Crap fuel :-/

Filled up a few days ago at a newly opened petrol station; they had a
variety of "Ethanol-ised" fuel available, but I opted for the more
traditional (and more expensive) regular unleaded.

Sadly, it must've contained something other than just normal fuel; from a
few kilometres down the road 'til now, the bike's been behaving rather
strangely. Reduced power, then loud rattling (backfire with every
revolution?) from the air filter.

Refilled a couple of times since then with known-good fuel, and the problem
appears to be abating, but at this rate it looks like it'll take another 4-5
tankfuls to clear the problem up (assuming the engine doesn't destroy itself
in the meantime).

Lesson learnt, never be tempted to save a few cents by buying petrol from a
dodgy servo.

- Bob.

 

Hi Bob,

Dunno where you hail from, but could you give us the name & address of
the servo as I'll be on the road in the van for 3 days and I don't
want to buy dodgy fuel.

Kind regards
Dave Milligan

 

If you've already diluted the fuel with several tanksful of different
fuel, and the problem only 'appears to be abating' then you either need
to clean your fuel system - check the fuel filter and put in a tankful
of Optimax - or look for the cause elsewhere - maybe something
electrical?

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

I'd pull out your spark plugs and give them a good clean
If that doesn't work and its an 03 R6 it could be the coils. Had to replace
all 4 of mine :-(

 

Sloptimax!!!!!

Never will I put that in mine.....

Go Caltex ---- Vortex or higher octane... Put in some 98% octane ... and
hopefully that will fix.. your problem sooner...

 

I've heard the tanks in stalled underground at service stations come shipped
with a coating of oil to protect them from the elements during
transport..... this oil mixes with the fuel and its best to avoid new
service stations for that reason.

Have no idea about how much truth is in that, but I guess your helping me
realise there might be a lot of truth there

All the best with getting your bike back the way it was.

JasonBW

 

First things first.

You need to clean out your fuel system and not try to dilute it with 4-5
other tankfulls hoping that will make it go away. Sure the fuel might have
been "dodgy" but what was making it dodgy in the first place? They usually
don't come shipped like that.

And seeing I don't work for the tech department of a large petrochemical
company anymore...."You're a fuckwit" thinking it will just 'go away'.

justAL


----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Milutinovic" <>
Newsgroups: aus.motorcycles
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2005 4:38 PM
Subject: Crap fuel :-/

 

....not if it's n-octane.

98%? Wow, I hope you didn't pay much for that!

Hammo

 

Optimax allegedly has the highest %age of detergents of any of the fuels
(we want to clean out the fuel system right?), and works just fine in
motorbikes as long as you don't leave them sitting in the shed for weeks
on end unused, and the OP has refuelled several times since the bike
started playing up, so may be either the worlds worst procrastinator
when it comes to posting questions for help on usenet, or more probably,
uses the bike regularly. If you think that the problem can be fixed
merely by increasing octane wouldn't it be a better solution to buy a
drum of avgas rather than pissing about with sub-100 RON fuels?

Nev..
'03 ZX12R

 

Penrith region, outer West of Sydney. The servo is the new "Prime" Westbound
on the Great Western Highway, about 2Km West of Mamre Road (adjacent to the
new industrial complex).

- Bob.

 

Ok, I'll accept that, considering you're one of the few who actually
wrote "you're" rather than the "your" I see too often in newsgroups!

I was actually specifically warned _against_ higher octane fuels by the
mechanic, as being a "traditional" carburettor-fed bike, there're no
electronics to adjust the firing to accommodate the different fuel
properties. So given that I'm looking at cleaning the fuel system, what
would you recommend? Obviously replacing the filter would be a good start,
but what else? Drain the tank 'n flush it with something? With what?

- Bob.

 

Get another mechanic.....

Regards, Andrew.

 

There's a reason why he's working as a mechanic and not as a
petrochemical engineer...

Nev..
'03 ZX12R