Scooterotica

I have now been made aware of four engine fails on the return trip from the IOW along the south corridor to the south west. All/ each is symptomatic of ethanol (tbc). Each one is a customer. I know of the engines or built them. I will strip each one time allowing, and correlate my findings. Two are running my preferred cr of 6:1 corrected to allow for ethanol @ 5% at 10k rpm. I would like to hear of other riders experiencing issues and see photos of pistons in particular, but also heads, bores, rings and plugs. if we have information we can resolve the problems and overcome 95/97 ron@e10+.
TIA.
Regards. Simon.

Already plenty looking, feedback will keep you on the road in the coming fuel changes. Let me/ us know. I'm not the only one watching what's happening and how we tune around it. please. ANY comments welcome.

Been running standard unleaded in ts1 for about 2 years on same plug ngk br8es done about 2,5k no problem at all a bit rich, but been reading about the looming fuel issue!, so Friday morning filled with super unleaded noted e5 drove to isle bit spluttering to begin with but once going flew with no issues, sat pm plug died oh well, new plug in no problem Sunday morning ready for return home started first kick ran for about 3mins died and would not start luckily a mate had another new plug put in started first kick, as I got off of the ferry got on the m27 bit of spluttering again but again once really going all good, no real drama or is it just something for us Lambretta or Vespa owners are going to have really be looking at. Just might be coincidental or not !! Bit long winded but will be watching this post. Cheers all.

I fouled a plug getting off the IOW ferry on the way home. It was as black as night when I took it out and all crusty. It's jetting I've been running for 3 years plus in an RT 230 reed, and whilst I'm always a tad rich its never been as black as that before.

New plug started first kick but it felt spluttery all way back. It felt fine riding down.

following with interest

On our local news today they did an article on E10. bland "saving the planet" message to to ill-informed. Not telling the masses you get less mpg (so you use more fuel), the rainforests are cut down to make way for growing ethanol producing crops. They did say that pre 2011 cars will have to use super unload E5 (but not mentioning whole areas local to us have no E5 fuels). It will be a period of experimentation (testing) on the dyno now we can get the E10 to play with.

Just to muddy the water; my local garage has had its pumps marked up as E10 for a couple of weeks.

I asked them when they actually changed over and they said they hadn't and were still pumping E5.

They (Shell) have a contractor going round changing the pump stickers ahead of the actual changeover.

The bottom line is you'll need to ask which fuel is currently being dispensed, even if the pump is marked as E10.

And then trust every cashier's full in-depth knowledge of the chemical composition of each delivery to fill up and NOT write off your top end, Tony. I've also heard of this in Devon, re marking up as e10 but it's still e5, the biggest worry is e10 marked up as e5 (and most of us have come across this or similar, normally confirmed short distances from the fueling stop with a holed piston/ seized engine).

Lot's of countries have/ use e10. It would benefit if the forum members from USA etc let us know their fuel specifics and then the measures taken. I think the combo of e10 and 95RON is what will cause the bigger problems.
I've just finished reading two (more) papers of e10 and ethanol and specific burn patterns and speeds.
With testing this could be relatively straightforward.

[Wouldn't it be great if ALL the engine builders and tuners got together and banged heads over a brew then all ideas thrashed out (literally) on dyno for controlled testing followed by full on on the road/ track. Should be able to cover most areas and be confident that by the end there could be a definitive "These measures will keep you on the road trouble free even if you HAVE NO CHOICE but to use E10"]

Like every right minded 2 stroke owner I have been reading the introduction of e10 fuel, I avoided it on continental trips and have been using super unleaded since the changeover. However, on a 13k plus mile trip on my GT240 last week I had to fill up with e10 as the forecourts didnt have super. I added my usual 4% Groundsman and wathed the CHT gauge like a hawk and noticed absolutely no difference whatsoever in head temp or running. The scoot did struggle starting and ran rough a few time whilst riding through parts of Scotland but that was due to it turning cold and altitude.

The biggest problem I reckon will be how long the fuel will stay safely usable when the sccot is not used, keeping the tank topped up might help but time will tell. In the mean time I will continue to use super when I know the scoot will be laid up, run the carb dry and either drain the tank of top it up

I don’t think we quite did 13 thousand miles, mate