Fuel issues

[Catz]

I get the impression that there are considerable inconsistencies. Is the fuel up north the same as the fuel down south?

No its not the same its a damm sight more expensive down here in the south

Not according to a Google search i've just done.
The average price of a litre of petrol in Kent is £1.47.7p and here in Cheshire it's £1.48.7p.

[muskrat]

G'day Fellas.
Down here standard unleaded is 91, then they add 10% ethanol to make it 94. So it burns slower and ignition would have to be advanced a tad. Also ethanol/methanol need a much richer mix. So if much more than 15% is added the carb jets would need increasing in size. My A7SS on methanol returned a fuel consumption of 12MPG and ran 600 main jets 
Just saw Catz post. E10 $1.86.9, 91 $1.88.9, 98 $2.09.9 my servo doesn't have 95 but others in town $2.05
Cheers

[limeyrob]

'Round here the fuel prices vary a lot and it really pays to read the prices before pulling in.  Our local independent it is £1.44 for petrol but go to the BP garage on the main road and its over £1.50.
I know on the car forums a lot of people were reporting much poorer consumption with E10, so much so that some found it more economic to run on E5. It wasn't a uniform picture with some unaffected, others a huge difference.

[Worty]

I run E5 on the GF and E10 on the Kwack - seems the best fuel for both machines.  If I'm 'reasonable' on both bikes, I'll get around 50-55mpg out of both.

Asda do E10 at £1.41 near me.  E5 is around £1.55.

[BSA500]

Not sure if I have been hit by the dreaded fuel issues again but due to being very low on fuel,and against my better judgment, I stopped in Shell for fuel. Cue last night less than one day later(in the rain of course) the A7 just pfft stopped. WOULD.NOT.START. Sparks both plugs check, fuel check. Put brand new spare plugs check, not a cough. Flooded the carb, nothing, pulled the plugs not even wet. So that suggests, to me, idle circuit blocked at minimum. Nothing else has changed has been running like a champ for weeks. I even drained the carb as it had been stood in the rain. Plug leads nice and dry and as I said nice sparks. The only change was using Shell again.

[Rex]

Are you implying Shell petrol doesn't meet the relevant BS Standard?

[BSA500]

No not at all. I'm just saying when I fuel up at my local shell I have issues. If its the additive package doesn't agree with my bike or they have crap in their tanks. At best the filters in the bike will stop bricks if there is fine silt that will bugger the pilot circuit. Modern cars of course have much better fuel filtration they have to for injection

[limeyrob]

I'm more inclined to blame letting it get very low so its picked up the rust flakes.  Remind me, which carb?
Do you still have the strainers on the taps?

[BSA500]

376 monobloc strainers on taps and new strainer on inlet. Drained the carb at the roadside and removed pilot cap and let some fuel flush as best I could. I hadn't gone to the reserve before I topped the tank I just knew I was getting close. They aren't alot of petrol stations on my way to work so I make sure I have enough to cover a min of 20 miles

[Rex]

I'm more inclined to blame letting it get very low so its picked up the rust flakes.

As the tank drains from the bottom surely it will "pick up the rust flakes" no matter how much petrol is in the tank?

[limeyrob]

That certainly should be the case, but I have a thought that the small amount of fuel sloshing about in the bottom disturbs the sediment and creates a stronger mix.  I've certainly had more blockages when I've let the tank run low.  It may also be that filling a near empty tank disturbs the  sediment.  I spent ages cleaning my Matchless tank and fitted new gauze and it took weeks for sediment to stop coming through into the carb.

[Black Sheep]

No problems at all after filling up with Shell E5 even though I normally use BP from my local station. If you go a long way back in time, Shell had a dismal reputation and got into a big dispute with Vauxhall motors following well-publicised engine damage from their petrol. Vauxhall were right, I had one fill of Shell in my A7 and it seized a few miles later having run for thousands of miles previously with no problems.

[limeyrob]

That's interesting. The companies share refineries and the petrol is made in the same plant but they then separate and "Brand" it with some additives.  The supermarket stuff gets no special additives but companies like BP and Shell that try to promote their "Premium" fuels add more chemicals.  If there are problems its almost certainly something they have deliberately added.
The exception was a scandal here in the UK a few years back when one of the refineries was not removing water effectively and a lot of supermarket fuel was contaminated, that was was a straight error.

[Billybream]

Remember the Shell fuel issue well, had a new Cavalier and major engine failure, F reg so 1988

[BSA500]

Right stripped the carb down and also drained the fuel from it into a clean bowl. The fuel had some water droplets(it had stood outside in the rain) but some slity looking stuff??. The inside of the carb at first glance looked fine,until I looked down the pilot jet. It had a white scale inside partially blocking the hole,I could only see this using a 10 x magnifying glass and led. After cleaning with a fine wire and airline she started and ran a treat. Question is I see evidence of this white scale all around the card,like a tide mark on the float,what is it??