Everyone hopes – and many of us try – to not be that guy. The guy who has a classic car or motorcycle and leaves it sitting, unused, for months or even longer than that. Leading to worse rather than better. I ought to know better.
Well, it turns out that I have become that guy.
The how-it-happened matters less than it did happen. I let my ’03 Kawasaki ZRX1200 – which is the only motorcycle I ever bought brand-new and also one of the very last liter bikes sold without a computer or a catalytic converter and with carburetors rather than electronic fuel injection – sit on its side stand collecting dust in the garage for (I’m wincing now) nearly a year without even rolling it around the garage. No surprise, when I decided the other day to take it out for a ride, it did not want to start and it wouldn’t idle unless I kept the revs up and then it spat and backfired through its Muzzy muffler like a it was running on three rather than four cylinders and the other three were misfiring, too.
I knew right away what it was.
Guilt comes easy to those who are (assuming they aren’t a politician). The problem was due to a two-fold, compounding mistake on my part. The first was that when I last rode the bike sometime in the fall of 2024, I filled it up with E10 – which is “gas” in the same sense that a zinc penny is the same thing as copper pennies.
Maybe not quite as bad as that. But not far off.
E10 means only 90 percent gasoline. The other ten percent being ethanol alcohol. There are many reasons why E10 is a gyp – like a zinc penny. The first being you’re paying for gas but getting 10 percent less gas. The second being that ethanol has a lower BTU content than gasoline, which means more of it must be burned to get the same energy as you would from a lesser amount of gasoline. This means your vehicle goes less far on E10 than it would on a gallon of E10.
The problem is that most “gas” stations only sell E10 – making it harder to fill up with gasoline. There is a gas station not-too-far from me that sells 100 percent gas and I usually fill the tanks of my motorcycles and especially my old muscle car with it – not so much because I am worried about not going as far on a tankful but rather what a tankful of E10 might do to my motorcycles and my old muscle car.
You may already know what I am getting at – which is that alcohol is a problem fuel when it is used in older vehicles with fuel systems designed for gasoline – rather than 90 percent gasoline. The stuff is hard on rubber/plastic parts not designed to handle alcohol-laced “gas.” If left long enough in the fuel system of a vehicle not designed for high-alcohol-content fuels, it might turn those rubber/plastic parts to goo – and goo tends not to flow too well through small-diameter orifices such as jets inside a carburetor.
The other issue is corrosion – from the inside out. Alcohol-laced fuels can lead to water pooling in your “gas” and in the float bowls of your carburetor(s) and that can lead to the symptoms my ZRX was manifesting.
I decided to treat them via the Italian Tune-Up. If you don’t know what that is, it’s clearing the cobwebs (and the bad gas) by running the engine at high RPM until the crap passes and the fresh gas which you just put in works its way through the fuel system, cleaning everything out as it goes (gasoline being a fuel as well as a solvent). This wasn’t easy because the bike’s engine had to be held to at least 3,000 RPM to avoid it stalling out and when it stalled out, getting it going again wasn’t easy. It’s not easy keeping the revs up like that out on the road unless you can keep moving. Having to stop – and keep the engine running – is what’s hard. It took about 30 minutes of Italian Tune-Up’ing to get the spitting and popping to cease and the engine to hold a normal idle again, but – hoorah! – it did. Hoorah because it meant I wasn’t going to have to remove, disassemble and clean (and then re-assemble) the bike’s four carbs, which is a real pain.
The lesson is: Do not leave gas – especially ethanol-laced “gas” – in the tank for nearly a year and expect the bike (or old car or lawn mower) to start and run as if you’d just started it the day before. Try to not be that guy and fill the tank with 100 percent prior to long periods of just sitting and – if you can – run the carbs to empty (by shutting of the fuel supply) before you leave it just sitting. Draining the tank if you’re going to let the machine sit for months is also not a bad idea; burn the “gas” in something else that’s being used. If you must use E10, use fuel stabilizer, which will prolong the storage-life of the not-quite-gas.
That way, you won’t up being that guy – like me!
. . .
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Before putting my 2024 Z7 that I brought new off the dealer floor in late-2025 at a near 50% discount due to it not moving, I made absolutely sure to put E0 premium, thankfully available from a nearby gas station in so it could survive the long, cold winter in the garage. I fear for the tires though. It has fewer than 500 miles on the clock, I feel kinda bad about it, but I bought it at the end of Summer so I only got a couple of quick back-and-forths in before it had to get shelter. It’s on the battery tender, but I’m concerned about the nibblers (mice) coming out and making a stew and a nest. Also, “leeches” not “leaches”. To leach (v.) means to drain through or out, a leech (n.) is a nasty lake creature that sucks your bloot.
Eric,
Late to this show, but since you live in the country, how about buying a 300 gallon farm tank on a stand?
Around here the bulk fuel people will deliver either 87 or 91 octane ethanol free gas. Throw some Pri-G in the tank when they fill it and you are good to go. Put a good filter on it that has a petcock on the bottom to drain out any water.
Might not work if you live in an area with a lot of petty thieves who will steal your gas. If that is the case, then maybe a ground level tank that you can hide inside a small building – but you will need a pump.
Anon
Eric, I routinely fill my chainsaws and motorbike with pure gas. I pay more, but I am only buying a small amount, never more than 2 gallons. You can find pure gas at your local at this website:
https://www.pure-gas.org/
Roger that, Jack!
I do the same with my outdoor equipment. But I backslid with the TA and got a reminder not to do that…
Eric, try PRI. -G for gas and -D for diesel. I discovered it about 10 years ago and swear but it for California E85. I have used stored gas 2 years later that was treated without any motorcycle or generator problems. Much better that that Stab* stuff. That and drain the float bowls for long term storage. The only other technique that even comes close is 100LL av gas. But uh, um, the 5 gallons you purchase is for your generator or boat. Because selling av gas is illegal for anything that turns and touches pavement.
I got bit by the ethanol bug this year on my 2000 HD Dyna. (probably other mistakes too) I removed the petcock because I had to take completely drain the tank in order to take it off. Anyway, there’s a paper thin rubber seal in there which has been exposed to 25yrs of ethanol exposure. I tried to reuse this seal (yes, that’s a mistake! but no gasket kits are available) and some debris got into petcock and the bike would not pull 3000 rpm. It was being starved for fuel. I ended up replacing the entire petcock assy (basically, just to get the new gasket!) and works well now.
Yep! I tried to start my rarely used generator to prepare for hurricane season. It wouldn’t start. I had left some ethanol laced gas in it over the last year. I drained all the gas and replaced it with no ethanol gas. Still wouldn’t start. Found a YouTube and cleaned the carburetor. Started right up. How many gas powered appliances have been clogged and ruined or had to undergo costly repair due to the grift called ethanol, which also destroys farmland? Now what do I do with the old ethanol laced gas?
Does anyone here know what octane non ethanol gas is? I’m considering starting to get that for my late 1990s truck, though from what I’ve seen in my neck of the woods, non-ethanol gas is $1 more per gallon than whatever the price for premium gas is.
Gasoline octane rating is complex, because it’s no longer the ratio of octane to heptane, what we get is a mix of chemicals that behaves as though it’s, say “91 octane”. So, the octane rating will be whatever it says on the pump. Ethanol is very high octane so they add it to crappier gas and still achieve better octane ratings, which is one reason it’s cheaper (a major reason is it’s subsidized). Where I live, the best gasoline I can get is 108 octane without ethanol, at the race track. It’s stupidly expensive, $14/gallon. 108 octane rating doesn’t make sense, since that would mean it behaves like 108% octane to -8% heptane, but that’s how these silly ratings work.
Welfare program for big ag
Austin doesn’t lack for places to buy ethanol free gas, starting with Walmart’s Murphy Oil stations. I assumed all Walmart gas stations offer the same choices but maybe not on the West Coast.
Buc-ee’s also carries ethanol free unleaded, with the newer stores featuring special sections of pumps set aside for the grade. If I fill my Camry at the Buc-ee’s in Baytown, I can drive all the way to New Orleans without stopping.
It could be worse, Eric.
Imagine if you’d left a battery-powered ‘vehicle’ sitting for a year!
Do you think it would still ‘start’?
There are some pumps that offer alcohol-free gas. Not many, but some. None around me, unfortunately. I use that stuff when I can get it.
Grouchy old bikers are really the only reason you can get the stuff at all, if you see one say thank you.
You’re welcome.
For those that don’t have access to non-ethanol gas stations, try a local airport. They have 100 octane low lead. It doesn’t work well with catalytic convertors or O2 sensors but, if neither is a concern, go for it.
Also, racing supply houses (Pegasusautoracing dot com) carry some nice 5-gal jugs and Uline has this…
https://tinyurl.com/y4hy93yf
Ethanol sucks big time.
I’m a groundkeeper for a private high school and it is the cause of most of the equipment breakdowns and crappy running. Lately I have been getting in cans of ethanol free gas from the hardware store. It’s expensive but the small tools are running so much better lately on it.
Buying it in cans from the hardware store are the only option for pure gas in the Chicagoland area. Going to try to run the small equipment dry this season with the pure gas. Thankfully my large zero turn mower is diesel.
The hardware store gas works for the small equipment but it’s not really an option for vehicles unfortunately.
Same thing around here richb,
Have to pay about $10 a gallon from the hardware store to run my snowblower. It’s a total ripoff but easier than having to clean out and repair the carburetor which I had to do a few years ago. Notice how all the presidential wannabes start out in Iowa kissing the corn farmers asses and promising never to end their ethanol subsidies.
And Iowa is nowhere near as important from an electoral college standpoint as Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan…for what it’s worth.
This is interesting, “Going to try to run the small equipment dry this season with the pure gas.”
I hope I get to read your results next year.
The Stil repair shop/dealer said to leave fuel in the carbs over the Winter. [The expensive Stil fuel] I have been doing that the last few winters & everything has been going good. …So far.
On a road trip from WA to Sioux Falls SD I (fortunate) ended up with a tank of 89 octane pure gas at a station near Butte MT. Heading east from Butte is a long climb up and over the Continental Divide.
It was like the engine computer in my 05 Hemi Grand Cherokee was waiting for that tank of pure gasoline. What a difference, ran like a scorched ape – the gas mileage gauge in that rig was accurate and I went up from 18 to 21 by the time I was ready for another tank in Eastern Montana this including the run up and over the pass. I was rolling at 75 to 80 also, no slow poking on I90 in Montana.
Another eco lie by the “system”. Want less pollution how about burning less fuel in a more efficient motor without the alcohol degrading both mileage and performance.
When I had a crash pad in Issaquah about 10 years ago, a co-op near the XXX Root Beer drive-in around the corner from my apartment had ethanol free unleaded for the collectors.
The restaurant held frequent “cruise in” events.
Sadly, it looks like XXX Root Beer is no more.
https://www.fox13seattle.com/news/possible-hope-on-the-horizon-for-issaquahs-beloved-triple-xxx-drive-in
The cunts that dreamt this bullshit up need to be all given an ethanol enema.
I thought the original comment was apropos!
EP, what’s with the sliding bar crap to prove I have digit manipulation?
Bot repellent, Cederq. I wish I had one for my cell phone to stop the robot calls.
…Bots, can’t swipe?
Hi Cederq,
It’s necessary crap – to deal with the barrage of bots/spam this site otherwise would be flooded with. I wish I could show you just how obnoxious it is. I wish I could get my hands on just one of the people responsible for creating and propagating these bots.
If you’re having a problem finding pure gas here is a link to a site just for you. It’s not perfect but, pretty darn good.
https://www.pure-gas.org/
PS: thanks for putting the verification slide for posting. Maybe the trolls will get the message.
I ran into similar problems recently with a generator I bring on camping trips. I had made a point of putting 100% gasoline into it (it’s hard to come by, but there’s one gas station that usually has it around here), but I got lazy about a year ago and put ethanol-adulterated fuel in (with a bit of Sta-Bil that I hoped would help), took it camping, and then let it sit idle until a couple of weeks ago. When I went to test it, it was hard to start and ran like crap once I got it started. It also wouldn’t run off-choke.
I siphoned as much of the old “gas” out as I could and threw it into the truck to burn it off, then burned off the rest until the generator conked out. With a fresh load of 100% gasoline and a few pulls of the cord, it fired up and ran better, though it still won’t run off-choke. It got through a camping trip this past weekend without issue. Sometime sooner rather than later, I’ll need to pull the carburetor and either clean it thoroughly or replace it (replacements are about $30 or so from Amazon) to get it running off-choke.
(There’s a three-position knob that controls the engine: off, run, and start. The start position chokes the engine for easier cold starting. It’s supposed to run off-choke in the run position once it’s warmed up for a minute or so, but it’s currently not doing that.)
Man, I just imagine how many people throw away motors for that very reason.
What a waste. …And, a bonus for Corps when people buy a new one, and, all those taxes rolling in.
About 15 years ago, my wife and I moved to California from Oklahoma. Only Ethanol gas available there. My 2007 Civic Si: big difference in performance and mileage. Returned to Oklahoma, in 2020, real gas still available, performance and mileage back to normal.
I make it a point to move everything, but I did forget the age of the shed gas I decided to use. The shed gasohol (because I have no choice where I live in the Chicago area) I put that in the harley and it ran like garbage; woudnt even idle. It was probably in the shed for over a year and wasnt being used by the mowers yet. Stupid me filled the tank so I was riding around backfiring and revving the engine at stop lights. As soon as I could put 1/4 tank of fresh gas I did and it helped, but the issues did not go away until there was only 1/4 tank left of shed gas blend. Lesson- put the shed gas in the fuel injected car where it can dilute in a big tank, or if its really bad, it goes down to flamethrower grade.
Hi Anchar.
I date tag and stabilize all my non ethanol gas as it might be months before I use it. Old gas if not contaminated goes in to my EFI cars.
Only governments could F*ck up gas and the cans you use to store it.
And the ‘money’ [sic] you use to buy it.
If government designed women, they would eat their mates like spiders.
RE: “and the cans you use to store it.”
Don’t even get me started on that one.
!@#$%^&
Im a bit surprised you didn’t mention this, but after having sour gas, and especially gasahol, in your machine, Seafoam, Gumout, or similar good quality fuel system cleaner will do a lot of good.
Not as good as tearing down the carb, cleaning, blowing with compressed air, and rebuilding with ethanol resistant parts, but very effective.
Sour old gas is the bane of my existence, the antiques I fix up and drive always need carb rebuilds, fuel pump rebuilds, fuel lines, and often new fuel tanks and sending units. 30 year old gas is awful, 5 year old gasahol is worse.
A new $300 gas tank is a bargain compared to a month of draining, cleaning, patching, and sloshing an original tank. Fortunately they are available for most cars, I had no problem getting one for a 49 Willys.
Seafoam is the only, ‘Magic in a can’ I can appreciate.
I never mastered using Coke-a-Cola in the Toyota.
Not sure what Coke-a-cola in the Toyota means? Coke does make an expedient radiator flush and oddly works well for cleaning blooming corrosion off battery terminals.
Eric: If you must use E10, use fuel stabilizer, which will prolong the storage-life of the not-quite-gas.
Sadly Eric, testing by Taryl at the Taryl Fixes All YouTube channel shows little value to using stabilizers. At best a small engine might need one less pull to start. Almost all the carburetors were covered in that jello you get from old ethanol sitting around in carburetors. The only fuels that seemed to avoid that fate were those canned small engine fuels with no ethanol in them.
Working on small engines as a hobby I’ve seen that fuel systems stored with ethanol in them were a total loss, that’s everything that touched ethanol: gas cap, tank, gas gauge, fuel valve, fuel lines and carburetor (rust and corrosion). Small engines stored for years with ethanol free fuels only needed a carburetor cleaning and to drain the old gas from the tank and the old gas in most cases can be dumped in your gas tank and burned off.
I run ethanol gas in my bike but drain it out in the fall and switch it to ethanol free a few weeks before storage. At that time I mix in some two stroke oil so that a little oil film covers the tank and carbs.
You seem experienced. Have you used Pri-D? I’ve read that it’s Da Bomb, but I don’t know.
Ethanol: buying votes from the midwestern corn lobby
Ethanol: buying votes from the “green” energy lobby
Ethanol: buying a product I don’t want and in the process of using it, does damage to things I hold dear.
Whoops, LEECHES.
Here’s a candid photo of the Renewable Fuels Association in action:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Sucking_leech.jpg
Hi Jim.
It could also be IRS.
‘There are many reasons why E10 is a gyp.’ — eric
Reason #1: Clowngress had to step in with tax incentives to ‘help’ ethanol producers, who couldn’t compete on their own feeble merits:
‘The Energy Security Act of 1980 offered insured loans for small ethanol producers (less than 1 million gallons per year), up to $1 million in loan guarantees for each project that could cover up to 90% of construction costs on an ethanol plant; price guarantees for biomass energy projects; and purchase agreements for biomass energy used by Federal agencies.
‘After a push from ethanol producers, Congress established an import fee (tariff) on foreign-produced ethanol to offset the blenders tax exemption. Previously, foreign producers, such as Brazil, were able to ship less expensive ethanol into the United States.
‘The Gasohol Competition Act of 1980 banned retaliation against ethanol resellers. The Crude Windfall Tax Act of 1980 extended the ethanol blenders tax credit.’
https://ethanolrfa.org/ethanol-101/ethanol-timeline
There’s a word for an industry like this: LEACHES.
I kind of thought VAMPIRES was a better term than, “LEACHES”.
…But, yeah.