Fuel additives
Road Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 768
Likes: 55
From: chico
I drain tank and discard the lot when the 10% alcohol "gasoline" (what we have in California, so far as I know) gets wet - it will separate - may take days, but it will and it gets sort of milky pale and it beads up if you run a little into your palm - causes all sorts of problems if you leave it. Corrosion. Spendi problems...
To safely dispose of it - the foul gaso - I evaporate most of it and then pour what's left, nasty stuff, into the waste oil tank. the evaporation bit does take a bit of common sense...y'know, fire and all that...
I carry "rocket-fuel" octane boost in 1 oz tubes in a piece of 1 1/4 x 6 5/8" sch 40 conduit - in case I have to buy regular gas in the back country. the tube prevents the plastic paks of RF from getting punctured in the bags.
Ditto sta-bil - all the time in all my gaso engines - goes in when I buy the gas.
A splash of marvel mystery oil goes in at the same time - maybe 2 oz to 5 gallons. I used to use essentia-lube (spelling?) 16 gallons at a time - mixed with 5000 gallons (it was truck fleet operation and adding the EL was part of my job) it's a "brite-stock" oil, I'm told, whatever that is. low viscosity, low vapor pressure, very slippery. I believe marvel is also a brite-stock oil - but i do not know. The spread sheets for engine life showed that the EL (or marvel?) added a statistically significant number of hours to the fleet's 350 GMC engines.
Good gas is the cheapest thing you buy for a hog...I'm partial to Chevron, but not fussy.
To safely dispose of it - the foul gaso - I evaporate most of it and then pour what's left, nasty stuff, into the waste oil tank. the evaporation bit does take a bit of common sense...y'know, fire and all that...
I carry "rocket-fuel" octane boost in 1 oz tubes in a piece of 1 1/4 x 6 5/8" sch 40 conduit - in case I have to buy regular gas in the back country. the tube prevents the plastic paks of RF from getting punctured in the bags.
Ditto sta-bil - all the time in all my gaso engines - goes in when I buy the gas.
A splash of marvel mystery oil goes in at the same time - maybe 2 oz to 5 gallons. I used to use essentia-lube (spelling?) 16 gallons at a time - mixed with 5000 gallons (it was truck fleet operation and adding the EL was part of my job) it's a "brite-stock" oil, I'm told, whatever that is. low viscosity, low vapor pressure, very slippery. I believe marvel is also a brite-stock oil - but i do not know. The spread sheets for engine life showed that the EL (or marvel?) added a statistically significant number of hours to the fleet's 350 GMC engines.
Good gas is the cheapest thing you buy for a hog...I'm partial to Chevron, but not fussy.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jan 2015
Posts: 15,990
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From: Sandy Eggo's North County
Marvel "Mystery Oil" can cause problems with sticking piston rings. This upper cylinder lubricant leaves a varnish in the ring lands on pistons. This can build up and cause sticking rings. If left unattended, it may build up on the land itself thus pushing the ring outwards towards the cylinder wall. This can cause seizure.
Road Master
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 768
Likes: 55
From: chico
Thanks! I have not had any problems along such lines - over 30 years - but I'll sure take the head's up and keep alert to ring problems - and probably a bit of reading about the ways MMO may, or does (?) make difficulties.
When we used EL in my fleet days the gaso was leaded regular with zero alcohol...worked great in those GMC 350's about 1000 of them.
I am no chemist, just a class in junior high eons ago, but I wonder about the chemistry, now that you have posited the notion. The gaso/alcohol mix most of have to use would produce aldehydes and a little unburned ethanol washing down the piston into the top rings...not much of either, but some. Ordinarily these would either evaporate or wash out into the oil, and so on. But if one added a ittle MMO...? Yeah, maybe, I seem to recall that aldehydes are pretty reactive, and there ought to be a little ethanolic acid too, so yeah - maybe it would catalyze and build up crud under the top ring, drag the bore...the whole horrible process. I can sorta see how the MMO might do that. But if so, it's probably not limited to MMO...
When we used EL in my fleet days the gaso was leaded regular with zero alcohol...worked great in those GMC 350's about 1000 of them.
I am no chemist, just a class in junior high eons ago, but I wonder about the chemistry, now that you have posited the notion. The gaso/alcohol mix most of have to use would produce aldehydes and a little unburned ethanol washing down the piston into the top rings...not much of either, but some. Ordinarily these would either evaporate or wash out into the oil, and so on. But if one added a ittle MMO...? Yeah, maybe, I seem to recall that aldehydes are pretty reactive, and there ought to be a little ethanolic acid too, so yeah - maybe it would catalyze and build up crud under the top ring, drag the bore...the whole horrible process. I can sorta see how the MMO might do that. But if so, it's probably not limited to MMO...
Last edited by pie plate; Jul 8, 2016 at 07:35 AM.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 9,332
Likes: 3,873
From: Upstate New York
Marvel "Mystery Oil" can cause problems with sticking piston rings. This upper cylinder lubricant leaves a varnish in the ring lands on pistons. This can build up and cause sticking rings. If left unattended, it may build up on the land itself thus pushing the ring outwards towards the cylinder wall. This can cause seizure.
Other than that, 93 octane gas, and sometimes, some Startron unless I'm running ethanol-free premium, which the Mirabito chain started selling around here a couple of years ago.
Last edited by Uncle G.; Jul 8, 2016 at 08:10 AM.
Road Captain
Joined: Sep 2015
Posts: 656
Likes: 115
From: Florida
I always, and I mean ALWAYS use Shell or BP 93 octane fuel in my bikes. I try to use high volume stations also.
Several years ago purchased a new Toro lawn mower. Was buying gas for the car and lawn mower from discount station at the time. Mower wouldn't start the second week I had it. Took it back to dealer and when I picked it up he had two jars sitting on the work bench. One looked like he had pissed in it and thrown sand in the bottom, the other jar looked like gasoline. The "**** sand" jar was what I had put in the Toro from the discount station.
My bike is way too expensive to put cheap gas in it.
Several years ago purchased a new Toro lawn mower. Was buying gas for the car and lawn mower from discount station at the time. Mower wouldn't start the second week I had it. Took it back to dealer and when I picked it up he had two jars sitting on the work bench. One looked like he had pissed in it and thrown sand in the bottom, the other jar looked like gasoline. The "**** sand" jar was what I had put in the Toro from the discount station.
My bike is way too expensive to put cheap gas in it.
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