Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

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SlowJoe
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Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by SlowJoe »

Working in a shop and 4 engines in the last 3 days

Pulled the heads apart and they've all got this weird plastic like stuff caked on the inside of the manifold and the valve. One is a small car, one is a Honda Cub, one a generic 125, and the other was a grass cutter.

Only common denominator is they all say they use gas from the Coke bottle sellers (and I confirmed this as the fuel in the tank is the same blue colour as the sellers here in Kampot).

I've cut fuel before, used kerosene, diesel, naptha, toluene, ethanol, methanol, ntiromethane etc for race fuels, but never seen anything produce a melted kind of plastic like goo in the intake before.

Yet the last 4 bikes that I've been fixing have all come in for the same issue of the motor suddenly dying. New valve and cleaning the intake has always been the solution, bike runs great after that.

Anyway, just curious if anyone has any idea what they could be doing?

-Joe
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John Bingham
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Re: Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by John Bingham »

Water.
Silence, exile, and cunning.
GUS
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Re: Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by GUS »

For a week or so when fuel prices where at their peak a lot of the places were selling a clear petrol that had far less odor. I was guessing a heavy ethanol blend. Since prices are up I have had to drain my carburetor bowl twice. Both times were in a jam so didn't really check what came out.
SlowJoe
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Re: Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by SlowJoe »

^^^I noticed two of my neighbours have had lots of carb issues with their bikes recently, one of which replaced the carb and the bike died within a week again.

I also just helped a guy drain and clean his carb out and it had little bits of white looking almost grease like stuff. Ran after the drain and fill though.

Wonder if it's ethanol damage to their carbs? Or perhaps the heavily ethanol cut stuff is now saturating with water and people's vehicles are having issues? I've seen engines have issues after sitting a few months with E10-E15 fuel in the tank.

Still can't figure out the plastic goo on the intake though.
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Jerry Atrick
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Re: Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by Jerry Atrick »

SlowJoe wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:33 am ^^^I noticed two of my neighbours have had lots of carb issues with their bikes recently, one of which replaced the carb and the bike died within a week again.

I also just helped a guy drain and clean his carb out and it had little bits of white looking almost grease like stuff. Ran after the drain and fill though.

Wonder if it's ethanol damage to their carbs? Or perhaps the heavily ethanol cut stuff is now saturating with water and people's vehicles are having issues? I've seen engines have issues after sitting a few months with E10-E15 fuel in the tank.

Still can't figure out the plastic goo on the intake though.
Don't think they sell ethanol gas here.

Many mechs here use gas soluble white rtv on carb flanges which makes more issues than it fixes
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Re: Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by Darkcel »

Water

Had to get gas from a drink shop once and it royally beat my wife's next into submission, I'm talking full rebuild
SlowJoe
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Re: Any idea what Coke bottle gas sellers mix the fuel with?

Post by SlowJoe »

Jerry Atrick wrote: Wed Aug 17, 2022 2:04 am
Don't think they sell ethanol gas here.

Many mechs here use gas soluble white rtv on carb flanges which makes more issues than it fixes
What I was thinking was more along the lines of home brewed ethanol, maybe from used sugar cane husks ground up or something.

I've seen the RTV on carbs though (and on headgaskets), blows my mind every time they think it actually helps.
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