View attachment 13774 this may be of interest to ducati owners, especially multistrada owners and pre 2007 bikes
There have been several threads about ethanol in petrol (q.v.). It is a genuine concern which needs consideration and maybe, for some, action. That consideration is not helped by ill-informed scare stories.
That consideration is not helped by ill-informed scare stories.[/QUOTE] is this remark directed towards myself or the article itself?
The bottom line as far as damage from ethanol in E10 petrol is - if you have any doubts, don't use it... Which is fine until it's the only fuel available, which is the EU's plan. As Mr R quite rightly states, they have had high ethanol content fuel in America for some time, and there is at least one good tank sealant on the market. However - part of the problem with higher ethanol content in petrol is that is absorbs more water into the fuel if it's left standing, and then the water does damage either by good old-fashioned rust or by creating a sort of "goo" in the fuel system ( pump, carbs etc ). I have already had this happen on "the mighty Sym". Took ages to strip and clean the fuel system, but that's what you get for putting a tin of old fuel into the bike instead of filling up at a petrol ststion with fresh fuel. Is the article a load of MCN scaremongering? Maybe - remember all the fuss about that other great "green" initiative, unleaded fuel and how that was going to kill off all older vehicles? Neither unleaded or E10 are really that much "greener", but that's a different argument.
The ending of lead in petrol was a much more serious problem. Having to replace the valves or valve seats in your cylinder heads is a lot more expensive and complicated than having to replace rubber fuel pipes, clean out carbs, or get a petrol tank lined with sealant. The MCN article raised a genuine issue, but the journalist was too lazy to get the facts clear. The ethanol in itself is no problem at all (since engines run very well on it), but as you rightly say the ethanol attracts water, the water may contain salts, and the salts may cause corrosion etc. Therein lies the problem.
Pete - Ethanol is a problem in that it attacks rubber and various soft metals and other things too. Anyone with a GRP tank will have serious problems... Actually a lot of people didn't go to the bother of replacing valve seats or cylinder heads in order to use unleaded petrol, they just use an additive - The only thing that I had that ran on leaded petrol at the time (and still have...) was a Mini. Simply changing to a Mini-Sport unleaded head was a lot easier than taking the entire fuel system out and sealing the tank would have been... BUT - my point was not about how difficult it would be. My point was about the paranoia that surrounded the introduction of unleaded petrol and how the doom-sayers predicted the end of classic motoring. It didn't happen then, and I doubt it will happen now; although it will undoubtedly create problems...
