Blended Gasoline

[Bigbill]

Comming home from a long trip last weekend I hade to stop for gas near the St. Louis metro area. Anyway had to use gas with 10 percent ethenol. My TriGlide does not like that crap at all. Noticeable loss of power on hills and pinging. Slight backfire on decel. I refilled with good gas since then and it seems better. My question is, will bleneded fuel cause damage to my engine? Seems like in the metro areas all stations have blended fuel. Should this be avoided if possible? Thanks

[Bikerbozo]

Your lucky. In my neck of the woods, 10% ethenol is all that is available. I only see the good stuff on long trips.
It's that 15% crap that scares me. I just know more and more stations are going to start having that. At some point I won't even be able to wish for the good old days of 10%.
It's like when they started phasing out Leaded gas years ago. I was adding lead to my old cars. But if a gas station chain lied about Lead content (Yes, you, Mobil), then the damage was getting done.

[eagle1]

I CARRY star tron enzyme fuel trearement for such times. the pkg. i believe said it was for ethenol gas. as many do if i have to use 10% e. then i only fill it up enough to get to another station.

[Memnoch451]

I don't believe that it's harmful to your engine in the least. Pinging is always not a good thing. Gear down before throttling up if you are getting to much pinging.

It's a great Idea to carry a little can of octane booster when you travel if you can. A little can can last he whole trip. When I ride my H-D I take some with if I am riding out of state. With the Honda... I just pump any thing and it seems to run pretty well.

I treat my H-D Like I treat my 1968 GTX at the gas pump I'm careful about what I put in!

[Rsw]

No way to get away from it here either, all gas has 10 percent ethenol in it. I seen that Sta-Bil ( not spelled right) has a aditive out for this. Has anyone tryed it. I know their red fuel stabilizer works great, but have nothing to really test this out in. One bottle treats 25 gallon and it was like $7.00.
l

[rhino 2]

Can't get anything but 10% here either. But i haven't had any problems with any bike, I do use 92/93 octane only.

[Phu Cat]

As crude oil prices go up it more less unprofitable to add ethanol to gasoline. But as prices for gasoline come down, ethanol is just too expensive to make to still add it to gasoline.

While the sticker is still on the pump, I'm guessing ethanol only gets added to gasoline in the worst smog areas like LA or New York sized cities but I'm not sure of that.

PC

[Memnoch451]

As crude oil prices go up it more less unprofitable to add ethanol to gasoline. But as prices for gasoline come down, ethanol is just too expensive to make to still add it to gasoline.

While the sticker is still on the pump, I'm guessing ethanol only gets added to gasoline in the worst smog areas like LA or New York sized cities but I'm not sure of that.

PC

Almost no Ethanol here in CA... Yayyyyyy! I find it more in the midwest!

[trikermutha]

Almost no Ethanol here in CA... Yayyyyyy! I find it more in the midwest!

Want some we have plenty to pass around...

[pigbike]

Almost no Ethanol here in CA... Yayyyyyy! I find it more in the midwest!

Too far for me to go for a fill up. It's all 10 percent here except for a few stations, and marinas.

[Ozarkryder]

Missouri has a weird ethanol law. Gas stations are required to buy gas with ethanol if it is less expensive than straight gas.

Here is an excerpt from an article about the MO gas law from Fuel Testers. They apparently sell gas testing kits.


On January 1, 2008, the Missouri Renewable Fuel Standard became effective. Under this standard, all gasoline offered for sale in Missouri must contain 10% ethanol.

A few exemptions to the standard will allow gasoline without ethanol to be sold:

When ethanol blends purchased at wholesale exceed the price of gasoline...
When selling premium unleaded gasoline with an octane rating of 91 or higher...
Gasoline sold at airports...
Gasoline sold at marinas...
Important: Although premium is exempted from the requirement, it may be blended with ethanol.
Missouri does not require ethanol labeling on gasoline dispensers. Therefore, if a consumer has a specific application that requires a fuel without ethanol, the consumer must purchase premium unleaded gasoline with an octane of 91 or higher that is also advertised as not containing ethanol.

Article from this site: Missouri- Current Ethanol E10 and Renewable Fuel News

[Lunchbox1983]

No way to get away from it here either, all gas has 10 percent ethenol in it. I seen that Sta-Bil ( not spelled right) has a aditive out for this. Has anyone tryed it. I know their red fuel stabilizer works great, but have nothing to really test this out in. One bottle treats 25 gallon and it was like $7.00.
l

You want the Marine Grade Sta-Bil (it treats the ethenol) I use it in my 1500 all the time no problems, seems to help the power. I also use it in my chain saws, mower, weed eater, basically any small engine that corn will destroy.

10% is what the sticker says, my brother is a logger and could not keep the saws running, after many warrenty rebuilds the saw manfacture came in to investigate and tested the gas he was using and found 30% basically all the plastic parts were being eaten.

[Jenkinsrawhide]

I have a 2008 Goldwing and burn the ethanol gas with no visible problem, however I have a boat mechanic friend who swears ethanol will pit the tops of pistons over a period of time. Most Farmers Co Ops here in Tennessee carry the regular gasoline as a lot of other small stations do. It is more expensive however. I carry a bottle of the various treatments any parts store can sell you, but like I say I don't see any NOTICIBLE problem with the ethanol gas but I don't know what is happening internally. I thought the 2008 wing was compatable with the ethanol gas, but I have lost my manual.

[BlueTrinity]

My Harley has no problem with 93% octane blended.

Someone mentioned 15% though. DO NOT use E85. That stuff will do serious damage to your engine. Flex-fuel auto engines are especially designed and equipped to burn E85 but motorcycle engines are not !

[msocko3]

I have a 2008 Goldwing and burn the ethanol gas with no visible problem, however I have a boat mechanic friend who swears ethanol will pit the tops of pistons over a period of time. Most Farmers Co Ops here in Tennessee carry the regular gasoline as a lot of other small stations do. It is more expensive however. I carry a bottle of the various treatments any parts store can sell you, but like I say I don't see any NOTICIBLE problem with the ethanol gas but I don't know what is happening internally. I thought the 2008 wing was compatable with the ethanol gas, but I have lost my manual.

It shouldn't pit the tops of the pistons, ethanol and methanol both love to take on water and do funky things to engines. My brother run a blown methanol 540" BBC making around 1700 hp on a conservative tune, never saw any pitting when we pulled the engine down for maintenance. One thing we did however do was at the end of each day before putting it away we would run about a qt of Cam 2 racing gas though the injector hat which helped put some gas through the engine. If manufacturer designed the fuel system to handle low doses of ethanol there should be no problem internally.

Below is a picture of the piston top of my 95" engine which had about 24,000 miles on it when I removed it from the bike to install the 120. There is no pitting, just a little bit of carbon stuck to the top.

[GARYD]

My TG runs like a top on 83 octane with 10% ethenol. All my Harleys did the same. Never had a vehicle that couldn't run on regular 83. I will never buy a vehicle that has to run on premium (our enemies get enough of my money) - even my Vettes ran on regular.

I'm convincing more and more riders to just try a tank of regular and see how it runs. Yes there are a few engines that might have a problem with pinging, but the computer is designed to handle that.

Just got back from DC and the BRP 3k miles in the twisties - not one problem.
Only time I use premium is on race day.

So far 15% is a no-no for bikes and small engines - that is untill the ethanol producers bribe the politicians, gas producers and car mfg's....then it will be OK.

[Greydog]

I don't have it with me at the moment but I'm sure the owners manual for my '08 Ultra states that 10% ethanol is OK for use in the bike but E85 or methanol will, in fact, damage the engine. All we have locally is 10% ethanol and I have used 93 octane ethanol since I bought the bike new. I noticed yesterday that one of our local stations sells 90 octane gas at one pump without ethanol for recreational sport vehicles. Think I'll try a tank and see how it runs.

[msocko3]

I'm convincing more and more riders to just try a tank of regular and see how it runs. Yes there are a few engines that might have a problem with pinging, but the computer is designed to handle that.

The computer has a limited range in which it can deal with some pinging, it will not catch it all. An engine can be pinging or detonating without you hearing it, I've seen picture of the carnage this has caused and the rider never heard it ping. A cast piston will only take it so long before it either cracks or blows out the top ring land.

Not all bikes or trikes will tolerate regular, I had a 05 Electraglide Classic that started and ran like crap on regular. I can also attest to the computer not catching the pinging on this bike. The proof of the ping was aluminum balls on the spark plugs, it was a Stage 1 88" engine at the time and became a Stage 2 95" while searching for what all was damaged. The only noted damage was some pitting of the combustion chamber which was able to be polished out.

[GARYD]

I agree, not all bikes will tollerate regular. Thankfully all mine do. I've put thousands and thousands of miles on my bikes over the years and never had an engine problem. Probably have a rabbits foot up my as$$.

I'm just talking about stock engines - not hopped up ones.

[Gorilla]

garyd the 90 without will run great. do try it