Yamaha TRX850 Enthusiasts Forum

Over here some of the fuel outlets sell 95 ron with 5% ethanol. I was wondering what those more experienced think of feeding the trx some of the ethanol laden fuel

cheers mark

I work in the fuel industry and basically all the petrol we buy in the UK now, and has been for about 8 months, has about 5% ethanol in it. I say 'about' as it's never is 5%, but thats a different story. Most people wont have even noticed the change as it was legislation driven and so no one had to tell the general public.

In terms of the bike you wont get any problems as every UK TRX is already running on it with no problems. The only problem you get with ethanol fuel is that it absorbs water and inside the tanks on the petrol stations you can get whats called phase seperation whereby the fuel and ethanol seperate due to too much water being present, Its rare so dont panic, but it does happen. I always get a reciept with the pump number and time ( when poss) as this is the only piece of paper the petrol station will accept to say teh fuel came from them. Its no garantee that they will cough up but a good start should you get contaminated fuel.

Sorry to wander off, its my job and i'm a geek!

Industrial chemist FANDANGO?
I knew of this 5% (roughly) bio-ethanol thing actually, European legislation is it not?
You`all might find this interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85_in_standard_engines

OK ... I'm sure I just read about this in another thread so I'm going away to do some hunting and I might link the two threads if they're very similar ...

wanders off scratching head .....









Wanders back with smug look on face ....

Two threads actually!! Recently on Killerwhale's programmable CDI thread > http://trx850.motomaniac.net/forum/view ... f=6&t=5343

Killerwhale wrote:

Mincehead wrote:E85, that`s bio-ethanol is it not, well 85% bio-ethanol hence the name? Yes I`ve heard good power increases can be found by using it.
Sweden has quite a good infrastructure of outlets for it too I believe?

All stations are required by law to have it!

but also last summer there was this, which Tarwe posted after I heard something on the radio....

Tarwetijger wrote:The warnings of the fuel in France is about E10, which replaces the Euro95 petrol. It has 10% of ethanol in it, which can damage hoses or even the engine of older cars and bikes. I'd take no risk and fill up with Euro98 or V-power and the look-a-likes.

I wish i was clever enough to be a chemist! No, i work in environmental protection and look after most of the major oil comany and super market petrol stations making sure they dont leak and if they do its as small a volume as possible (and make sure the pumps dispense correctly as well). I'm a stats analyst by trade, but it's not trading standards or the environment agency.

E5 is what we currently have in the UK and in time it will go to E10, etc. E5 is fairly ok though it does like old cork and soft rubber (think old gaskets) but teh E10 and upwards is nasty stuff and its correct in that it will just eat rubber, etc and will cause lots of problems when it comes in. Morrisons have B10, do not use it at all unless you specifically know your vehicle is compatible as it will knacker sensors and invalidate any warranty.

The cost to remove sludge and crap from inside petrol station tanks over the last few months is massive (ethanol washes the tank clean of any flaky rust, lime scale, etc). Some of this got drawn up the suction lines and unfortunately into customers cars as it was only when the pumps ran really slow did the filters (like oil filters) get changed in the pumps, but by then they where damged and just letting crap through. We are over that now though, thankfully!

Off topic but a tip for anyone who wants free fuel... always use the pump furthest away from the shop door and only squeeze the trigger about half of what you normally would, so the '10 pence' number is visble and not 'blurring'. Reason is the nozzle furthest from the shop door tends to sell the least and so has to over measure more to be cost effective to reset. By making the fuel dispense slower your making the meter work harder and it gives fractionaly more away, also if it has a fault you can get a free fill up. The tales of filling up for a fiver a true, rare but true. I'm not talking gallons free but you will get an amount free and your more likely to find the faulty pump using the least used pumps.

...I will shut up now...i did say i was a geek.

I always use the pumps furthest away FANDANGO, you stand less chence of getting caught when you ride off without paying.
Actually I`m pretty familier with fuel station/forcourt stuff as I was once a manager of an independant garage specialising in tyres and exhausts.I knew of the pump delivery thing, I can remember Mick the garage owner whinging when he had to replace his old pumps, (something and Beck if I recall) with more modern Gilbarco ones that he was certain would cost him a few pennies here and there in free fuel.
See I`m a bit of an anorak too, here`s an interesting little read for a fellow anorak:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/posts/?t=9627

.

ask a stupid question and look what you an learn.

5% is fine 10% to be avoided

use the pump furtherest from the counter, depending on how much you value your time

cheers mark