ethanol

[handyman]

Is anybody out there experiencing extra heat from burning that stinking ethanol?
I have burned up a few sets of valves in the last few years, am now using stainless and they seem to hold up pretty good. I,am adding a little 2cy. oil in the gas to help lub the top end. Has anybody got any solutions to this mess? Oh this is on a 45 inch motor, that I ride a lot.

[sirhrmechanic]

Not had heat problems... lots of other problems.

Some things to try...

buy Av gas if you can find it.
Most cities have a few places where you can buy non-ethanol fuel. There's probably an App to help you find them.
Run a bit of diesel fuel in the mix. 5% or so.
Boat yards/marinas have non-ethanol fuels.

Not sure if any of the additives like BG... which advertises a lot... help. No experience. But you could try.

If you are really burning up valves, are you SURE it's from ethanol? Could you have your mixture too lean or a valve timing issue with the bike?

Just some thoughts. I will post some more on ethanol when I have some time. Because right now it is causing all kinds of issues on vintage vehicles. But not over-heating or burning valves that I am aware of. Then again, air cooled and water cooled are two different animals.

Cheers,

Sirhr

[T. Cotten]

Handyman!

Alcohols burn cooler than regular fuels.
That's why alky racers used to knock fins off their heads with hammers, to keep the heat up.

Adding ethanol to modern fuels is a stupid government trick.

But still, it ups the octane rating slightly, and if you are overheating or burning anything in the motor, something else is amiss.

Most commonly it is a vacuum leak.
Your best diagnostic to avoid this is a simple bubble-test:
http://virtualindian.org/11techleaktest.html.
If you don't get bubbles, don't fix it!

Good luck,

....Cotten

[sirhrmechanic]

I'm with Cotten on this...

Ethanol has lots of downsides. But overheating does not seem to be one of them.

Check vacuum leak, mixture and timing first.

Thanks Cotten! I think you are right on.

Cheers,

Sirhr