if there has been a recent discussion on this i missed it. aside from the political and economic impacts are thier any concerns with running this in our bikes?? a recnet newspaper article stated that people with older engines/vehicles may experience some problems but failed to define "older"

 

We have a 1986 Heritage, 1996 Wide Glide, 2002 EFI Deuce and 2005 EFI Heritage and no problems to report yet, except I "feel" that maybe the 2 carbureted Evos start and warm up a little crappier on it. I can't provethat because I'm never sure what fuel I'm getting at any time.

We run regular unleaded in the Evos because the manual calls for it while the TC's apparently have higher compression (??) and call for premium.

No damage at all noted yet...

 

Ethanol is just ethylalcohol. The danger is it can carry some water and potentailly damage the steel linings of fuel system components. Ethanol has a lower energy content than petroleum based gasoline (gasoline has a lower energy content than diesel fuel) but it has a much higher octane rating (like 115). Octane is a measure of a fuel's resistance to auto-igniting under pressure at high temperature (remember in the early seventies whenthey took the lead outof gasoline, the octane plummeted, and cars would keep running even after you turned off the ignition?). Higher octanefuel supports the use of higher compression engineswhich is why top-fuel dragsters run alcohol.

I don't know for sure but, from what I have read, ethanol may harm your bike a very little bit over a very long time but even that seems doubtful.

 

Good explanation, Hester. Sounds consistent with the only reported "damage" (I believe it was on this forum) that I have heard about it. In that case, the gasoline distributor failed to prep the bulk gasoline storage tanks for the ethanol blend (my guess is they failed to "dewater" the tanks"), and the distributor was having to pay for repairs to cars and bikes. I believe the repairs consisted of draining and cleaning tanks, fuel lines, etc.

I recall the biker made it home ok, but the bike ran extremely rough.

I suspect we are all going to face the ethanol issue before it is over with. A couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a station to top off my tank before a long day's ride, and I decided not to get gas at that station when I saw a sign indicating they were using a 10% ethanol blend. On that occasion, I had the option to move on down the road, but you really cannot do that if you are down to your last gallon.

 

I put Vallero gas in my bike Saturday. It was the only station and I was out of gas. The pumps said 10% ethanol. I started back on the road and I get a jerky feeling on the bike like its missing. My first thought isbad gas or water in it. I have run the tank down to 1/2 and added new gas from Shell. The bike during the 1/2 tank usage ran terrible. I have been checking everything plugs etc to see if it was something else but the more I search I came back to the only change I made over the time was the gas. It probably had nothing to do with ethanol but I will never put gas from that station in my bike again.

 

i dont mess with trying differnt fuels in my bike . i'am on the road alot and when i stop i always get the good stuff .to me it's not worth playing around with it. i would rather just get what i know works and not take a chance of hurting something.i know some say you can run the 10% but it's just not worth it.what it cost to fill the bike up i'll stay with the good.

 

Yea, the above is right. Part of the problem is that the alcohol will loosen up residue in the tank and lines that may have built up over the years as well as collect moisture and dry out seals in the fuel system. Some cars have alcohol sensors in the fuel system in order to identify and adjust for the alcohol content. Bikes (and most cars) do not have this sensor and will be effected in performance, to a degree. 10% is minimal, but its still there and nearly hard to avoid in my area. Really pisses me off that people who know so little are making decisions for so many..

 

Won't be long and the choice may be out of your hands , as congress has mandated a certain % of fuel to be "renewable" in the very near future . What really sucks is come june they will be selling "low grade fuel" for the regular blend is going to be 83-85 octane plus 10% ehtanol , so if u end up buying miggrade for your cage it will be 87 plus 10% tomajicly become 89 octane , abiet with lower energy in it.

 

Here in California they have to oxygenate the fuel in the summer to minimize its tendency to evaporate during the summer heat. A few years ago, they were using MTBE and then they found out that it hurt the environment more than it helped so they started using ethanol to oxygenate the fuel instead.

We're all kind of stuck with the gas that comes out of the pump - sort of like we have to breath the air that is there to breath. Life is too short to worry about ut too much. Just stick with the better branded fuels for the additives (e.g., Shell, Chevron, Sunoce) and use the highest grade you can to prevent engine knock. That and run your bike so much and so hard that it dies long before the ethanol has a chance to hurt it.



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I noticed a Chevron where I normally fill up suddenly has the 10% sign on their pumps. I haven't busted out my owners manual to verify the exact %, but I know for a fact there is verbiage in there saying the bike was built to accept a certain level and that there is nothing wrong with running with it.
Like I said, it has been a while, so I don't remember the % indicated. Based on this, I would assume most TC models are the same. Mine is an '05