The stuff in my tank??

[Old Dog]

I set off yesterday for Aberystwyth on the Skorpion. Called to see the parish secretary and then out of town only to have the recently electrically sorted bike come to a popping and banging halt, over to reserve and we managed another couple of hundred metres before popping and banging to another halt.

Checked the tank and there was plenty of fuel, so I drained the carb bowl and with a lot of popping and banging and bit of pushing we got back to the vicarage. Off came the tank and on draining the contents into a bucket (2) I found what looked like water but on inspection appeared more like dirty water in the bottom of the tank but when you isolate it it has a sort of stingy look to it. I had it once before and it made the petrol cloudy until it settled out. The bike coughs and sputters, pops and bangs and then stops, restarts and then does it all over, like water in the tank.
I put everything back sans the crud and off we went, an hour late but without incident.

On checking with Graham's IE MR MZ supplier, he tells me it is ethanol eating my tank and that I should use hi octane fuel as they don't put ethanol into this product, anyone else experienced similar?

[Tony the Skin]

A lot on various sites about ethanol being put in fuel and avoiding it by using the high octane grades. Try the VMCC website. Old car forums have complaints of damage to fuel lines.

[Tony the Skin]

As a second thought do the Baggies have a resin or metal petrol tank and are they having similar problems?.

[Old Dog]

Tony, have you had this with your modded Skorpion

[Tony the Skin]

I no longer have the Skorpion being now on 2 strokes. I did clean out the tank as there did seem to be some slimey mess in it. After that I used the higher octane petrol as a precaution.

[Old Dog]

So which 2Ts are you running?

[edfmaniac]

I've heard way more people complaining about ethanol than people who claimed to have fixed their problems by switching fuels. My Skorpion ran on an ethanol blend for over 20,000 miles with no problems and everyone I know that runs it in their plastic tanks has had no problems with the tanks themselves. All motocross bikes have plastic tanks and I have yet to see one turned gooey because of alcohol in the fuel. JMO

[Srinath]

Ethanol does burn slower than gasoline. Is that enough to make your bike cough and sputter ...

However, if a 15k redline GSXR can run it, so can the 7K 660.

Cool.
Srinath.

[Tony the Skin]

So which 2Ts are you running?

ETZ250, ETZ251 and 301 Saxon Fun.

[samandkimberly]

The effects of 10%ethanol gas on nylon tanks is pretty well substantiated - you will get a 5 percent or so expansion of material and then it will stay like that, even if you stop using ethanol. This is why Baggie tanks can be so hard to fit, and why Skorpion tank have paint cracking problems as well as fit issues. But that is the extent of the problem. No softening, going up or otherwise of the tank.

If you've got goo, it's something else.

Sam

[Tony the Skin]

The effects of 10%ethanol gas on nylon tanks is pretty well substantiated - you will get a 5 percent or so expansion of material and then it will stay like that, even if you stop using ethanol. This is why Baggie tanks can be so hard to fit, and why Skorpion tank have paint cracking problems as well as fit issues. But that is the extent of the problem. No softening, going up or otherwise of the tank.

If you've got goo, it's something else.

Sam

Very interesting, thanks. To the best of my knowledge in the UK 10% ethanol is not yet allowed. We are still fairly new to 5% so we have less experience than in the USA. For a period in the 1970's onwards non-metal tanks were not allowed on bikes hence Norton stopped using them. Regarding the Skorpion does anyone have a clear idea of the material it is made of?.

[samandkimberly]

Nylon, specifically Nylon 6, or PA6.

[Srinath]

My fuel issues are mainly to the fact tha tthe tank will take in water through the cap when it rains.
Cool.
Srinath.

[edfmaniac]

My fuel issues are mainly to the fact tha tthe tank will take in water through the cap when it rains.
Cool.
Srinath.

Have you cleared the drain hose that is supposed to keep that from happening?

[Srinath]

Yes however this time of year we get all sorts of leaves and junk flying in the air ... wait a sec, that is all times of the year ...
That hole in mine also is very very small ... I'll check it with the 96 ... maybe that one is smaller than average.

Cool.
Srinath.