1982 R65 and 10 % ethanol gasoline

[georgesgiralt]

Hello !
I own this baby for 30 years now.
When she was build there was 97 leaded fuel in Europe. Not we only have 95 unleaded and it's going to be phased out because the 95-E10 is coming out. And it's replacing the 95 pumps very quick.
I asked BMW and they told me I've to stick to 97 grade with lead substitute..... which we can't get anymore...
So as I understood you guys on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean have Ethanol in your gasoline since a long time, I ask you to tell me what I can expect if she runs on 95-E10 petrol....
What kind of trouble should I expect and what modification should I made ... to keep her running ? (after all she only got 170 000 km on the odometer so just past the end of the warranty .... )
Many thanks in advance for you advices and thoughts !
P.S. : I'm told the "regular" unleaded fuel already contains ethanol but in a few % ratio... So I think it's not the ethanol per se which is harmful but the amount of ethanol ...

[villageidiot]

you may need to do the valve seats to that of the unleaded type. other than that, i dont see too much issue.

[Mista Vern]

Expect your gas mileage to go down, but that's about it other than keep an eye on your floats to see if they are absorbing and of that crap. I am sorry to see you now have to put up with ethanol, the biggest scam on Earth.

[supershaft]

Originally Posted by Mista Vern

Expect your gas mileage to go down, but that's about it other than keep an eye on your floats to see if they are absorbing and of that crap. I am sorry to see you now have to put up with ethanol, the biggest scam on Earth.

+1 Mileage. Despite what others report, I see no more problems with floats than with straight gas. There has been a lot of it in Ca. for many years now.

[caponerd]

Been running 10% ethanol in my 1982 R100 for several years with no problems, other than decreased fuel economy, and slightly reduced power.

[Bill Harris]

If your valves and seats have survived on 95 unleaded the will be OK on 95 E-10 gasoline. The ethanol-fuel does not stay fresh as well as the pure gasoline used to-- if you let the bike sit unused for 3-4 months at a time, the fuel will get stale.

If you have ever relined the tank because of rust, make sure that the tank liner used is ethanol-resistant-- some tank liners from several years ago were not and the amount of ethanol in today's fuels will cause deterioration of the liner.

[georgesgiralt]

Thank you for the reply, they are a real relief !
The bike sat unused for some time (been run on and off for 7 years, which explains the low odometer reading).
When unleaded came out I used lead substitute on standard valve seats. Now, I do not use it anymore as French user reported it's expensive and useless * (if you monitor your valve clearance quite often, you'll see it the seats are going in ). I had the valves redone 60 k kilometers ago and the seats where not touched. Maybe next time the valves have to be done, will I ask for new lead free seats...
Now I plan to use the bike more and more instead of my fine and boring Honda. So I renovated the bike to make it look like new. In that process, I've overhauled the carbs and put new floats and new diaphragms. So I expect them to survive the ethanol. (the old floats had still the same weight and floated like the new... )
The tank has still it's original liner and, as far as I can tell, it's still in good condition (no garbage in the tap's filters other than the junk found in modern gasoline... ) I hope it will stay OK for long as the repair liner are not as good as they used to be according to other French users.
* In fact I had trouble geting a very good carbs jetting with the lead substitute. It seems that it interact differently with different brand gasoline. It is becoming difficult to have these engine running fine these days.

[squish]

The only real area I've noticed was if i was using cheaper aftermarket transparent fuel hoses
It seems they only have a life span of about 1.5 years or so.

But I don't know if it's related to the fuel or to the UV damage.

Otherwise on my three airheads running Ca "gas" they are fine, I don't have to step up to 91 on my 60K mile R80, since I think there's come carbon causing a little pre-ignition if I don't.

[Bill Harris]

I went through the same valve-seat paranoia with my /5. Unleaded gasoline was phased out in the late 1970's and the pre-Internet discussions in BMW Club newsletters was how unleaded fuel was causing severe valve recession. So around 1983 I went and did a "unleaded valve seat" replacement. Turned out that my /5 was fine, it was changes in the valves that caused the problems in the "new" early 1980 BMWs.

I'll admit that I try to use ethanol-free gas when I can, simply because I had an old trank liner (Kreem) that is not alcohol-proof. I plan to remove and replace that tank liner when I get my tank painted next year.

Keep an eye on things, you should be good. And if something goes amiss, repair it.

[Uncle Pollo]

Ethanol will make you sad. Loose mileage directly in proportion to ethanol percentage.

[Steve G.]

Originally Posted by Bill Harris

If your valves and seats have survived on 95 unleaded the will be OK on 95 E-10 gasoline. The ethanol-fuel does not stay fresh as well as the pure gasoline used to-- if you let the bike sit unused for 3-4 months at a time, the fuel will get stale.

If you have ever relined the tank because of rust, make sure that the tank liner used is ethanol-resistant-- some tank liners from several years ago were not and the amount of ethanol in today's fuels will cause deterioration of the liner.

This is all correct. Also watch your fuel lines with this ethanol crap. And it will increase the water buildup in your fuel tank.