Does High Octane Fuel Store Longer?

[Jay Freddy]

As the riding season is winding down for much of the Northern Hemisphere, I am looking for ways to keep my carborated Honda Shadow from needing a full carb clean next Spring.

E0 is not available anywhere near where I live. In the past I have used Stabil gas treatment and Seafoam, and I try and ride a mile or two every week or so, even if it's cold outside.

Last year I filled up with high octane at the beginning of Winter, with the idea that the gas might lose octane after sitting for a while, but I have no empirical evidence that this would be true.

Anyhow, I figure that BITOG is a good place to look for empirical evidence, or at least anecdotal evidence...

Thanks in advance!

 

[kschachn]

No. Octane rating only affects the resistance to pre-ignition. Having said that there are multiple ways to affect the octane rating of gasoline so it can be more complicated, but in general the stability of the gasoline mixture has nothing to do with the octane rating in and of itself.

 

[Greasymechtech]

Definitely use premium top tier fuel for your storage. Doesn't buc ee's have ethanol free?

If using stabil 360 or marine 360, no need for seafoam.

STA-BIL 360 Protection - Fuel Treatment for Engines | Gold Eagle Co

Increase fuel efficiency, clean fuel system, & prevent corrosion with STA-BIL 360° Protection fuel treatment & stabilizer to protect engines.

www.goldeagle.com

STA-BIL 360°® Marine™

America's Most Preferred Marine Treatment Engineered to combat the effects of harsh marine climates Provides defense against the harmful effects of ethanol-blended fuels Industry-leading water removal properties Cleans the fuel system of watersport engines to ensure it operates at peak p

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The only problem is finding a busy enough gas station that has fresh premium fuel or fresh ethanol free fuel.

https://www.sunocoracefuels.com/tech-corner/article/octane-stability-high-octane-vs-low-octane-fuels

HomeDepotLowes sell that truefuel... Sure, its a waste of money... but so it having to pull the tank and carbs. Storage is only once a year so its not a budget killer either.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/TRUFUEL-1-oz-4-cycle-Fuel/1001851146

4 Cycle Ethanol-Free Fuel 2.1 Gal 301597210202 - The Home Depot

TruFuel is the first-ever premixed, ready-to-use fuel engineered specifically for portable 4-cycle gas powered equipment. This formulation provides time-saving convenience and superior performance. Advanced

www.homedepot.com

VP Small Engine Fuel 4-Cycle 94 Octane Ethanol Free (8-Pack) 6208 - The Home Depot

This VP Small Engine fuel is an advanced industry-leading fuel for 2-cycle and 4-cycle outdoor power equipment. Containing no ethanol, it protects fuel systems from ethanol-related damage, to help avoid

www.homedepot.com

They even sell a fuel for when someone screws up:

VP Racing VP Racing 32 oz. Fix-It-Fuel 6635 - The Home Depot

Use VP Fix-It-Fuel if your lawnmower won't start (or any other piece of outdoor power equipment). Fix-It-Fuel is a single-use treatment for poor or non-running small engines damaged by ethanol-blended

www.homedepot.com

 

[eljefino]

Seafoam as a preservative is a stubborn urban legend. It's a cleaner, and unstable! A little TCW3 2-stroke oil with the sta-bil is good, keeps the carb innards from getting "sticky."

I'd try to stretch those rides to five miles so it warms up and you can get the choke off, cleaning the plugs. If you're doing that you hardly need stabilizer, though I'd use it too. Gas goes bad first in the carb bowl and you'll be refreshing that every ride.

If you can shut the petcocks off and starve it for fuel, that'll store better as well.

 

[someguitarguy]

The only way to be truly sure is do as (I'm sure) the manufacturer recommends and drain the carb bowl.

I don't believe any fuel will "lose octane" from storage. However, ethanol blends will separate and quickly form a "goo," perhaps effectively reducing some octane.

As for E0, have you checked here? Great site, user-driven, and even has an app. I only run only pure gas. Ethanol blends are politically driven garbage.

 

[#18FAN]

Try to find a local Vpracing dealer near you. This is what you want absolutely best bet if you can find it.

 

[Jay Freddy]

I use only use Top Tier fuel, prefer Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, and Shell.

I was told by my Honda guy just to shut the petcock when I turn it off. No need to try and "dry out" the carb bowl... But I do it anyway!

There's no E0 within a 100 miles of me in Dallas. Only E10, E15, and E85.

I'm not paying $10.99 for a quart of E0 at Home Depot... LOL

Let me see if I can scare up some E0 racing fuel. I've got a few other fuel injected bikes that would probably appreciate it too.

 

[nomas]

Why are you concerned with the octane as regards to storage ?

 

[someguitarguy]

I use only use Top Tier fuel, prefer Chevron, Texaco, Exxon, and Shell.

I was told by my Honda guy just to shut the petcock when I turn it off. No need to try and "dry out" the carb bowl... But I do it anyway!

There's no E0 within a 100 miles of me in Dallas. Only E10, E15, and E85.

I'm not paying $10.99 for a quart of E0 at Home Depot... LOL

We've got a small airport nearby that has aviation fuel that is supposedly E0 and 100 octane...

Anyone ever try aviation fuel in V twin Honda?!

That's by far the easiest way to drain the bowl...shut off the fuel and run it until it dies. That is, unless it's a vacuum operated petcock.

Sucks there are no closer stations.

As for Top Tier fuels, I read up on those (too) and have mixed feelings. The study cited by AAA to prove their effectiveness shows a definite carbon removal on the INTAKE VALVE. Only. What they don't mention is the significant increase in carbon in the combustion chamber itself. It's in the data, just conveniently not mentioned. Keep in mind TT fuels are aimed at GDI engines.

I've not tried AVGAS and likely won't. Keep in mind it's also leaded.

Does Honda call for 93 octane btw? Or do you have pre-ignition issues?

 

[Jay Freddy]

Does Honda call for 93 octane btw? Or do you have pre-ignition issues?

No, my Shadow only needs 87 octane... And I've heard it will run fine on 85 octane. It reminds me of a tractor engine.

I learned to drive on a 1932 John Deere, two cylinders, and it would run on gasoline, kerosene, diesel fuel, fuel oil #2, or pure ethanol... Gasoline was the easiest to start and had the least amount of smoke!

 

[wings&wheels]

I have had great luck with Stabil Marine 360 in the fleet below that gets stored for ~6 mos. I also use 100LL Avgas in the antique boat, also stored, and have not had any problems.

I would consider unleaded aviation fuel. Leaded Avgas, 100LL (Low Lead), is still heavily leaded, but only a problem w/ cats and/or synthetic oil. Unleaded aviation fuel, 94UL, is obviously unleaded and meets the aviation specs, one of which is stability with a 2 year requirement IIRC. 94UL is also less expensive than VP racing fuel or TruFuel.

 

[ammolab]

I run my wife’s Ninja 250 dry each fall. The carbs have drains and quite a bit of fuel still runs from those drains when opened. Always used Stabil in a full tank of fuel for no issues since 2005 in her bike.

 

[BusyLittleShop]

As the riding season is winding down for much of the Northern Hemisphere, I am looking for ways to keep my carborated Honda Shadow from needing a full carb clean next Spring.

Fuels are unknowns... they will either deteriorate or not... but if you're looking for the 100% way to keep from spring carb cleaning then invest into some sweat equity...

1)drain each float bowl....
2)drain tank fuel pump and filter...
3)Air dry...

Now your bike rest in the condition as it came from the factory...

 

[JimPghPA]

+1 on TruFuel. Sure it is expensive, but if that was the last fuel ran in it, you can be sure the carb will not be gummed up or coroded inside the next time you go to use it.

Rubber gaskets do sometimes go bad with age, so if the carb has that it is still one more thing that can fail.

 

[Ride_Red]

I winterize my motorcycles using the Marine Stabil 360 (blue-green stuff) and TCW-3 2 cycle oil.
I take a 5 gal gas can to the pump and mix the Stabil according to the bottle. Then I add 1 oz of the TCW-3 2 cycle oil (640:1 ratio). Mix / shake it up.

I burn this mix for the last ride of the season to get it through the system, then top off the tank. In a carb bike, I would shut off the fuel and run the carbs dry. If you can drain the carbs, great. If not, then the remaining oil mix will protect from corrosion and junk over the winter. I haven't had any problems for over a decade using this mix in all my bikes and small engines. My outboard boat motor is a 2 cycle and I just unplug the fuel line and let it run dry before storage. Always starts the next summer.

E0 gas is not readily available around where I live, so I use regular E10 pump gas. Never had a problem.

 

[kschachn]

Sucks there are no closer stations.

Like the Milwaukee metropolitan area the OP lives in an EPA nonattainment zone. Many large population areas are like this.

 

[RDY4WAR]

I also use regular E10 pump gas and have never had an issue. People get too bent out of shape over ethanol. It's all over social media every day with people claiming it eats tygon fuel line (it doesn't) or it eats aluminum (it doesn't) or it gums up carburetors (it doesn't). I've used E10 in everything, including lawn equipment and other small engines, for the past 10 years. I fill the tank full before putting it away for the winter, and they always fire right up come spring. I don't use a stabilizer either. E0 is available 2 miles down the road, but at $4.69/gal (when E10 is $2.89/gal). It's also usually junk as they don't go through a lot of it so it sits and sours.

It's humorous when people state that ethanol is bad because it's hygroscopic but then recommend adding Seafoam which is ~30% isopropanol with similar hygroscopic tendencies.

 

[Jay Freddy]

I also use regular E10 pump gas and have never had an issue. People get too bent out of shape over ethanol. It's all over social media every day with people claiming it eats tygon fuel line (it doesn't) or it eats aluminum (it doesn't) or it gums up carburetors (it doesn't). I've used E10 in everything, including lawn equipment and other small engines, for the past 10 years. I fill the tank full before putting it away for the winter, and they always fire right up come spring. I don't use a stabilizer either. E0 is available 2 miles down the road, but at $4.69/gal (when E10 is $2.89/gal). It's also usually junk as they don't go through a lot of it so it sits and sours.

It's humorous when people state that ethanol is bad because it's hygroscopic but then recommend adding Seafoam which is ~30% isopropanol with similar hygroscopic tendencies.

I use Stabil as a stabilizer and Seafoam as a cleaner.

A lot of people recommend using high octane for motorcycle storage, and I wanted to understand why.

Project Farm has a video showing the effects that ethanol can have on carborator components.

The bike in question I bought used and it had sat for too long... I was able to get it running with Seafoam but eventually I had to clean the carb.

Hoping to avoid having to do that again.

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding about this topic, and I'm the first to admit it.

Looks like there is a Buccee's 30 miles from me that sells E0. Kind of a nuisance but maybe I can find a good barbecue joint out there and make it a two-fer!

 

[thastinger]

I know you said that E0 wasn't available near you, just want to make sure that you have checked pro lawn equipment retailers and any marinas that may be around you. If neither of those exist, VP or Sunoco both sell E0 in a 5 gallon container, or you can buy the E0 in 2 gallon containers at the big box stores if no other options exist.

 

[wag123]

As the riding season is winding down for much of the Northern Hemisphere, I am looking for ways to keep my carborated Honda Shadow from needing a full carb clean next Spring.

E0 is not available anywhere near where I live. In the past I have used Stabil gas treatment and Seafoam, and I try and ride a mile or two every week or so, even if it's cold outside.

Last year I filled up with high octane at the beginning of Winter, with the idea that the gas might lose octane after sitting for a while, but I have no empirical evidence that this would be true.

Anyhow, I figure that BITOG is a good place to look for empirical evidence, or at least anecdotal evidence...

Thanks in advance!

QuikTrip sells Top Tier E0 (ethanol-free) 90 octane gas. This is what you should use. You have QuikTrip stations all around the Dallas area.