Ethanol ,should I Be Worried ????

Shouldn’t be as they are metal tanks,

 

Use super unleaded it contains no ethanol (at the moment)

 

No they're not.

 

Due to EU legislation you can't avoid ethanol in your petrol and it causes metals to corrode as well as rubber etc. Once ethanol is in your fuel it can absorb moisture which can collect in your tank. Best bet is to run it down periidically .there are additives you can buy to neutralise the effects of Ethanol so it's not the end. But it IS REALLY annoying !

 

I had my share of ethanol fun this spring. Bike: 1997 Thunderbird 900, Mikuni carbs.

After a thorough and professional carb clean in May last year, the bike ran perfectly on 95 octane through the season. Late October it was put in winter storage with a full tank, and was back on the road mid April (5,5 months of storage, never started). A big disappointment – it ran very lumpy on low revs and tended to stop when idling. I had to run it with the choke on to get safely through town. The local dealer spent an hour and a half without finding anything apparently wrong with the carbs and fuel system.

Then I remembered our glorious government's 2016 decision. During 2017 95 octane would have up to 7 pct. ethanol in the mix (E7). So I emptied the tank completely, gave it a generous shot of Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment and filled up with 98 octane Shell V-Power (E0).

Result: After 10 km riding the bike was cured. From now on I'll stick to 98 octane, also through the season and I will occasionally check that it stays E0. If they start adding ethanol also to 98 octane, I'll empty tank and carbs completely before storage. Ethanol petrol starts degrading impressively quick.

 

The E0 fuel .. how do you find out at the pump if it is E0 or E5 etc. Thankfully I use VPower so should be better. I read a discussion on this some time back and it concluded that the Ethanol free fuels had diminished to zero so good news about VPower !

 

Richard, I consulted both the Shell station manager and a V-Power data sheet. The ethanol content in V-Power is almost zero. BUT: Please note that I'm in Norway, the UK situation may be different.

 

Thanks Irling, it seems according to Shell on line that the fuel may or may not have Ethanol in it depending on the gas station ! From what I read previously we will be stuck with E5 and it may increase to minimum E10 and so on ! Apparently its to force us to be eco friendly using bio-thanol .... and wrecking our old machines...

 

I think you'll find it varies region to region, even high octane fuel has ethanol added in some areas (South West included).
This article is quite informative.

 

Having just bought a 1978 Suzuki I did not like that one bit.

 

I've got a 78 Suzuki too! is it a GS750?

 

Try this - I used it in my 1996 ZX7 without any issues
https://www.frost.co.uk/ethomix-corrosion-inhibitor-additive-ethanol-protection.html