Quote:
Originally Posted by Nickj
Probably ethanol based jerry, what's in their seperates out surprisingly quickly and the water sinks to the bottom of the tank. Then you get the rusting and frequently some anaerobic growth.
How did it get in there, well odd that.
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While the ethanol will separate out when the fuel is exposed to moisture, in normal circumstances this is not going to happen spontaneously via absorption from the atmosphere - especially in this country at this time of year. If there has been separation, it must be the result of contamination, either at the petrol station or in the bike's tank.
Typically, E10 will need to absorb 0.5% water before phase separation takes place. So, for a tank with 15 litres of E10, you would need 75ml of water to start the process. The resulting water/ethanol layer will contain approximately 3-4 parts ethanol to each part water. So the 75ml of water would produce a water/ethanol layer of, say, 375ml. (To draw out the maximum ethanol of 1.5 litres, you'd need at least 375ml of water.)
So you could have a situation where there's been a small amount of water sitting at the bottom of the tank for months, undetected because it's below the fuel pump's intake. However, if you then fill up with an ethanol blend, that small amount of water would cause a rapid phase separation, (within 30 minutes), and suddenly that previously unnoticed contamination has increased five-fold, its level has risen and is now being drawn into the fuel pump and causing fuelling problems.
So this is basically a very long-winded post to say to make sure there's absolutely no water in your tank!