I wasn’t sure how much would happen in the 30 days since I wrote the last article ‘Gasohol…Good or Bad?’. I originally thought I might wait another month, but after all I have seen in the last 30 days, I knew I had to inform you as soon as possible.
On the trip down to Daytona Bikeweek I tested the fuel at every gas station I filled up at. I stopped 3 times for fuel and all the pumps had stickers claiming up to 10% Ethanol. Two of the stations had fuel that was at the 10% Ethanol line and one had only 5% ethanol.
Man, you should see the looks I got at these stations testing the fuel before filling the truck up. They must have thought I was someone from a Fed Agency! With the first tank of 10%, I averaged 24.9 MPG. The second tank was the one with 5% ethanol and with this I averaged 26.9 MPG. The third tank was 10% ethanol and the average MPG for this tank was 25.4. That equates to roughly a 7 percent increase in MPG. That was more of a difference than I thought would happen. All the driving was on the Interstate at the same speeds. All 3 tanks were regular grade and bought at major, high traffic gas stations. There may be a difference in actual octane which may also cause some differences.
While in Daytona, a friend had a hard time trying to get his bike started. He had new plugs and a strong spark at the plugs. The plugs got wet with fuel, but still would pop when kicked, they just would not run. I asked him how old the fuel was and if he used gasohol. He said the fuel was from last summer and yes, it was gasohol. I asked if I could take out my handy dandy tester and check it out. He agreed and we put some fuel in the clear plastic bottle. As we first drained some fuel from the petcock, it had water and some muddy looking debris, not much, but enough to cause problems. We drained until the water and mud disappeared. Now, the fuel was amber in color. The fuel was not clear but had a hazy milky look to it. I tested the fuel and it showed 0% ethanol. In picture 1 you can see a thick white milky line separating the fuel from the water. Basically, the ethanol had already absorbed all the water it could mix with and the cloudy line was the excess in the tank. Flushing the tank and carb out and putting new fuel in would fix this bike’s running problem.
During the 30 days for the fuel that I placed in the mason jars which were kept outside under a covered area to protect from any rain and also out of direct sun. The night temps averaged the upper 30’s and daytime highs averaged in the 60’s. Humidity was in the low 50’s and high 60’s during the month. It amazed me how much fuel evaporated in both jars in 30 days! As you can see in picture 2 they both evaporated equally. In case you did not read last month’s article both mason jars had the same gasohol which had 10% ethanol. But, one of the jars had an additive that says it will stabilize effects of ethanol in fuels. I put a black marker line on both jars and they were filled to this line. Both jars had the fuels turn darker in color. The untreated fuel actually had a milky look to it and was not as clear. I tried to get a picture of this, but was too hard to really see in a picture.
First tested was the jar that had no additive. It had a very slight separation and had a heavy milky lower level. After testing, it showed that it only had 5% ethanol now (picture 3). What this shows is that the ethanol already had mixed with water and would not separate further. The line between the fuel and water was a thick white muddy color.
The jar with the additive showed no separation in the jar. The testing of this fuel for ethanol still showed 10% (picture 4) but there was a thick line of separation as shown in picture 5.
What have we found out so far? That the actual percentage of ethanol in your fuel will vary. That ethanol in fuel does absorb and attract water. Now think of your motorcycle tank, it has a vent about the same size. In the outside elements as you ride your bike it comes into contact with rainy days, foggy nights and many changes in humidity. The amount of humidity will place the fuel in your tank in a much worse environment than my jars.
That gasohol does have some separation after 30 days. As the gasohol absorbs water as much as the ethanol can, it now separates as water on the bottom of the tank. The amount of evaporation being in the direct sunlight can increase evaporation!
Many sites state that as gasohol absorbs water the octane count goes down. I have no way of testing this, but why take a chance? I have not found an additive that will actually remove water on the bottom of your fuel tank if you use gasohol. The additives only work with 100% pure gasoline.
Now, that mowing, gardening and riding time is here, I know what I am doing next. Draining all my tanks and draining their carbs and getting some 100% pure gasoline!. Lucky for me they still sell pure gas only 15 miles away from the shop. Check out online if there are any gas stations in your area that still sell pure gas.
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