spark plugs nor is the fuel formulated to control the flame front. Flame propagation is controled by valve geometry, intake geometry, pocket geometry (the shape of the chamber), piston geometry, spark timing and charge dispersal. Granted that the fuel formulation will determine flame propagation speed to some degree but it is not capable of controling the direction the flame front travels.

 

Although I agree with using the lowest octane for the job my 550 XJ maxium does ping with 87 this may be due to driving style or the local hills bottom line for me use the lowest octane that does not ping in your bike then tune with that fuel in so not to cause problems later. P.S. By driving style I mean that I shift up to the highest gear as quick as possible for the best mileage and lowest rpm.
I'd like to know why you think ethanol will damage our carburetors. That's not typically one of the problems associated with the fuel. I'm not a big fan of corn ethanol (give me the Brazilian sugar-beet stuff, however, and things change) but I've never heard that one. Quote
The ways it can damage is due to the tendency to carry water that would normally separate from gas so instead of a clear water problem it can set in you float bowls and collect more water and corrosion than gas alone.
I only speak in this in facts not my personal opinion.

 

Okay, last time.... Again.....
As I had mentioned in an earlier post.... Ethanol leaves a film that gums up your carbs jets. If you have a choice to not use it, this is what I would choose. Well, unless you like pulling your carb rack and cleaning them every year.
Every biker I know that lives around here knows this. Ethanol is crap plain and simple. You have this great forum though so when you have to take apart your carbs for cleaning people will be here to help you. Personally, I won't put the crap in my bike because I know better.

 

Ok, I was rather suspicious of the idea that ethanol itself was causing clogged carburetors....so I did some research:

http://www.daybreakfishing.com/ethanol-fuel.html

It seems an important distinction that the ethanol doesn't leave a film... but yes, the breakdown of SOME rubber parts MAY cause problems in SOME bikes. I'd have to refer to Rick, Fitz, or Chacal to determine how to E10 proof our bikes, if necessary. But it doesn't seem anymore reasonable to blame messed up valves on unleaded fuel than it does clogged jets on ethanol. It's the future, overall it's better, we'll just have to adapt. I would agree that the dangers should be better advertised. You can blame the corn farmers for that one.

As far as the water issue is concerned, unless you are leaving your cap off or taking your bike for a swim, ethanol is actually GOOD for your system. Hydrocarbons (gas) don't mix with water at all, but ethanol will mix with water, hold it in suspension, and pass through the fuel system and come out the exhaust. That's how HEET works, btw. So if you treat it right, there isn't really a problem with having a little bit of water in your gas, if you are using E10 and up.

Of course, as the article says, if you leave your tank exposed to 70% humidity air for 3 months at a time...you might want to replace that fuel...hydrocarbon or ethanol.

I come from Missouri and we've had E10 for a long time...I liked it just fine. I'd trade it any day for the expensive stuff we have in California!

 

Not sure how you can say doesn't leave a film.... According to the article found on the link that you sent..... I don't think you read down for enough.... What do you think they meant by .... "the phase separation slurry in itself can cause problems by clogging fuel systems" It must leave something behind if it can clog a fuel system. Right?
Here is a copy of that article for everyone to read. It tells me that Ethanol is indeed crap!.....

Boaters are now faced with a new problem - ethanol fuel. For years, gasoline contained MTBE, an additive which controls the fuel's octane properties. The additive is being phased out, and now much of the nation's fuel supply is a blend of 10% ethanol and 90% gasoline, commonly referred to as E-10 fuel.

Ethanol presents several problems to boaters. The immediate impact of the formulation is a loss of horsepower and fuel economy. Early indications show drops of 3-5 % in of both categories. The loss of range sounds small, but adds up on boats that are often already stretched to the limit in terms of fuel needs. Additionally, ethanol is a very effective solvent, and has a tendency to dissolve old coatings of varnish and dirt in existing fuel systems. This can lead to plugged fuel filters, and other mechanical problems.

The added amounts of particles associated with ethanol fuel may warrant upgrading filter systems. Many engineers are now recommending that boats using ethanol fuel need to use 10 micron filters. Pre-E-10 systems will likely be using 28 micron filters. Manufacturers such as Yamaha have been quick to respond to ethanol fuel use by introducing replacement 10 micron filters.

The corrosive nature of ethanol can affect fuel lines and other components, causing them to crack and fail. Many older boats will require replacement of all fuel hoses and possibly other system components. Especially affected are boats equipped with fiberglass tanks. Many older vessels must have the fiberglass tanks replaced prior to using E-10 fuels, or face certain engine failures.

Water in E-10 fuel is another problem that boaters must deal with. The introduction of water on E-10 fuel can be disasterous. E-10 can hold up to four teaspoons of water in suspension per gallon. Once this saturation point is exceeded, the solution separates and the gas floats on top while the ethanol and water mix on the bottom. This event is called "phase separation". Ethanol fuel can absorb enough water to reach it's phase separation point in just over 3 months at 70% humidity.

While the phase separation slurry in itself can cause problems by clogging fuel systems, the more immediate problem is that the remaining gasoline has now lost it's original octane value which can cause poor running and in some cases engine damage. When phase separation occurs, the fuel should be drained and replaced.

Fuel storage and winterization has to be handled differently when using E-10 fuels. Manufacturers are warning that fuels need to be stabilized if un-used for as little as 2 weeks. Not all stabilizers are known to be E-10 compatible. Non-alcohol based fuel stabilizer additives are a must for ethanol fuel.

 

Sorry, but no. You can throw a rag in a toilet and clog it (as long as it's not Kohler, apparently), that doesn't mean your poop is leaving something behind that clogs it. A "phase separation slurry", where there is so much water in the tank that the water settles out of the gas, but can still be dissolved into the ethanol, is like the rag in that it's not normally there, the E10 is like...well, your normal daily operations.

The phase separated E10 is not good. But neither is water in your gasoline, except it takes LESS water to mess up gasoline. Boats have a unique issue with this. Not only are they marine, but renew their fuel less often and have different tanks. Think about it. When was the last time you left a full tank of gas sitting open at 70% humidity for 3 months? This might be a real problem for a boat, but not for a motorcycle. Plus, gumming can happen with any fuel if left for a long period of time. Furthermore, E10 will actually carry small amounts of water out of your system, which gas simply cannot do. It's like adding a bottle of HEET to every tank. Hereis a technical article straight from the EPA about this very issue. The conclusion is to not put liquid water directly into your tank, and to use a stabilizer if you are going to store it for a long period of time.

It's also not a problem INHERENT with E10 fuel. It's a problem with E10 fuel PLUS a unique environment PLUS bad maintenance habits. And this is my main point.

Besides, it seems to me we have two options.

1. Adjust and ride.
2. Park and hitchhike.

We aren't going back to 100% hydrocarbon based fuel anytime soon, and for good reason.

I still do think that we should confirm compatibility with the fuel lines, float needles, and petcocks. Chacal might need to give a precaution or find a new supplier!

 

Well, I guess you can be the test subject for Ethanol. I am not going to be. Where I come from a clog is a clog know matter if a rag caused it or poop. I know about 20 bikers in town and we all know that Ethanol is not good for your bikes. Hey, I am just trying to help others out by letting them know what I know about this junk. I want to keep my fuel system as clean as possible so I am going to stay away from it.
Bottom Line....
Okay lets see here according to the article that you wanted us to read....
1. The immediate impact of the formulation is a loss of horsepower and fuel economy.
2. The added amounts of particles associated with ethanol fuel may warrant upgrading filter systems.
3. The corrosive nature of ethanol can affect fuel lines and other components, causing them to crack and fail.
4. The introduction of water on E-10 fuel can be disastrous. E-10 can hold up to four teaspoons of water in suspension per gallon.
5. While the phase separation slurry in itself can cause problems by clogging fuel systems, the more immediate problem is that the remaining gasoline has now lost it's original octane value which can cause poor running and in some cases engine damage.
6. Fuel storage and winterization has to be handled differently when using E-10 fuels. Manufacturers are warning that fuels need to be stabilized if unused for as little as 2 weeks. Not all stabilizers are known to be E-10 compatible. Non-alcohol based fuel stabilizer additives are a must for ethanol fuel.

If these things aren't enough to warrant a concern then I don't know what would be! My advise, if you can avoid using Ethanol, do.

 

You forgot the most important one...

7. We no longer spend billions of dollars sending young men and women to foreign countries with oppressive, dictatorial regimes to fight and die for access to oil, while running up tremendous trade imbalances that hurts our economy, and financing human rights abuses.

My advise, if you can find a way to use ethanol, do.

I can deal with 1-6 with a change in habits and a few new cheap parts.

How do you live with 7?

 

it takes more fossil fuel to grow, transport and process ethanol than you replace by using it. Try another line. I'd like to bring 'em home too but changes in energy policy do not effect results in foreign policy.

 

Corn ethanol, maybe (it's still under debate).

But the Brazilians have been doing it for decades using a different process. It's possible. And cellulistic ethanol is even better than sugarbeet ethanol.

And when you go to Bahrain to protect the Straight of Hormuz from being mined in an effort to disrupt oil traffic to the United States, then come back and tell me energy policy doesn't affect foreign policy.

Just remember when it happens that it's me in the bottom of the ship going through a minefield.

 

I don't understand how you get that...but ok.

Hopefully others that read this thread will know more facts about the use of ethanol in fuel, it's immediate effects on their vehicle, and the far reaching effects on the environment, economy, and foreign policy.

Then they can make an educated decision to use E10 or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanol_fuel

 

I guess I'll weigh in.
OBD, you are correct that issues have arisen since the introduction of ethanol into our fuel supplies and the chaos that followed.
But you are confusing the symptoms of the issue with the cause. Ethanol itself does NOT create clogs, it is a solvent and the resultant breakdown of incompatable materials and varnishes WILL. Splitting hairs but an important distiction. Additionally, if you ever get the chance to veiw the internals of a alcohol injected top fuel engine, you will be amazed by how clean the combustion chamber and ports are. Amazing stuff.
I'll give props to Day7, your efforts to educate are gratifying. My cousin works in the Brazilian fuel industry and they have indeed been making alcohol for many years (pugas, the fermented leftovers of cane processing, a HUGE industry down there). Their experiences with alcohol leave me avoiding purchase of an alcohol fueled car down there. It does have less energy density and the resulting additional polution is painful on the eyes and lungs. They reduced their dependence upon foreign import at the expense of air quality and poorly performing cars. The water content tends to freeze (imagine that in Brazil!) necessitating a shot of regular gasoline to get the car running and the alcohol warmed up.
I ran E85 in my government truck for 2 years and, while it got terrible economy, I didn't have problems with it. Of course the truck was built with this fuel in mind so it does make a difference in comparison but it makes the point that alcohol can be used reliably with appropriate design and parts.
As for saving my brothers-in-arms from further harm, check out the company I work for. www.coolplanetbiofuels.com

 

This from a AMA article..."Motorcycle manufacturers only certify their machines to run on gasoline or a blend with up to 10 percent ethanol, which is known as E10," Szauter said. "So using the 15 percent blend in a motorcycle could void the bike's warranty." http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/2/8218/Mo ... ycles.aspx

And another from Aviation News... When ethanol first came on the scene, we started to test it in the lab. The fuels with ethanol cleaned out our fuel systems and caused a number of leaks. Most people think that when a fuel line is made of neoprene or Buna-N rubber that the name completely defines what that rubber is. What they do not know is that there are a number of different compounds of each of these products. When we ran hardness and swell tests on a number of different compounds of the more common rubber types, we found that ethanol affected them differently. For example, we found that some neoprene rubber hoses worked well with ethanol-containing fuels, but others would harden or swell a great deal. This means if a person drove a car or flew a plane with ethanol-containing fuel and did not have any problems, it only means that the rubber components in that particular vehicle were OK. It does not in any way, shape, or form prove that ethanol will work on all rubber fuel components. Likewise, there are a lot of different aluminum alloys — many that work with ethanol, but there are some ethanol will corrode.

http://www.generalaviationnews.com/2010 ... al-danger/

 

It is actually against federal law to put anything above E10 in a motorcycle, car older than 2007, or any number of other vehicles. It's due to the emissions though, not the health of the equipment.

It's all right here: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/regs/fuels/additive/e15/

It's interesting to note, and Robert mentioned something similar, that California doesn't have E10 because of the smog concerns. Apparently Cali only has E5, which is only enough to act as an octane booster in place of MTBE. I found this in another interesting article here. This makes me wonder if there is ANY gas without some EtOH in it as an octane booster. ?? In Missouri we had two octane levels and 3 grades. The cheapest was E10, which had the same octane as mid, and then the higher octane was the most expensive. I always got the E10. I didn't get any worse mileage in my car than running the stuff from the Navy Exchange pumps...

Like PGDBUD said, the only way to know if you have problems or not is to run it. I think we would have heard more on this site if E10 caused significant problems with our XJ's. Most of us have newer fuel lines and parts anyways. And with the prevalence of E10 in the past few years, it's pretty difficult to not put it in your bike.

Robert, you'll be happy to know that a lot of those problems with early alcohol autos are being engineered out pretty easily. If you can get a reliable source of E100, you can run a very high compression ratio. Of course I don't have to tell you that you can make a alcohol injected engine go very, very fast!

I believe most of the problems associated with ethanol are mostly transitional. That is, the problems arise because we are trying part gas and part EtOH. If we were to do the impossible and instantly switch over I don't think there would be any issues, but that is in fact impossible, so we have to deal with the transition which, like it or not, seems inevitable. If only Henry Ford had his way! Who would have thought 20th century social policy (Prohibition) would be causing havoc with 21st century energy policy!

But remember, for maximum horsepower and nearly unlimited mileage, run a nuclear reactor under your crotch!

 

You are a very smart man.

However, the easiest way to solve the numero 7 up there is to drill here domestically. We have tons of oil. Let's use it.

I too would like to see the Saudi's take a dive off the cliff. But using ethanol will only marginally affect them. Truthfully, the majority or our oil comes from Canada and South America (notably, Venezuela).

We could solve a ton of domestic issues by simply allowing companies to research, explore, drill and refine the oil we have here.

Congruently, I am absolutely for more wind, more solar and more biofuel power. But not in the zero-sum game that the liberals promote. It makes no sense.

When there is an economically viable (read, there is money to be made) alternative (that doesn't involve tremendous government subsidies), then the market will switch to it. Plain and simple.

Until then, I want my oil, coal and nuclear power.

As far as the XJ goes, if you run enough gas through it...I doubt ethanol is going to harm the bike. So get out there and ride!

 

I have some used pinball machine parts for trade if you would be interested!

 

Coming in on the tail of this discussion, but from personal experience the ethanol E-10 or E-15 who knows? This fuel wreaks havoc on the V6 two stroke outboards. It attracts water and it seems as though it will not uniformly blend with oil, even in oil injected situations. I fried one, diagnosis was ethanol/bad fuel. Also my personal vehicle will run the E-85 blend, but as Robert stated my MPG's went down 3-4 mpgs. Just my two cents worth.

 

old biker dude , do you realize how much water 4 teaspoons per gallon actually is in a 3-4gallon tank? what are you doing emptying your water bottle into the tank? my god if you had that same amount of water in plain gas your bike wouldnt even run!

and as for the fuel line issue there is a reason cars have steel fuel lines bud and yet even plain gas will start coroding those steel lines. gas by itself will also eat away at your factory style fuel lines just not as fast because of the detergent properties inherent in ethanol which is a good thing for your engine . it helps keep carbon buildup down and also acts as a lubricant as well making your engine last longer, see deisle engins which use bio fuel getting in some cases up to a millon miles ir more on their engines without any major issues

horsepower loss with ethanol isnt even anything a normal rider will notice and even though the fuel economy drops slightly the price difference makes up for it.
the "added particles" are already in your engine ethanol just helps break it down.
and honestly i wouldnt leave plain gas in my tank very long for storage either it may take a bit more than 2 weeks but it can and will turn into varnish and destroy all of your gaskets and hoses too

plus like you said only ONE station sells "clean" gas so what do you do on a run? or a trip? do you carry a 5 gallon can with you the whole time???

 

I run Mobil gas only in cars, mowers, bike, etc. It has no ethanol in it here. It is one of the few...screw ethanol...it is Satan's fuel

 

Most places in rural N.Y. there is no choice. all most all brands have up to 10% It doesn't help in any way to stem foreign oil its just a political tool if you look in to the way most in the us is produced it burns more fuel to produce.
Like it or not it is here to stay so adapt like me changing all the carb gaskets and floats in my 86 Chevy truck or by a newer bike that is made to run on it.
I actually want to see e85 at the local pump so I can run high compression heads on my truck.

 

Same with me. In Maryland it's a state law that all gas must contain 10% ethanol. I have to keep a bottle of Lucas Oil ethanol stabilizer on my bike whenever I fill up. My bike hates starting after a few days of sitting with ethanol gas and no stabilizer.

 

I guess I am lucky. First I ride everyday, maybe I miss one day a week. Second, I haven't had any issues related to gas. No matter the brand or type. My XJ650 seems to run fine with regular or supreme.

 

Reading through all the posts here, it seems that the some experience issues with Ethanol others don't.
Let me ask this then, what are some suggested remedies for preventing possible gumming up of the carbs? I understand that the next best step is simply to clean the carbs.

Thx

 

Once they ARE clean, stick to name-brand gas. Run an in-line fuel filter. Avoid ethanol-laced gas if possible. Use Sta-Bil when the bike is stored for the winter.

And expect to do a "basic carb cleaning" every couple of seasons anyway (depending on mileage, etc.)

 

It depends on your state laws-In Arkansas they are only required to say "this fuel might contain up to 10% ethanol", but there is a gas station near my house which advertises in big letters on their marque "Absolutely No Ethanol in Our Gas in Any Pump." It's true I checked with the owner and tracked down his supplier to be sure. And this is a private station NOT name brand. This wasn't the case a few years ago so clearly the message is getting out that consumers don't like ethanol, and I would say most mechanics hate the crap as well based on my conversations with them.

As far as dealing with it when it's in there, you have at least a couple of options. The auto store has an ethanol re-mediator which combines with it and prevents it from gumming up or varnishing, you can also use an upper cylinder lube like Stabil, SeaFoam, or STP's new engine treatment-or clean your carbs more often.

As to the threads topic: octane required is dependent on engine compression and altitude. Higher compression needs higher octane to prevent detonation, higher altitude requires lower octane due to decreased atm. pressure and less oxygen for the burn. According to most of our bikes compression numbers at sea level we should generally run 89-91 octane.