curly newbold Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 hi can anyone help with this problem? im getting a brown sticky gluey stuff inside my carb and inlet manifold, someone told me it might be ethenol in my fuel . i have a fiberglass tank on an old pre65 triumph, does this problem ring a bell with anyone ? what do i do about it ? any help if it is ethenol whats happening and what do i do about it ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stump magnet Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 drain your fuel immediately!! i had two tlr hondas with fibreglass seat tank units and i currently race a 1964 twinport cz with a fibreglass tank and the same thing has happened on all three. the high ethanol content of modern fuel eats the resin in fibreglass tanks and dissolves it into the petrol which then stays behind in the carb when the fuel evaporates, i have tried to seal a tlr tank with one of the so called fuel resistant sealers on the market and it didnt work. did the same with the cz tank over christmass using a different product called "flowliner" which i was assured would not be affected by modern fuels but after leaving it to cure for 4 weeks i added a gallon of fuel then within 4 days some of the coating was floating on the surface so i scratched and pulled it all out, the sealers are crap so completly drain the fuel after each meeting and leave the cap off so any left can evaporate its the only safe way ive found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curly newbold Posted September 6, 2010 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 thanks its not good news but at least i know what is causing it , do we know which fuel companys are using ethanol ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minislim Posted September 6, 2010 Report Share Posted September 6, 2010 from my experience it seems to be all normal unleaded fuels. they are using a prercentage of ethenol to make it more "green". i have been using super unleaded from sainsburys or shell v-power. this does not seem to be as volotile with the fibreglass tank on my bike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copemech Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 Get that stuff out before it wipes out the motor. Some have reported success by sloshing the tank with some stuff, Caswells i think is the name, yet even at the cost, race gas or AV gas is a safer bet, no more than is required for a trials bike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zippy Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 I have used Kreem Kit with great success on steel tanks. Does Kreem Kit work with fiberglass?? I am unsure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1oldbanjo Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 All fuels in the Cincinnati, Ohio area are blended with 10% ethanol. This has been a problem for those of us who have farm equipment that is used seasonally - the ethanol blended fuel will only last about 3 months before it won't run anymore and the ethanol is corroding fuel tanks, dissolving fuel lines and diaprhagms, and gumming up carbs. I have a found a distributor that will sell gasoline to farmers prior to blending with ethanol, it is 87 octane and runs and stores like the old stuff (before ethanol bending). This octane is a bit low for my Sherco so I blend in about 25% 100LL Avgas with the farm fuel. Even the premium fuels in this area contain ethanol. If you want to test the fuel for ethanol it is very simple. Take an old 20 oz clear soda bottle and put water in the bottle up to about 1/3rd the volume. Carefully mark this level, and then fill the rest of the bottle up with the fuel you want to test. Shake the bottle and then let the contents settle. The water will sink back down to to the bottom and the gasoline will float on top. If the water level has risen - it is because the water has absorbed the ethanol out of the gasoline. Every fuel I have tried in the Cincinnati area has ethanol - except for Avgass 100LL or Torco racing fuel, and the farm fuel that I get from the bulk distributor. If you think the Premium fuel in your area has less ethanol....you may be fooling yourself as they usually add ethanol to increase the octane rating of fuel that you buy at a gas station. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgshannon Posted September 7, 2010 Report Share Posted September 7, 2010 (edited) Caswells i think is the name Yes, it is Caswells. I purchased their kit, and used it on my Cota 247 tank. Worked great. I was given the advice by top notch fiberglass restoration guy as being the ONLY product that will work properly with fiberglass. Took him at his word, and was not sorry. - Darrell Edited September 7, 2010 by DGShannon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htrdoug Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 All fuels in the Cincinnati, Ohio area are blended with 10% ethanol. This has been a problem for those of us who have farm equipment that is used seasonally - the ethanol blended fuel will only last about 3 months before it won't run anymore and the ethanol is corroding fuel tanks, dissolving fuel lines and diaprhagms, and gumming up carbs. I have a found a distributor that will sell gasoline to farmers prior to blending with ethanol, it is 87 octane and runs and stores like the old stuff (before ethanol bending). This octane is a bit low for my Sherco so I blend in about 25% 100LL Avgas with the farm fuel.Even the premium fuels in this area contain ethanol. If you want to test the fuel for ethanol it is very simple. Take an old 20 oz clear soda bottle and put water in the bottle up to about 1/3rd the volume. Carefully mark this level, and then fill the rest of the bottle up with the fuel you want to test. Shake the bottle and then let the contents settle. The water will sink back down to to the bottom and the gasoline will float on top. If the water level has risen - it is because the water has absorbed the ethanol out of the gasoline. Every fuel I have tried in the Cincinnati area has ethanol - except for Avgass 100LL or Torco racing fuel, and the farm fuel that I get from the bulk distributor. If you think the Premium fuel in your area has less ethanol....you may be fooling yourself as they usually add ethanol to increase the octane rating of fuel that you buy at a gas station. 1OldBanjo- Just west of you CountryMark Fuels sell a premium without Ethanol,it'll be marked 91 Octane on the pumps and have no Green leaf on the identifying sticker on the pump,if it's marked 93 or 94 octane it's got ethanol. CountryMark gasoline specs Only Race Fuel my local distributor sells has lead in it,thinking about running it anyway,might just run it straight without cutting it with any crappy "Gasohol" and see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copemech Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 Yes, it is Caswells. I purchased their kit, and used it on my Cota 247 tank. Worked great. I was given the advice by top notch fiberglass restoration guy as being the ONLY product that will work properly with fiberglass. Took him at his word, and was not sorry.- Darrell One thing comes to mind here re the prior post, for sloshing to work, one would need to remove all traces of oil(premix) to get a good bond I would think. Carefull prep = better results! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copemech Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 All fuels in the Cincinnati, Ohio area are blended with 10% ethanol. This has been a problem for those of us who have farm equipment that is used seasonally - the ethanol blended fuel will only last about 3 months before it won't run anymore and the ethanol is corroding fuel tanks, dissolving fuel lines and diaprhagms, and gumming up carbs. I have a found a distributor that will sell gasoline to farmers prior to blending with ethanol, it is 87 octane and runs and stores like the old stuff (before ethanol bending). This octane is a bit low for my Sherco so I blend in about 25% 100LL Avgas with the farm fuel.Even the premium fuels in this area contain ethanol. If you want to test the fuel for ethanol it is very simple. Take an old 20 oz clear soda bottle and put water in the bottle up to about 1/3rd the volume. Carefully mark this level, and then fill the rest of the bottle up with the fuel you want to test. Shake the bottle and then let the contents settle. The water will sink back down to to the bottom and the gasoline will float on top. If the water level has risen - it is because the water has absorbed the ethanol out of the gasoline. Every fuel I have tried in the Cincinnati area has ethanol - except for Avgass 100LL or Torco racing fuel, and the farm fuel that I get from the bulk distributor. If you think the Premium fuel in your area has less ethanol....you may be fooling yourself as they usually add ethanol to increase the octane rating of fuel that you buy at a gas station. Unfortunatly, it is not that easy, yet opposite. The alcohol in the fuel will absorb about 1/2 its own volume of water, so you end up wilth fuel with alcohol saturated in water! If the water absorbed the alcohol, we could just skim off the good fuel! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
htrdoug Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 And the scary thing is the government is pushing to go to 15% alcohol,which will damage all the fuel handling equipment out there. It's fooking idiotic,putting our food supply into our gas tanks. politician are all criminals I do find it ironic that the farmers who cry for Ethanol plants to sell their crops to have to buy special fuel without their products in it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motovintage Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 +1 on caswells, here is the link : http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm DO NOT USE KREEM we could create our own topic section on E10 and all of the problems it creates Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgshannon Posted September 8, 2010 Report Share Posted September 8, 2010 +1 on caswells, here is the link :http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm DO NOT USE KREEM we could create our own topic section on E10 and all of the problems it creates I think that all the vintage bike owners, fiberglass fuel tank boat owners, etc. (everyone with damaged equipment) should bring a class action suit against the governement for such a stupid idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malcra Posted November 7, 2010 Report Share Posted November 7, 2010 Interestingly enough, my fibreglass Sammy Miller tank and seat unit has just failed this weekend (with a hole along one seam). Not good, for more words and pictures see: twinshock.org.uk article. I think this maybe a result of using some 97 RON fuel (Shell Advanced in this case), which may have a higher ethanol content. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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