Hello Folks , Got a 749 but fancy a change and an 848/1098/1198 is calling me so read the usual things to lookout for but one item that is popping up is "ethanol" affecting the plastic fuel tanks . It mainly seems to affect the USA market and a recall was instigated there to sort it. Has anyone on here had the issue and what was your fix ie Ducati helped out or did you fund it yourself?
Check the steering damper isn't rubbing on the front of the tank - this could mean it's expanded - don't use ethanol fuel Rob had issues with his SFS - 2009 I think and has had 2 replacements from Ducati. I have supplied early MTS owners with California Cycleworks tanks with this issue too.
So it is an issue in the UK will check when I inspect I have read using "full fat fuel" ie the expensive stuff has little or no ethanol so that would be the stuff to use.
Some have, some haven't. They are supposed to show on the pumps but I haven't seen one yet that does!
I had issues with my SFS 2011 bike although bought new in 2013. This tank was changed in 2015 as it had swollen. Changed again at the back end of last year. Both tanks had swollen in different places. I'm not aware of any issues with the Superbike fuel tanks, although apparently some have had them.
Nearly all uk fuel has ethonol in it these days from what I gather Most premium fuels should have less than 10% eth... some say shell super is ethonol free.... who knows
Here is some info from the Aprilia forum from a quick google search...looks bad from 2017 when all go to 10% it says due to the shitty EU :Rage: Thought I'd relay some information to the UK riders regarding ethanol in fuel. I'm very conscious about ethanol in my bikes because of the damage I've seen done to both my RS and RSV along with my brothers bikes. It's usually the swelling tank issues but we also had a few issues with leaky seals on the RS bikes which I put down to ethanol, due to the nature (and short time) in which the seals seem to breakdown. I've always run my bikes on super unleaded regardless, but I have recently seen the return of the swelling issues and I decided to dig a bit deeper with the fuel suppliers I frequent. Here are most of the results so far. It's important to note that companies like Gulf, Jet, etc - are just fuel resellers and source fuel from many locations across the country. This means that while one station may supply Ethanol free super unleaded, the next may not. It can also happen that some stations may have ethanol free super unleaded one week, and the following week it has ethanol in it. This is due to availability and sourcing of fuel. BP Reading between the lines... and BP's shy wording, you should assume that all BP fuels including BP Ultimate contain 5% ethanol. Shell All Shell products including V-Power Unleaded contain 5% Ethanol. Texaco All Texaco products including premium grade and super unleaded grade contain 5% ethanol. Jet Stations Jet could not give me a definitive answer because it varies across the country. Simply put, some of the stations near me (North/East Yorkshire) are supplied fuel from the Total Lindsey refinery at Immingham. At this time, ethanol is NOT added to super unleaded from this refinery. Gulf Same as Jet above. Super unleaded in my area is 'usually' sourced from the Immingham refinery which currently does NOT add ethanol to Super UL. However, no guarantees can be made due to shit loads of factors. Total Total have not yet replied to my email. Will update when they do. This information is pretty much as expected. All unleaded now contains at least 4.75% ethanol as required by law. This is going to change in 2017 when they are upping that to 10%. Most Super Unleaded now also contains a minimum of 4.75% ethanol. The only solution now is to seal my tanks and drain the bikes come winter. Thanks EU, you set of jobsworth bastards. Thanks UK government, you set of spineless bastards. Thanks Aprilia, for making Ethanol rotting bikes. Thanks Aprilia Forum, for letting me rant. Sent from heaven.
I was talking to my main dealer when he changed my SFS tank again. He reckons some KTM tanks are so bad, they have to use a ratchet strap to get them back on. What sealing product are you using Stu?
There is plenty of reading matter out there on the subject not to mention this Forum:- http://ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/remove-ethanol-from-petrol.47087/page-8. Not sure about latest bikes but Ducati were still supplying tanks made from PA6 in 2008 and probably later. For the record, Cagiva and Triumph tanks also made from PA6 were suffering from distortion/bloating in the UK at least 8 years ago before Ethanol was widely available in this country.
