Everyone that works on any make or any size motorcycle knows the answer to this already. It is REALLY bad! First, I will go over some of the problems with the blend of gasoline and 10% ethanol and then, can you tell if ethanol is present in your fuel and how much?
The problems I have encountered with gasohol are many so I will go over the ones most common.
Carburetor problems. Poor running bikes or bikes that won’t idle. The smaller the jet, the easier that running gasohol will contaminate the jet orifice and will after time make the hole smaller or in some cases close up. The smaller the engine, the smaller the jets are and will be more common problem. I get several small bikes on a regular basis to clean the carbs. This happens on new and old bikes alike. The other carb problem I have seen is that some of the plastic floats become soft with ethanol and deteriorate away. You will also need to drain your carb float bowls more often and will notice water and more crud than if you run pure gasoline.
Fuel tanks. When running pure gasoline and you kept your tank full, you rarely had tanks with rust in them. With ethanol, I have seen tanks that are many years old now have rust and several that have developed leaks from rust. When running pure gasoline, if you think your tanks had any moisture in it you could use an additive to remove the moisture. Most cases this additive had alcohol in it to remove the water. But, with ethanol in your tank at all times, it draws moisture and I will show later in this article the separation that occurs. With gasohol, I have not found 1 additive that will remove the moisture from the tank.
Fuel economy. I regularly check my gas mileage in my vehicles. This helps to determine if a problem with the engine is starting. May be simple as plugs and a tune-up or a problem with the carb or fuel injection. Could be even more serious as a valve or ring job. In my case I found I get from 8-12% less fuel mileage with my carbureted engines and 1-3% with my fuel injected engines. The fuel injected engines will adjust timing and mixture to compensate for the lower BTU that gasohol has versus the pure gasoline.
Horsepower. Living in the mountains really shows if a vehicle is getting less horsepower out the engine. When running pure gas, I can easily pull up some of the climbs; while running gasohol, I will need to downshift and go up the climb slower. Even on trips in my 1970 Ford van with a 240 straight 6 have had to adjust (retard) the distributor timing in Midwest states due to pinging.
Fuel lines. Make sure the fuel line you are using will not deteriorate from gasohol. I had a roll of clear fuel line I have used over the years with no problems. Now, if the bike is using gasohol I have found that the fuel line gets hard and brittle in a couple of months. I now use a fuel line that is approved for ethanol because the customer may not heed my gasohol warnings or maybe pure gasoline is not available in his area.
There are more problems than this, but these are the ones I see on a regular basis.
So, how do I really know if my fuel has ethanol in it and how much? Many States don’t require a sticker claiming how much ethanol is in the fuel. Many States don’t enforce it either. Many gas stations claim 100% pure gas. Can I really know what I am buying???
YES!!!!
For under $10 you can by a simple tester from DAANSEN named Fuel-Check. Most pilots have been using this for checking the fuel tanks every time on their preflight check list. Airplanes are not allowed to run fuel with ethanol. So, Daansen came up with this very easy way to check the fuel to see if there is any water already present in the tank by taking a sample and looking for water in the clear tester. To check to see if any ethanol is present and what percentage takes a couple of minutes.
These are the steps to test your fuel:
Fill the tester with water up to the ‘water’ line. (I added drop of food coloring to show up better in the picture.)
I use a plastic bottle with a big enough opening for gas nozzle for a small sample. This makes it easier to fill the tester. You put the fuel in up to the ‘gas’ line.
Put a rubber stopper in it and shake for 15-30 seconds.
Place tester so it is straight up and let it sit for a couple of minutes.
If alcohol (ethanol) is present, it will show the percentage of ethanol. In my pictures it shows 10%. If it would be pure gas, the water line will still be at the water line. The alcohol mixes with the water easier that the gasoline thus showing the alcohol content.
Pretty simple way of testing your fuel, isn’t it?
I know that gasohol also degrades rather quickly. Last year at the Smokeout I poured some gas in the minibike that had sat in the shop for a month. The fuel came out milky looking so I removed it and got some fresh fuel. The next day I put this fuel in and still had a slight milky color. I see several companies now make fuel stabilizer. Gasohol will separate the gasoline and ethanol and as you could see by testing it, moisture will expedite this.
I decided to do another test. Two mason jars were filled with gasohol from the same gas can I just filled up that day. A mark was put on the jars for the gasohol level. A very small vent hole was drilled in both of the lids. One of the jars I added some additive that claims it will stabilize the ethanol in the fuel. I put in a little more additive than the directions stated on the bottle. Also in the jars was a bare piece of steel to see if any rust would form on them. I now placed these bottles outside in a covered area which is the same environment your vehicles also experience. Now, it is just a wait and see.
So, stay tuned to a follow-up on this article!
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