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The AMA has made considerable noise about ethanol fuels. My understanding is that up to 15% is fine but beyond 15% the ethanol can attack many rubber parts (o-rings and seals) that are commonly used in fuel systems and are not formulated to be compatible with ethanol.

Around here (SF Bay area) there are stations that sell 10-15% ethanol but none that sell more percentages of ethanol and I don't think it is even legal to sell fuel without ethanol here because the ethanol is an oxygenator additive that some how reduces smog.

I've never had any issues with the ethanol content in the fuel so I don't worry about it.

I HAVE seen the fuel we have here in CA (special CA blends only) degrades much faster in the last few years than it used to. As a general rule, if the fuel tank is metal, I fill the fuel tank full for storage and DRAIN the carbs (doesn't apply to FI bikes). When I pull the bike out of storage, I drain the fuel out of the tank and pour it into my car's fuel tank.

For my dirtbikes with plastic fuel tanks, I prefer to store them with no or minimal fuel in the tank and drained carbs.
 
Motorcycle manufacturers were caught off guard when in 2005 Ethanol was added to the gasoline in the United States.

Ducati plastic gas tanks swelled up so bad they couldn't be removed from the bike. Carb needles turned GREEN {mine did} and fuel lines and O-rings...disintegrated from exposure to Ethanol. The Europeans thought we were crazy because their bikes didn't suffer any of these problems. Then we found out that Europe didn't add Ethanol to the gas back then. The bike manufacturers scrambled to fix the problem and by 2008....it was. Bikes made after 2008 are not affected by Ethanol AT ALL.

So all you guys that are scared of putting ethanol in the bike needed worry. The bike is made for use with ethanol in the gasoline. 10 to 15% Ethenol in the gas is normal. There is NO advantage to use 100% gasoline unless it was made prior to 2008.
 
I just sold my Monster 1100 evo. In the Ducati forums I was still reading about late model plastic tanks swelling. Ducati would replace them under warranty but with the same tank so if you would put ethanol in it again problem would repeat itself. For that reason I avoided putting ethanol in the Monster and the worse would be when you store it for long periods of times, the fuel separates and part of the ethanol is absorbed by plastics. Since the 09 is all metal it should be fine. Though Id still make sure I full it with premium ethanol-free fuel aling with a stabilizer before winter.
 
The AMA has made considerable noise about ethanol fuels. My understanding is that up to 15% is fine but beyond 15% the ethanol can attack many rubber parts (o-rings and seals) that are commonly used in fuel systems and are not formulated to be compatible with ethanol.
this. AMA is probably the #1 player leading the charge on future increases to ethanol content in fuels. There was a recent veto to a federal plan to increase the amount of ethanol in fuel.

Here in Jersey there are zero gas stations (unless at maybe some boat ramps by the ocean) that sell ethanol free gas. I've stored and fueled up both my bikes with it every time, always adding the fuel preserving additives if i'm storing it and have never had a problem with either bike. No sputtering no nothing, i ride the bike like i stole it (80%) of the time, and i get 45mpg - i think that's pretty good.
 
I just sold my Monster 1100 evo. In the Ducati forums I was still reading about late model plastic tanks swelling. Ducati would replace them under warranty but with the same tank so if you would put ethanol in it again problem would repeat itself. For that reason I avoided putting ethanol in the Monster and the worse would be when you store it for long periods of times, the fuel separates and part of the ethanol is absorbed by plastics. Since the 09 is all metal it should be fine. Though Id still make sure I full it with premium ethanol-free fuel aling with a stabilizer before winter.
That isn't true at all. A company by the name of Acerbis made all the plastic Ducati tanks. When Ducati had to warranty all the tanks....they forced Acerbis to make plastic tanks that would NOT swell up from Ethenol content in the gas.

So...anybody that had a tank replaced by Ducati...got a new Acerbis tank....and there were never any problems with the replacement tanks. I know...I had a 2006 Multistrada ...and afterwards a Hypermotard 796.
 
Strange that's not what I was seeing on the Ducati forums. Read a few cases of some having their tanks replaced more then once.
There were a few guys that got warranty tanks that were the same as the original tanks....but very few because Ducati sent all owners a letter about the tanks...and it explained in detail what was going on. Now if the guys on the forum were out of warranty....they bought used E-Bay tanks...and those tanks were all bad. So I guess it would be possible to replace a tank several times....but all they had to do was contact a dealer or read the forum....about the problem and they could have saved themselves a lot of money and grief.

With all the trouble I had with three different Ducks....i'll never own another one.
 
so umm... just out of curiosity, why do you think ethanol blend is bad? I see a lot of this but its all irrational fear, now, I don't work for shell or Texaco or anything but I have raced on almost every fuel available except jet fuel... and yes I want to. Theres no harm that will come to your engine by using an ethanol blended gasoline. As a matter of fact, you can extract more power from the combustion with ethanol than you can with gas. The thermal cracking is lower, with higher energy output. To quote Martha stewart... "its a good thing". The only 'issue' with ethanol is typically in older non fuel injected engines that aren't able to adjust the timing. This means that by using ethanol, you lower the thermal cracking point, but if you can't adjust the timing that the spark plugs fire, you can end up with a very very very slight misfire. And by slight, I do mean that even a knock sensor wouldn't pick it up. So its really moot.
Please feel free to chime in if you know something I don't about it, im always anxious to learn knew things.
Jet fuel won't get you anywhere.Jet A1 = kerosene
 
so umm... just out of curiosity, why do you think ethanol blend is bad? I see a lot of this but its all irrational fear, now, I don't work for shell or Texaco or anything but I have raced on almost every fuel available except jet fuel... and yes I want to. Theres no harm that will come to your engine by using an ethanol blended gasoline. As a matter of fact, you can extract more power from the combustion with ethanol than you can with gas. The thermal cracking is lower, with higher energy output. To quote Martha stewart... "its a good thing". The only 'issue' with ethanol is typically in older non fuel injected engines that aren't able to adjust the timing. This means that by using ethanol, you lower the thermal cracking point, but if you can't adjust the timing that the spark plugs fire, you can end up with a very very very slight misfire. And by slight, I do mean that even a knock sensor wouldn't pick it up. So its really moot.
Please feel free to chime in if you know something I don't about it, im always anxious to learn knew things.
You must not own 2-cycle lawn equipment to see first hand the damage that ethanol enhanced fuel does to the plastic tank and hoses, not to mention the corrosion in the engines themselves due to to high emulsion of water that eventually separates and clings to the metal surfaces.
 
Just fill it up and ride. I've only had the opportunity to buy ethanol-free fuel a handful of times, so all of my vehicles are run 99.9% on E-10.

I also (*knock on wood*) haven't had an issue with letting fuel sit in the tank all winter without stabilizer or anything.
 
Between 2004...2009 I was heavy into personal watercraft. Both racing and long distance stuff (e.g. Florida to the Bahamas was a favorite, or riding from Orlando...Jacksonville to out in the Atlantic.) I started in the Midwest US and was fortunate to run into and become friends with a a professor who specialized in oil tribology at Park College. Then I got into the science. In Kansas City there was a large refiner that had a gas chromatograph and I was lucky they would work with me and test new small oil samples. Then I became friends with a scientest who opened a company in California who performed used oil analysis using very sophisticated equipment (nothing like the desktop machine I got to monkey around with). Then I got into gas additives.

Long story short, if your running gas adds become educated. A lot of stuff done to fuel and oil to protect the environment does sacrifice some of what gas and oil are designed to do. The application of what is used in gas and oil changes.

If your adding stuff to combat Ehtanol, the better option is to run Ethanol free gas. Ethanol is not good. If you don't have this option and choose to run an additive, learn about it here.

http://www.goldeagle.com/UserFiles/file/Ethanol 411/Gold Eagle eGas Article PSL.pdf

It's an easy read. If you don't want to read it or study the science of the chemicals used in these, (because some are hygroscopic I.E. absorb water from air moisture or what's in the tank; just like Ethanol) and can take my bs at face value, scrap the Lucas and run Stabil Marine. (The article is marine related; tests conducted with 2 cycle engines but covers Ethanol as well was water the science applies to 4 cycle engines and motorcycles). Techron is good too but more expensive.
 
If E10 is harmful to 4 stroke IC engines.... we have a gigantic problem.... hundreds of millions of cars run on it every day all over the country... they seem to do fine... billions of miles. Your FZ09 engine no different..... your 50cc weed eater engine, after being on the shelf all winter, is gonna need work to run well... probably best to drain all fuel from those machines before storage... my2c.
 
Ethanol in fuel is a stupid idea. But most modern cars and motorcycles can handle 10% ok. Not so true for older aircraft engines, leaf blowers and such. I don't worry about it in my 09 but I burn a tank/week and live in a dry climate. Those who live in damp climates and don't ride much should consider treatments like Dnfdoug suggests above.
 
I know this is an old thread but I'll post anyway... I live in illinois and I don't think they can sell ethanol free gas here, at least I have never seen it anyway. If you are worried about ethanol, search youtube for how to seperate ethanol from gas. It's actually really easy to do and can be done in your garage with basic supplies. I work at a refinery and a lab tech showed me how to do it. Basically you mix water into the gas and let it settle. You will end up with three layers gas,ethanol, and water. You then just siphon off the gas. There is some good videos of this online. I only do this for winter storage only, otherwise I just burn the gas with ethanol in it with no ill effects.
 
I know this is an old thread but I'll post anyway... I live in illinois and I don't think they can sell ethanol free gas here, at least I have never seen it anyway. If you are worried about ethanol, search youtube for how to seperate ethanol from gas. It's actually really easy to do and can be done in your garage with basic supplies. I work at a refinery and a lab tech showed me how to do it. Basically you mix water into the gas and let it settle. You will end up with three layers gas,ethanol, and water. You then just siphon off the gas. There is some good videos of this online. I only do this for winter storage only, otherwise I just burn the gas with ethanol in it with no ill effects.
Looks like the closest station to your town is quite a ways away!
pure-gas.org : display a station
 
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