The perfect fuel?

[PSBear]

Im new to Scooters, and was told to only run non oxygenated gas?  The Scoot is a 2010 carborated 250 GV with 12k on it. I put unleaded 93 octane in with about 2oz of Sea Foam, due to some sputtering when accelerating, and dying when cold. Am I running the proper fuel, or should I try to find Non-Ox fuel? The dealer recommended E0, No ethanol added fuel. Comments?

[CROSSBOLT]

Non-ethanol is best if you can find it at a reasonable price. 87 octane rating (R+M/2) is what is on the placard inside the seat tub and the fuel that should be used. Higher octane is a waste of money and results in less engine performance. This octane-engine performance stuff was developed in the 1920's for aircraft piston engines and remains true today. Sta-bil and similar products are advised for any ethanol fuels sitting for 30 days or longer.

Karl

[PSBear]

Great advice, thanks Karl
Jerry

[paceneedsstides]

higher octane burns cooler and helps with predetonation aka knocking. I run both 89 nonethenol and 93 or sometimes up too 100 (I'm in Charlotte NC we got racing fuel all over the place lol) with no noticeable difference in performance but I'm running a Like 50 with a BBK so a 70cc 2T lil different than yours.

[CROSSBOLT]

Back when I learned to fly there were three grades of gasoline available for aircraft engines: 80-86, 90-95 and 115-130. At one time there was a fourth 130-145 but that was mainly military. The two numbers indicated ratings in octane numbers full lean and full rich. Full lean was in cruise and full rich was full-throttle take-off power setting-max power available. You used the grade of gasoline specified for your engine. You COULD use one grade higher if your grade was out but be prepared for a performance loss which may be really noticeable at take-off. You could NEVER use a grade lower since the detonation at full throttle would destroy the engine. The higher the engine compression ratio the higher the octane requirement. The higher the boost pressure/manifold pressure the higher the octane requirement. The higher the altitude/elevation the LOWER the octane requirement. That's why you see 85 (R+M/2) in Denver and anywhere else in the US over about 3000 feet elevation.

You, on the other hand, can use any octane rated fuel you want. If 93 octane rated fuel seems to work better, go for it!

Karl
 

[Stig / Major Tom]

Im new to Scooters, and was told to only run non oxygenated gas?  The Scoot is a 2010 carborated 250 GV with 12k on it. I put unleaded 93 octane in with about 2oz of Sea Foam, due to some sputtering when accelerating, and dying when cold. Am I running the proper fuel, or should I try to find Non-Ox fuel? The dealer recommended E0, No ethanol added fuel. Comments?

How difficult is it to get to the spark plug on your scooter?
If easy...I'd try a new NGK....regular or Iridium.
See if that helps your running issues.  Can't hurt...and less than $10....plus you'll be good gor several thousand miles.
Stig 

[mnpugdog]

To find ethyonol free gas use the Pure gas website or app. I know the stations around here that are on there but if Im traveling having the app helps a lot.

http://www.pure-gas.org/

[PSBear]

Thanks guys! I'll change the plug and try to find the non-ox fuel and see if that does the trick.
thanks again,
Bear

[Stig / Major Tom]

Thanks guys! I'll change the plug and try to find the non-ox fuel and see if that does the trick.
thanks again,
Bear

IMHO I would not worry too much about the fuel.
If scooters and motorcycles could not safely run on fuel found in 99%+ of our pumps.....dealers would all have gone out of business long ago.....or switched to selling nothing but electric wheed whackers.
There are plenty of two wheelers around here....and not a single pump offering ethanol free fuel.  Not a one. Do not see 'em detonating all along the roadside or burning down in Wal-Mart parking lots.
Folks are putting 10's of thousands of miles on their scoots using regular pump gas all across America.

:-)
The giant comb/over ....or Bill C. chasing the gardener's daughter around the White House grounds. Tough choices.
Don't sweat the fuel - we got bigger concerns!
Stig

[AMAC1680]

IMHO I would not worry too much about the fuel.
If scooters and motorcycles could not safely run on fuel found in 99%+ of our pumps.....dealers would all have gone out of business long ago.....or switched to selling nothing but electric wheed whackers.
There are plenty of two wheelers around here....and not a single pump offering ethanol free fuel.  Not a one. Do not see 'em detonating all along the roadside or burning down in Wal-Mart parking lots.
Folks are putting 10's of thousands of miles on their scoots using regular pump gas all across America.

:-)
The giant comb/over ....or Bill C. chasing the gardener's daughter around the White House grounds. Tough choices.
Don't sweat the fuel - we got bigger concerns!
Stig

Got to agree with that. Never had a problem with late model motors.
Don't let it sit and it's  all good.

AMAC

[mclark999]

Over the last 3 years, I've gotten 2 bad tanks of gas, both from the same gas station.  Scooter idled horribly and power was way down. It's easy to notice low power on a Honda Metropolitan. It happened to be the same gas station that we always use for our car since we get fuel rewards through the grocery store.  Wasn't caused by sitting as we use the scooter regularly year round.

This is in Colorado and we do have 10% ethanol in our gas. There is a station about 5 miles from us that does not use ethanol, but I don't think the ethanol is the issue.

Based on the 2 bad tanks, we've started getting gas for our car somewhere else. Doesn't really help to save ten cents a gallon if the car runs poorly.

Having said that, I think that our scooters will run on any gas in the country, but there are cases where the gas somehow is bad and affects performance.