My recent experience with Castor bean oil

[Panzerman]

I have four dirt bikes, I dont ride much, we ride the atvs, more. Anyhow they sit in the barn, I ussually drain the gas, put in fresh and fire them up at least once a year. I bought a Vintage Yamaha IT490, about a year ago and rode it around a little bit and put it in the barn.The guy told me he used bean oil in it, yellow bottle, Iam not a big beleiver in bean oil, smells neat, but heard it was dirty, so always stayed away from it and used semi syn or full syn. two stroke oil. Anyway, I was draining the bikes tanks and I get to the IT and it looks like coffee coming out of the hose, after draining it, I see these brown slug looking things in the tank, I removed the tank and tried sloshing it out with gas, then carb cleaner, MM oil and finnally after it would not break down or budge, a cocotion of water, dish soap, bilge cleaner and degreaser. Shook it well and after three treatments, what came out, resembled melted crayons. I finnally got it as clean inside as I could replaced the fuel filter, which was blocked solid also with that "stuff", Ill pull the carb off this weekend and clean it good. After seeing that,I would never use that stuff, funny thing is most people I know use it, only cause it smells neat. I may be alright if you tear your engine down alot or for racing, but for 80% of people that is a nightmare to deal with. Just my personal observation.

 

[dwendt44]

A tablespoon of castor oil in the tank is enough to creat the 'smell', without the gummy side effects.
It tends to settle out of suspension if left sit for a couple of days.

Been there done that.

 

[wileyE]

Years ago we used acetone to solve castor oil. Mixed the oil with acetone then poured the combination in the fuel. Most oils today that contain castor claim to be "de-gummed" and probably use some kind of solvent too. Potential is there for problems but probably not like it was in the past.

 

[tdi-rick]

Exactly why we always drained tanks and the excess went into the road car the next day when I was racing two strokes (karts) twenty years ago.

As Wiley said, oils like Castrol A747, Klotz Super techniplate and Maxima 927 claim that they reduce these problems a lot to almost non-existent but I'd still drain.

 

[wileyE]

The synthetic replacements of similar molecular weight, to provide the same kind of protection as castor can also have the same kind of problems, as can heavy mineral bright stock.

 

[mechtech2]

Castor bean oil is great for lubing, but can wreck fuel if left too long [or settle out], and can gum up engines.