Ethanol-Free gas stations...

[Traveller]

This website lists Ethanol-Free gas stations by state and city.

http://pure-gas.org/

[wytfut]

cool.... it doesn't list all of them in NebraXi.... but it listed my lil town.... cool site... cool to know...

[Traveller]

It doesn't list all of them in my area either, but you can add to the list as you find new stations. Hey, that's a good reason for a ride!

[wytfut]

Jamie.... if you don't mind... I'd like to go a bit further with this topic....

Per our phone call several weeks ago..... I had no idea that certain parts of the country didn't have any "real" gasoline at the pumps. And my thoughts were, that everywhere was like here in the flatlands..... all pumps have at least one choice of real unadulterated gasoline.

You noted that this year was the largest year you have ever had for fuel tank liners going away from our OEM tanks. And your thoughts are that its the ethanol sitting in our tanks over extended periods of time. And the cost of getting the tanks resealed with ethanol resistant liner, was a bit of a cost .......let alone hard to find..

Since that phone call, I recieved in my shop a R/O from New Mexico, ...... with some of the foulest fuel that I have ever smelled. You'd have thought the fuel was 20 years old... but I know for a fact, it was barely a year old.

My point? ..... a lot of parts of our country, folks can ride year round, and because of this, I'm not sure that ethanol will be an issue, if they keep their fuel fresh.... But here in the flatlands, where we have "real" gasoline..... we can't/don't get to ride during the cold months. ..... I'm thinking we don't want to store our X's in the northern parts of the country, all winter with ethanol in the tanks. As an old shade tree guy,... my rule of thumb for off season usage of any gasoline burning equipment.... keep it full or drain it. Now I'm not so sure about keeping a full tank of ethanol. I've never supported some of these gasoline stabilizers in the past, as I have heard some bad stories... but maybe we need to start thinking in that direction also.... ...

I'm pretty sure, I'm going to check out some of these stabilizers...... the few X's that I've worked on with injector problems..... well, its just a pain in the butt, and really doesn't ever need to happen...

[Jumper]

Good link Jamie! Too bad I'm in Northern Virginia where you have to buy RFG in Metro D.C. (Reformulated plus Ethanol) I'm not even sure if Fauquier County still has Conventional gas (10%) , non RFG.... Next time I'm down in the Shenendoah Valley, I may hit the PURE station up from Elkton...

Jumper
 

[Traveller]

Jumper, the Pure station in Shenandoah only has 87 octane, but the old Texaco in Elkton across the street from the post office has 93 octane.

[Traveller]

Bruce, I try to avoid breathing those fumes or getting the rancid fuel on my skin or clothing. It really stinks and can't be good for people or other living things. In fact we've contracted with Safety-Kleen to properly dispose of the old fuel.

From my reading and information supplied by a friend in Maryland (thanks Jim), Ethanol undergoes a chemical reaction called Phase Separation. This problem first came to light in the boating industry several years ago and caused boat owners a lot of headaches resulting in some expensive repairs. One boat owner told me that the chemical soup created by phase separation actually melted through his fiberglass fuel tank ruining his boat.

Phase Separation describes what happens to gasoline containing Ethanol when water is present. When gasoline containing even small amounts of Ethanol comes in contact with water, either liquid or in the form of humidity; the Ethanol will pick-up and absorb some or all of that water. When it reaches a saturation point the Ethanol and water will Phase Separate, actually coming out of solution and forming two or three distinct layers in the tank.

Phase Separation is also temperature dependent. For example, E-10 can hold approximately 0.5% water at 60 Fahrenheit (F). To better understand the amount of water that we are talking about, picture 1 gallon of E-10 at 60 F. This gallon will hold approximately 3.8 teaspoons of water.   However if the temperature drops to 20 F it can only hold about 2.8 teaspoons of water. This means that the lower the temperature goes, the less water in the tank it takes for phase separation to occur.

I'm not a chemist, but I assume that the amount of water and chemical soup in the tank increases over time, especially if you don't run you tank to empty between fill-ups. This may not be a real problem for those who like to get the last mile out of each tank, (you know who you are) but if you are in the habit of filling up when you still have a quarter of a tank the concentration will increase. Then when you park your bike for the winter you have a lot of water and unwanted chemicals percolating in your tank. Eventually the tank liner becomes compromised allowing the water to attack the steel and the chemical soup to damage the fuel pump, pressure regulator and injectors. 

The bikes that we've seen exhibiting the most severe damage have been in storage for a while, or live in areas that experience high humidity, or both.

If any of this information is in error, please feel free to correct me. I've observed this problem for quite awhile and I will not be using Ethanol Fuel where there is an alternative.
 

[wytfut]

thanx Jamie for filling in the blanks....
printing off, and hanging in my shop, for all visitors to see...

[Jumper]

Hmmm... Is the the Texaco across from 7-11? Or the one across from the Post Office? hehehe..
I don't know of any Xer that runs his X out of gas! hehehe,again...
Jumper