The Problems With Today’s Fuel

Our service department has been dealing with more and more issues relating to fuel, and over the last 3 years these problems have just gotten worse. Now we are even seeing some problems with fuel injected machines, where as in the past it was just carburated machines that had problems. Most of these problems arise from the ethanol that has been added to the fuel, along with numerous other additives. Here are some tips that might help you to save a few dollars in service costs over the long run.

• If you don’t plan to use your vehicle on a weekly basis, then consider utilizing some form of fuel stabilizer. A good fuel stabilizer can help to stop ethanol from settling to the bottom of your fuel tank (along with the water it likes to hang out with). A good additive will also help to maintain the fuel’s octane rating and can help to move any water that has settled out through the system. One of the best additives we have found is made by Yamaha. It used to be sold under the name “ring free” but has now been reformulated and is now called “engine med rx”
• Don’t forget that just adding fuel to the tank will do nothing to help with the fuel in the carburator. Once the additive has been added to the tank, the vehicle should be used for a good 10 to 15 minutes in order to get a good dispersal throughout the entire fuel system.
• Many of our customers believe that turning the fuel to the off position and then running the vehicle until it dies will remove all of the fuel from the carburator, but that is not true. Doing this will only remove about half of the fuel in the carburator, allowing what remains to evaporate (and leave behind deposits) even faster.

There are many more points to this topic, and I will continue to add more information over the coming weeks.

Mark J. Sheffield
General Manager
Woods Cycle Country