Bad Gas == Bad JuJu

[cywelchjr]

While trying to troubleshoot what I thought might be a serious problem, I decided to put some premium gas in Brutus. Man! I thought I had killed him. Ran like crap, wouldn't idle hardly at all, and had no power and felt like stuff had broken loose and messed up the carbs. I was really getting frustrated with it.

Finally I decided that maybe the gas might be the issue because it started shortly after putting the gas in, from a different station that usual. So, I drained all 4 carbs, and then drained the tank as completely as I could and refilled the tank with good fresh regular unleaded from the station I normally go to.

What a difference! It's right back where it used to be, running good, strong and smooth. So I would have to say, when working on tuning or running issues make SURE you have good fresh gas, as these beasts seem to be really picky about the gas you run in them. I'll tell you, I'll never put gas in from that station again.

[XJOK2PLAY]

Cy,

Ya might want to pour some of the 'bad' gas into a glass jar, hold it up to the light, and see if there's water in it...

As an electrician, I've had to do a lot of wiring on additional U.G. water pump add ons installed at some of the OK Murphy's / WalMart gas stations.

Seems they installed the U.G. tanks w/o a way to pump the water away that runs down through the cracks / seams in the concrete and collects around the tanks when it rains... I was shocked that they were ever installed that way to begin with! Makes you wonder how they've kept from rising up out of the ground! They must've had a problem like that, and that's why we're being called now to wire up these submersable pumps & control boxes.

There's lots of ways gas tanks get water in them... especially this time of year, with the temp swings that occur in a 24 hr. period... (condensation...)

Also... leaving our bikes sitting w/ only a half tank of gas or less makes them vulnerable to condensation forming in the tanks as well...
Think water might have been the culprit?? JAT

[DGXSER]

You know, I went for a nice ride earlier this year, about an hour or so one way. Bike was running great, filled up about half way out and form there it was pretty much grip it and rip it with little traffic or lights.

Well, when I reached my destination, I noticed it would not idle for crap. Spit and sputtered and had a miss. I decided to cut my visit to the location short and head back. But as I ran it, it ran good above idle, not noticable trouble anyway. But every time it got down to idle it would sputter and spit and develop an eratic miss.

When I got close to home I had put about 80 or so miles on, so I filled up at a local gas station I know and trust. Like you, the issue went away, idled and ran beautifully. Like you, never going to gas up there again!!

[XS1100 Newbie]

I learned my lesson a long time ago about this. I only fuel up at Chevron, or 76 stations. Out here they have better filtration than others, and good gas. Also never fill up while a truck is dumping fuel. Wait about an hour for all the gunk in the tanks to settle back down from being stirred up. FI systems are the worst for this. People let their tanks get really low, and then fuel up while the truck is dumping, and WHAMO!!!plugged injectors.

[Ivan]

I learned my lesson a long time ago about this. I only fuel up at Chevron, or 76 stations. Out here they have better filtration than others, and good gas. Also never fill up while a truck is dumping fuel. Wait about an hour for all the gunk in the tanks to settle back down from being stirred up. FI systems are the worst for this. People let their tanks get really low, and then fuel up while the truck is dumping, and WHAMO!!!plugged injectors.

Man, you'd think those automotive engineers would design cars with some sort of filtration before the injector, and perhaps a screen in the body of the injector its self as a secondary precaution. Too bad they don't.

[XS1100 Newbie]

They do have filters, they just don't filter out small enough particles.

[cywelchjr]

Or water, or other impurities that are not particulate in type.

[wa407mpp]

This may be an urban myth, but for what it's worth, I'll pass it on anyway. Supposedly when oil refineries transfer different petroleum products around in the refineries they use the same lines and the first shot of gas through the pipes after something else has been run through is contaminated with whatever was last run through, so they put it in a special tank and sell it to the cut rate stations at a cut rate price, and they sell it to the unspecting public. If this is true or I don't know, but I do know there is some really nasty gas out there.

[cywelchjr]

I hadn't heard that, but what I have been told by someone in the industry is that the only difference between the different brands is the additives which are added only at the last minute as they fill the truck. This means that generally all the stations in a geographic area get their gas from the same refinery. The only difference between the different grades is the ratios of the different components.

[crazy steve]

Both Fastmover and Cy have at least part of it right....

I worked for SoCal (now Chevron) in the early/mid 70s, and at that time the supposed deal was the tank farms drew the fuel out according to the tank level. The higher the tank level where the fuel was drawn, the more it cost. Stuff out of the 'bottom' usually went to the discounters and no-name independents. And yes, the only real difference between the major brands was the additive package that was added (although that could be a big difference).

But a bigger difference is the retailers. The major brands nearly always required their dealers to check their tanks on a regular basis, and would send out service techs to correct problems. The independents didn't have this available so tank maintainence could be pretty spotty. Generally, if you use a major-brand station that does high volume, you should be ok.

I'm with XS11Newbie; I only use Chevron, Texaco (bought by Chevron, so now it's the same gas), and 76. Arco is crap.....

'78E original owner

[cywelchjr]

Well, I know I had trouble with Arco gas up in washington when I lived there, but down here in Ca I have found Arco/AM-PM gas to be the most reliable in quality. I don't know if that is going to stay the same now that corporate has franchised them all out, but I also tend to fill from high volume stations. My fave actually is 76, because they stock race gas, not that I have run it, but the fact that they carry it just makes me want to try it

[Kmccaslan]

What gas do you guys run? I was told 93 is the best to run, but I have a ideling problem as well. Did not know if the high octane was causing it or not...

[Athedra]

You guys run on unleaded?

Thought a major conversion needs to be done to get that done. I run on what is called lead replacement petrol over here. If you guys can vouch that she will run on unleaded, then I don't have to drive all over to find a fuel station that sells LRP

[XS1100 Newbie]

I run on 89 octane unleaded. I believe that the valve seats were probably hardened up for unleaded somewhere around 1983. I think most of us have to run unleaded here. Some probably add an additive for the cooling that lead did. I personaly have run regular unleaded, and had no problems, but i prefer the 89 octane.

[LoHo]

I've run only unleaded for the life of the bike. And I found no advantage to using the higher octane gas. My running problems have all related to the vacuum advance wire decay problem, although I fixed everything else while I searched for that intermittent problem...