Gas / Ethanol question

[TW]

A couple of weeks ago I left home and rode to my local gas station and the bike ran great as usual.  I filled up and went down the rode about 5 miles and the bike started missing, sputtering , and shaking.  To make a long story shorter, I decided to syphon all the gas out and add new gas and seafoam.  After a few gallons of new gas the bike started running good as usual.  Question:  how do you avoid this aggravation?   Do you use an additive on an every day basis or is there a better way.  Thanks in advance

[Valker]

Sounds more like water in the gas than the ethanol.

[F6BANGER]

What did you do with the old gas? Did you look at it to see if there was water separation? Did you put it in another vehicle? If so, how did it run?

[Farther]

Question:  how do you avoid this aggravation?   Do you use an additive on an every day basis or is there a better way.  Thanks in advance

Purchase your fuel from a high through-put station, preferably a top tier fuel, keep your tank full when stored, when stored for longer periods, treat fuel with Stabil, Seafoam or other fuel preservative.  Avoid all this by riding often for long periods of time.

[Patrick]

I agree that you may have gotten some bad gas, fuel tanks could have just been refueled recently and the crap [ technical term] hadn't settled out.. Ethanol fuel has a lot of water in it and it draws water like crazy.. Startron could help, it helps hold water in suspension..

[TW]

I didn't realize that water could be the problem.  I have a Ford 250 with a diesel 6.0 engine.  About a month ago I got water in the fuel , from the same station (not sure about that) and it was costly to get it cleaned up.  I am changing stations and hopefully I will avoid this in the future.  I like the idea of riding it more and longer.   I will try using stabill or something like it.  Thanks

[MP]

Ethanol would not cause that much of a problem all at once.  Bad fuel, water, likely cause.

[Farther]

Ethanol fuel has a lot of water in it and it draws water like crazy..

You must be purchasing your ethanol fuel from a really low through put station down at the dock to get water in it from the dispenser.

[john]

 About a month ago I got water in the fuel ,           
 from the same station               
I am changing stations                 

[Dave G]

I purchased gas at a well known and busy  station.  Got 5 miles down the road and Val started to sputter.  Made it back to the station in a few minutes.  While I was gone a gasoline tanker truck had pulled in and was filling the tanks.  I asked him about the gas and he said the tanks were almost empty and the station operator should have stopped dispensing the gas or at least told the customers they could get bad gas.  I don't know how gas is pumped from the storage tanks.  Does the suction pipe go to the tank bottom?  I do know that gas floats on water so any water would always be at the bottom of the tank.  The suction pipe must go all the way to bottom to empty the tank.  If that is the case the water (if any) would always be sucked out,  full tank are not.  Anyway I now have an Exxon card and only buy that.

[cookiedough]

I got bad gas (no, not farting) once in my vehicle 20+ years ago and so did others as well in my small town at the same mobil gas station.  Car was sputtering and wouldn't run right.  Doesn't happen very often, but is possible.

I've also heard to not get gas when the fueling truck is pumping in new gas because the sediment in the bottom of the tank could end up in your gas tank causing issues as well.

[larswlvs]

The in ground tanks at gas stations have a settlement area the tank does not get pumped from the very bottom. Most stations will shut off the gas pumps before you reach that area (they know how much gas is left in their storage tanks)

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

I've gotten bad gas twice while traveling on the valk. Both times from what appeared to be high volume BP stations along the interstate. 2'nd time in S. Dakota was really bad, bike would hardly run at idle. Even after running out that tank and refueling it would hardly idle. A can of sea foam from a farm supply store in Sioux Falls finally fixed it. Looking back on it I imagine my carb bowls got full of water.

[Quicksilver]

When transporting petroleum quite often gasoline will be put into compartments that just contained diesel. There is always some residue. Over time the diesel residue can accumulate in the station tanks. Or worse a driver may not have emptied his compartment completely before loading it with gasoline resulting in even more diesel in the gasoline tank. The diesel will float above the water but below the gasoline. If the station lets the tanks run down near the bottom, there is still the space for water below the end of the pipe, however, you could be drawing up the residual diesel thats above the water. Petroleum tanker drivers do make mistakes from time to time. We had one driver deliver 10000 gallons to a station across the street from where he was supposed to, very uncool. Another put a load of gasoline into a series of diesel tanks manifolded together, resulting in contamination of 40000 gallons of diesel.

[Brian]

Startron concentrate additive ever fill up now. No more stench from the exhaust and my better half doesn't complain anymore when I pull in the garage. It idles alot smoother now too.

[SPOFF]

...resulting in contamination of 40000 gallons of diesel.

That would be a "career-limiting move."  ???

[Quicksilver]

Yup, Driver lived 300 miles from terminal, they told him to take his gear and start walking. No lift to the bus stop, nothing, just going down the road kicking a can.

[Farther]

Similar situation here in the State of Jefferson.  A regional dealer's driver made a delivery to a US Forest Service facility and put 9000 gallons into a monitoring well instead of the tank fill pipe.  I don't know what happened to the driver but the dealer was taken to court because he was resisting paying for the clean-up. 

[salty1]

I didn't realize that water could be the problem.  I have a Ford 250 with a diesel 6.0 engine.  About a month ago I got water in the fuel , from the same station (not sure about that) and it was costly to get it cleaned up.  I am changing stations and hopefully I will avoid this in the future.  I like the idea of riding it more and longer.   I will try using stabill or something like it.  Thanks

Sounds like its time to find a better fuel outlet.