Over the past 24 months, modern day gasoline has undergone numerous changes.

Gone are the days of knowing that your Premium grade gasoline was in a refinery just a week or so ago, and you were paying $1.95 a gallon... and Stoich was 14.7 (Stoich is the optimum fuel-air mix for no/light load operation)...

Nowadays, our fuel is enhanced with, what they say is no more than 10% Ethanol, not to mention all the other additives (Detergents, inhibitors, etc...), and it has been sitting in the underground storage tanks for months or a year, untouched and getting stale.

And yet, that is for year old gasoline that is at best, 14.3 stoich... (ethanol enhancement requires that your bike be reprogrammed/rejetted fatter).....

 

Shouldn't my auto tune take care of that?

 

I am not a gasoline wizard, but since this ethanol #$#@ stuff came out, my bike don't run as well. I think it's cr#p.

 

Only if the map is set to a richer value. If for example the map is set to 13.5, auto tune works to retain this with varying operating conditions. It won't branch off on its' own to come up with different afrs on it's own. With ethenol maps need to be slightly richer with 10% and up according to the amount. Then autotune will keep it in this range.
I for one don't have a problem with ethenol. Match the afrs accordingly, increase the compression and the same if not more power can be had. I guess the only down side is more fuel needs to be burned to get the same hp. The other down side is ethenol sucks moisture out of the air, which in turn mixes with the gas. Too much and it could dump into the system an cause problems. Present efi venting systems eliminate most of the problem but I still try to keep a full tank if the bike sits for a while. Since there is no other suitable fuel to run, knowing the negatives and how to compensate will make life easier when using it. If you feel the engine runs like crap using it, the afrs need to be richened and the timing needs to be advanced some.
Ron

 

For a new guy like my self this is way over my head. So your saying for my bike to sufficiently use the ethenol I should install a programmer and have it tuned as you say above?

 

Too bad there is not a way to buy gas, and then separate the ethanol from the gas.

 

Any bike running this "New Fuel" needs to be rejetted, reprogrammed, etc... as the Ethanol has a completely different "Stoich".... As stated in the initial posting....

Gasoline isn't gasoline anymore.... it's blended crap to pay for roads and pad oil company exec's wallets...

 

Removing the ethenol is easy. Add water to the gas and the water and ethenol blend together. Then pour the gas off the top of the water. Problem is, you now have a lot less octain since ethenol is part of the octain agent in modern fuels. In the end, tuning it for ethenol blends will be easier than going through all this. It's here to stay with more % coming in the future.
Ron

 

Hello, I have a 2006 FLHX TC88, and it is very sensitive to fuel. My riding buddy has a 2007 FLSTF and his bike reacts exactly like mine in regard to fuel (Quality?). When I get a tank of "bad" gas it is coughy and performance is noticeably off. My buddy actually took his bike into the dealer once because it was running so poorly...bad fuel! Is this because it is "Old Gas" ? Some gas stations I have to avoid because you frequently end up with this kind of gas. Is the gas in California formulated differently?

 

My bike didn't like any of the gas available within 100 miles of Sturgis.

I am very spoiled on the good ol' BP 93 octane that is common in my region.

(I know, it won't be there forever).