So you thin the ethanol blended gas is good eh?

[CJM]

I wish I had taken pictures of what I found when I recently got my 450r carb ready to clean, but I was just to annoyed at it all.

Upon removing the bowl the entire inside was coated with that oxidized copper like residue due to the ethanol in the gas. Old gas turns to varnish..thats easy to clean, this stuff with stood brake and carb clean, I soaked it in mineral spirits and still nothing.

Finally a friend told me has has some yamaha carb dip solution and leaving in overnight it worked.

Never have I seen a carb this bad till they switched to this E10 or E15 crap. Cant wait till we forced to use E85 everywhere...

I found a pic online of something similar to what i got. Was just as nasty except mine was all green: http://blogs.consumerreports.org/.a/6a00d83451e0d569e2011571523846970b-pi

[Wheelie]

I've been running 70% Ethanol for over 2 years and haven't had any issues to date. I've intentionally let my quad sit for 5 months to see if it would cause any issues, it fires right up and the carb is as clean as it was new.

[CJM]

I dont get it wheelie, the junk that was inside this carb was not the varnish old gas usually turns to, its downright nasty!

Maybe its something they blend into the gas in NJ, IDK.

[Wheelie]

Today's gasoline is garbage, I won't deny that. However, I don't think the ethanol is to blame, it's the poor blends of today's gasoline and ethanol gets the blame.

If everyone blames 10% of the fuel for all the problems, then my quad should be a train wreck running 7 times that amount. This is not the case.

Heck, I dump 4 or 5 gallons of E-85 in my 86 EFI 5.0 Mustang two times each spring when I fill up the tank. It puts any injector cleaner on the market to shame, does wonders for how this 25 year old car runs. Been doing this for a couple years and have zero issues.

Check out e85performance.net. There are a lot of people who have converted 50's and 60's cars and muscle cars over to E-85 without a lick of trouble with many of the stock fuel system components in place.

[chucked]

only buy gas from gas stations that the name of the gas station is the gas they use, no royal farms, wawa, 711 etc....

[CJM]

Now see funny thing is believe it or not gas all comes from the same place usually. Sometimes you get a special blend, lets say if you go to BP, mobil, hess, etc. Majority of the time its all the same tho-thats what I dont get why it seems some is bad and some isnt.

What I do know is alot of the time the older the station of course the more sediment is in the tanks. NEVER fill up when the trucks there filling, it stirs up all the sediment and you get it. Ive also heard its best to fuel up in the morning when its colder as you get more gas and less vapor.

I do know that ive never seen the copper oxidizing junk till ethanol gas came around. Varnish from old gas, but not this coppery green junk.

[mjc597]

i was in a local shop the other day getting parts and heard a mechanic explaining to this couple this exact thing. guess their dvx400 had sat for a month or two and it wouldn't run. so they took it here and the guy was telling them about the coating inside the carb and how it clogged everything up..looked pretty nasty..they said they've been seeing it quite a bit more with the new gas.

[honda400ex2003]

ive seen my share of junk carbs from whatever is getting pumped into these engines from the stations. i run non eth in everything now since i can still get it. we have too many engines to have another year like last with all of the issues with bad gas ruining carbs on everything. that was all reg 87 octane that sat over the winter or summer in sleds or boats and wreaked havoc on everything with 10% eth in it. everything had water in it and the carbs were gummed up. all the way from injectors on cars still today to ice augers and everything inbetween. jetskis, snowmobiles, boat motors, cars...

15% is right around the corner... i cant wait for that to come. thats not even going to be able to be ran in regular cars, only the flex fuel stuff which is good. they will have to limit the amounts of that crap too.

wheelie- i give you alot of credit, i wish i had the luck you do with it. you have never had any issues. I have spent thousands on trying to get stuff straightened out from 2 years of running whatever they are giving us at the pump.

steve

[Wheelie]

I'm going to convert my lawnmower to run on corn later this spring. It's going to take some time to get it tuned right, but that's the fun part. Can't wait until I have the time and ambition to do it. The smell I get when mowing my yard will remind me of riding at the dunes. Hope I don't start daydreaming and screw my yard up.

[Tommy Warren]

eth has alcohol in it....alcohol attracts and absorbs moisture(water) whether it be from condensation in the tank or moisture in the air....this moisture sits at the bottom of the gas tank, the float boals, and in the cylinder when you hit the kill switch and kill the spark....don't ever let your bike sit too long with gas in it any more.... I drive a fuel truck for a local fuel company....when we deliver to gas stations we are sent with a set amount of regular and hi test fuel....if the gas station is down 5000 litres of regular and 5000 litres of super they will order 7500 of regular and 2500 of super....catch my drift? don't but super gas thinkin its actually super....I've been filling furnaces with coloured diesel....I've been filling coloured diesel tanks with funace oil....I've even filled 747 airplanes with stove oil.....

[Scro]

Regardless of what kind of gas you use, it's always a good thing to drain the carb before you let it sit.

[cannondale27]

Its definitly different junk in carbs even with E10.Even if sitting 2 weeks the gas in the carb bowl is shot.Kids bike and quad I usually drain bowl before even trying to start them if they sat for more than a week.I use C.L.R. for cleaning the carbs of that junk.Works great.

[Wheelie]

When I let my quad sit in the winter, I intentionally leave the carburetor full of fuel and leave the fuel tank 1/2 full. I try to mimic a poor storage situation to see if I can create any issues. 2 winters stored this way, no water, no corrosion, nothing rotted, everything is perfect come spring.

Once again, if ethanol is causing all these problems, then the results would be consistent. I have no doubt that once I convert my lawnmower over to run E-85, it won't have any trouble either.

[honda400ex2003]

i wish i had your luck, i get tired of buying premium for everything... im not risking it though.

steve

[Wheelie]

I honestly don't think it's luck, it's fuel quality.

Today's gasoline does suck, I think they have a poor blend with ingredients that don't play nicely together--hence the issues.

E-85 however is a much more pure fuel, a much smaller percentage of it is blended garbage (up to 30% gasoline in the winter, about 19% summer).

[250rAL]

If people are just recently getting E10 in some areas, maybe the ethynol is scouring the built up gunk out of the underground fuel tanks. In my area, we've been using E10(called gasohol at first) since the late 70's.

[Honda5]

I love it. I charge $30 to $50 to clean out a carb that take 15 minutes and have no shortage of people looking to have it done. Quads, bikes, mowers,..... Easy money

[krt400ex]

Originally posted by CJM
I dont get it wheelie, the junk that was inside this carb was not the varnish old gas usually turns to, its downright nasty!

Maybe its something they blend into the gas in NJ, IDK.


i run a 50/50 of c12 or vp red(depending on which one the dealer isnt out of stock of) and premium pump gas. engine runs cooler and smoother and it keeps my carb cleaner as long as i dont let the machine sit for too long

[CJM]

Its only since the E10 came, like I said before that it was just gummed up varnish if the gas went bad. Ever since the E10 it turns into this copper like junk. I had 0 real issues before they made it mandatory too.

Its gotta be the blend they use or something. I normally get super for my quad at the local wawa and no issues ever. I even let it sit all winter with some seafoam in the tank and I ran the carb outta gas. Opened the carb up no issues. Wonder if the seafoam helped.

I can say the E10 gas has dropped MPG in my pickup, was getting 16-17mpg and its down to 13-15ish.

Wonder if I should try another gas station or take an old mower, fill it with E10, run it for a bit then let it sit and see what happens.

[twincat800]

Dont know anything about e10 but reg 87 gas compared to e85 in my 2010 silverado, i get at least 2 or 3 mpg less when im running e85. Lately ive been buying it to help keep my money here and not wherever else it would go if i buy reg 87 gas. Would love to run it in my quad but the only places that sell e85 around here is pretty much only meijer stores that have gas pumps.

[Scro]

We can still get gas with no ethanol at quite a few places around here. You may want to check around, in case there is a station close to you that has no ethanol. I get 1-2 better MPG in my Accord without ethanol. Good thing is, the stations that don't have ethanol, are 4-5 cents cheaper.

[CJM]

its all 10% here, havent found anything otherwise in a LONG time. Only gas that isnt is from the local track (100) or sunoco 100 and I aint spending 8 bucks a gallon for my truck or the quad.

[honda400ex2003]

shell usually doesnt have any eth in the premium around here. some of the bps dont either, i guess i would look there first if possible no matter where you are at.

steve

[CJM]

Im almost positive every station has it here steve, Ill check the only shell for miles tho just to see.

Marc

[honda400ex2003]

oh, it wasnt directed toward you marc, i was just saying that in case someone else had a shell and didnt look there. I forgot about it around here, they are one of the only stations that marks around here. MI doesnt require a label for anything less than or equal to 10% so none of the pumps need it. usually if the station doesnt have it, they advertise it though around here since they like us peeps who buy it for the sleds and atvs.

steve