motowarren Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 We all know about the ethanol effects on Guzzi tanks. I found a local station (50 miles local?) that sells gas with no ethanol and so I got a few gallons to put in my tank for over the winter months. What I've found is that although this gas is rated at 91 pump octane the same as the ethanol bases gas I get at Sheetz, it pings a lot more, even on cool days. I'm looking into using some amsoil motorcycle octane booster to use even on a regular basis but I know a lot of octane boosters contain high amounts of ethanol. So I don't want to use one of them to aggravate the tank swelling problem. Can anyone tell me if Amsoil booster uses ethanol? I can't seem to find any info on the net. Eventually I'll have MYECU up and running but even with that if I have more octane I can adjust for a little more power or just have an extra safety cushion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Get on their website and see. If it doesn't say , contact a salesman . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCole Posted March 23, 2013 Share Posted March 23, 2013 Most of this stuff doesn't work in tests done by the mags? I buy ethanol free 95 octane unleaded for the bikes at the same place I buy 110 leaded race gas for my Alfa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docc Posted March 24, 2013 Share Posted March 24, 2013 Hmm, mine pings less without the ethanol even with 89. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motowarren Posted March 24, 2013 Author Share Posted March 24, 2013 Most of this stuff doesn't work in tests done by the mags? I buy ethanol free 95 octane unleaded for the bikes at the same place I buy 110 leaded race gas for my Alfa. Well that wouldn't be an option for me as I live in south central PA and a lot of times I end up riding in western PA W VA and VA so hunting down a place to buy ethanol free fuel would be out of the question. I did have my AMSOIL dealer drop a bottle of his moto octane booster to read the contents. A lot of octane tests, I think, are very flawed. Here's one I think is about as creditable as I've seen, and BTW the AMSOIL booster falls in the "MMT" category http://www.europeancarweb.com/tech/0503ec_octane_boosters_tested/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrt Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 'A lot of octane tests are flawed'. You got that right. The denotative meaning of octane refers to a specific molecular compound. The connotative meaning has evolved to 'anything that burns reasonably slowly'. Motorcycle Consumer News had an article this month on fuel additives. (By the way- I encourage you to buy a subscription- they have good articles, not manufacturer biased and they especially do not have any, any, any advertisements). They didn't roundly endorse any octane booster. Reading between the lines, I believe the takehome message was that none of them were outstanding. Ethanol, by itself, is a good octane booster. BTW, do be aware that it is harder to boost higher octane gas. If you start with low octane gas, you can boost it pretty effectively, but if you start with high test (like 91), it is much harder to boost the octane. This is because many octane boosters are 100 or so octane. The percentages just don't work in favor of already-high octane. If you choose to remove the ethanol, then the takehome message is treat fresh gas in a preventative fashion. Getting rid of ethanol and various reactive products from gas/ethanol breakdown is more problematic. Here's where I insert my two cents- I've been using plain old sta-bil gas additive and it seems to work reasonably well. I add a small amount (directions are on bottle) if I know that the bike will sit for a week or so. So far, no tank swelling and the bike fires up and runs as it should. Shrug- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotoguzzi Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 If you can find a Hot Rod club/organization in your state you can probably find a list of all the stations that sell non ox/alcohol free gas.. I have all kinds of favorite stations mapped out in my mind for where ever i go.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuzziMoto Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 But in some areas they do not sell ethanol free gasoline. It is not a matter of not knowing where, they do not sell ethanol free gasoline near me. But so far I have not had any issues from the ethanol. Hell, I like the knock resistance ethanol brings. If your motor knocks it is likely not from the ethanol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gstallons Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Here is a link for everyone to use (in the US) to find ethanol free gasoline ! http://pure-gas.org Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuzziMoto Posted March 27, 2013 Share Posted March 27, 2013 Again, it is not a matter of knowing where they are. It is that they are not around me. The mainland of Maryland, same as most other metro areas in the east, does not sell ethanol free gas at most gas stations. It does not appear to be legal for road use around here. You can buy it out on the eastern shore, presumably for your boat. But here in the DC/Baltimore area it is not an option. We have been using 10% ethanol gasoline for something like 10 + years. I have not had much, if any, issues with it. It is certainly not something I would worry about. It is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motowarren Posted March 28, 2013 Author Share Posted March 28, 2013 But in some areas they do not sell ethanol free gasoline. It is not a matter of not knowing where, they do not sell ethanol free gasoline near me. But so far I have not had any issues from the ethanol. Hell, I like the knock resistance ethanol brings. If your motor knocks it is likely not from the ethanol. That national list is out of date in some cases and inconsistant in others where some dealers say their suppliers are sometimes reluctant to deliver on time to keep them supplied. And I agree from my experience that the 91 octane pure gas I drove 50 miles for pinged more than the local 91 octane 10% ethanol gas I usually run. My main concern was the tank swelling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuzziMoto Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 The tank swell issue I am not even sure is ethanol, but I recently did coat the inside of the wifes V11 tank to help keep that at bay. It has not been a serious issue so far for her bike but I did have an issue with my Griso where I had removed the tank fairly full of fuel and had it sitting off the bike while I was working on the bike over a periods of weeks. When I went to put the tank back on it was no longer the same shape as it was before and did not want to fit. I have no evidence that ethanol caused the issue, as far as I can tell the Italians just are not good at making fuel resistent plastic gas tanks. I never had this issue with the two Buells I have owned. So, after that issue I coated the wifes V11 tank with Caswell epoxy sealer. So far so good but other have had issues. Proper prep seems key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luhbo Posted March 28, 2013 Share Posted March 28, 2013 To me it looks as if tank swelling is a US only problem. Maybe it's not the alcohol as such but the water it contains. The funny thing is, you guys complain about swelling, over here people are afraid the additional alcohol (from 5% to now 10%) will dissolve pistons, valves, fuel lines, virtually everything but the plastic tanks Hubert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrt Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 I don't know if it is the ethanol that affects tanks, but there is something that apparently does- at least on some tanks. I'll posit that it is the oxidation products of ethanol (ether, peroxide, partially oxidized hydrocarbons) that invade or deform the plastic. It seems to happen more with tanks that sit. I haven't had a a problem with any of my plastic tanks, but I usually add either a bit of sta-bil or I run the gas through. In any event, I'm with GuzziMoto and I just don't worry about it too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docc Posted March 29, 2013 Share Posted March 29, 2013 Ha- I never worried about it until I took my tank off a couple years ago and couldn't get it back on . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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