Petrol Tank bubbles/blisters

[fraserdog]

Has there been any definitive answers as to what causes the Bubbles/Blisters on the Girly tanks? I've read that it is the excessive Ethanol in todays fuel that leeches through the plastic walls of the tank,has this been proven? Touch wood my 2002 tank is fine at the moment and want to keep it that way but what precautions can I take? Do BP Ultimate,Shell Vpower etc have less/no Ethanol in them? there seem to be divided opinion on this.

[Mustang]

there is nothing you can do , be thankful when it does if it only effects the decals , because the paint  will eventually do it too .

[fraserdog]

So is it inevitable that it will happen to mine then?

[Mustang]

happens to them all eventually ,some go faster than others ,but when she hits ten years old ............odds of not having it happen are not very good

[Chris Canning]

Hmmm well rather than just say mine hasn't or doesn't even look like it will I'd be inclined to look at the ethanol angle I've seen no end of posts on American sites about plastic  tanks where as virtually non with UK bikes which leads me back to ethanol and of course we use a far high octane fuel over this side.

[Mustang]

  ethanol is alcohol................ it doesn't affect the plastic tanks .

my theory is the plastic is continuously changing shape , due to swelling ,ie from being parked in the sun with a full tank .
eventually with all the contracting and swelling of the plastic over time , the paint and decals as they age lose their flexibility . and somethings gotta give .

I used to say the same as chris ......"hasn't bothered mine yet ", but the bubbles showed up eventually after about 10 -11 years
and  here we are 15 years down the road and both the 98's have bubbled decals . they are worse when they've been out in the sun and heat all day .
the 95's got em too .
and the 96 also .

I have a black spare gas tank stored in the garage attic , no sunlight (no fuel either), and the last time I looked the decals were still perfect . The tank is 16 years old . It hasn't seen gas for quite a few years . but it also hasn't seen the sun in the same amount of time  .

[Chris Canning]

Well you have something in your fuel that does it because the Ducati folk have been hanging off the rafters about plastic tanks and only in the US here in the Uk we have nothing?.

[fraserdog]

I was reading this and it says it does degrade plastics? http://www.frost.co.uk/protect-your-vehicle-against-ethanol ,apparently (though I've never looked) some petrol pumps are marked with E0 (0% Ethanol) E05 (5% Ethanol) and E10 (10% Ethanol),i'll be looking next time I go to the forecourt.

[Mustang]

Well you have something in your fuel that does it because the Ducati folk have been hanging off the rafters about plastic tanks and only in the US here in the Uk we have nothing?.

http://www.triumphtorque.com/messageboard/thread/129453-Fuel-Tank-BlisteringWarping-A-Straw-Poll.aspx
This is a poll on triumph torque that shows a boatload of people in the UK having problems with expanding/shrinking gas tanks . If the UK isn't using ethanol yet than what the hell is causing it ?

On one of my 98's the decals are bubbled on the fairing but not the gas tank . How is it possible for the fairing decals to bubble when they are not even subjected to ethanol ?

[Chris Canning]

Go on the Multistrada forums and there are that many pages about the problem I didn't even  know which one to post there's dozens even this.

http://pure-gas.org/

The one thing I have noticed look at the octane rating in the US 91  .

[Sin_Tiger]

What's this stuff called sunlight 

[Chris Canning]

Go into  http://www.ducati.ms/forums/216-2010-current-2nd-generation-watercooled/and put plastic tanks!!!! and bearing in mind the Multi hasn't been out all that long and I'll see you in a fortnight!!!  now for what ever reason we don't have that here.

[Mustang]

Go on the Multistrada forums and there are that many pages about the problem I didn't even  know which one to post there's dozens even this.

http://pure-gas.org/

The one thing I have noticed look at the octane rating in the US 91  .

I've seen the Ducati stories ..................

UK uses (RON) Road Octane Number which is a higher number we (USA) use Anti-Knock Index (AKI).
"In most countries (including all of Europe and Australia) the "headline" octane that would be shown on the pump is the RON, but in the United States, Canada and some other countries the headline number is the average of the RON and the MON, sometimes called the Anti-Knock IndexAKI), Road Octane Number (RdON), Pump Octane Number (PON), or (R+M)/2. Because of the 8 to 10 point difference noted above, this means that the octane # in the United States will be about 4 to 5 points lower than the same fuel elsewhere: 87 octane fuel, the "regular" gasoline in the US and Canada, would be 91-92 in Europe.

[Chris Canning]

I run all mine on 98 unless I can't get it,in the BM K hand book it states that's what it should be run on,I'm not even sure if it's possible to buy fuel in the Uk under 94.

[Mustang]

I run all mine on 98 unless I can't get it,in the BM K hand book it states that's what it should be run on,I'm not even sure if it's possible to buy fuel in the Uk under 94.

Our (US) 94 octane is the same as your UK 98 octane .............