9 replies to this topic

[Shiney005]

I hadn't ridden my KTM since we moved house two years ago, so I thought I would get it out of the shed, drain the fuel, charge the battery and take it for a spin.  When I looked in the tank, the 2 litres of petrol was a brown colour, so I pushed it around to the back of the shed and tipped the whole bike upside down to empty the tank. Once back on it's wheels I looked in to see this mess.

 

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I think the biggest mistake I made at this point was to push it back into the shed in disgust until the following morning. By then, the brown crap (I will call it varnish as that is what it looked like) had dried and gone hard.

The varnish could have only come from the unleaded, so I naturally filled the tank back up with a fresh batch and left it there for a few hours to emulsify. I then removed the tank and gave it a good shake up before taking the cap off and tipping out what was perfectly good clean fuel. The varnish was still there and still hard. 

I removed the fuel pump (it's injected) which was totalled. $1,100 from KTM, but I found an aftermarket one for $400 on Ebay.

 

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I then had a bit of a google but really couldn't find much. One bloke mentioned that he was going to try CT18, and without any further posts to give an outcome to his experiment I thought I would give it a go as well. After all, CT18 does have a mild acid in the detergent so it should work. I left it in the tank for 24 hours, while also shaking it four or five times. I then removed the cap and tried giving it a light scrub with a bottle brush in the places that I could reach. I tipped out the CT18 and squirted the hose around inside and was left with this.

 

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The CT18 had hardly touched it.

I was starting to look for second hand tanks online by now, but at that time I also happened to be painting doors for our house renovation and had the metho out to clean brushes. I poured a little bit over the old fuel pump and bugger me if the varnish didn't soften up immediately.  I tipped the rest of the bottle into the tank and gave it a shake up only to find that half an hour later it had dissolved 90% of the varnish, and with a quick squirt with the pressure cleaner I ended up with a nice clean tank again.  I soaked the fuel pump for a few hours as well, but it is seized solid, so I just have to wait for the new one to come in the mail.

If this was a car fuel tank, it would have been a hell of a job to clean it up, so the moral of the story is to drain the unleaded from anything you aren't going to use for the next year.

 

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[Shiney005]

I should also mention the battery.  KTM's have been factory fitted with a lithium battery since 2016. The battery in my bike wouldn't even turn on the dash lights. I thought it was toast, but I put it on my fancy Noco charger and set it to charge lithium. Less than 5 minutes later I walked past it and the green "fully charged" light was on. I put it back in the bike and it turned over like it was brand new!!!

[yel327]

Good advice Laurie. I bought a DRZ400E in April, haven’t used it yet. The fuel has stabiliser in it but I’ll drain it next weekend and fill it again. When I stopped it last I ran the carby dry.

[Indy Orange]

I’ve been thinking of using a fuel stabiliser in my car ,it rarely gets driven ,but started a run for half and hour or so every few weeks ,can you recommend a good fuel stabiliser? Certainly don’t want that gunk in my car.Paul.

Edited by Indy Orange, Yesterday, 08:23 PM.

[rexy]

Thats pretty unlucky.

 

The corolla I rescued after siting for several years started and ran fine without touching the fuel in the tank.

[Indy Orange]

I use 98 in mine.

[neglectedtorana]

Since this is fuel related,

 

I have a KZ750 and I left it for 8 years in the USA with fuel stabiliser and drained the carbies, biuoght a new battery when it was time to get it going and it started but sounded a bit rough, I drained the tank, put fresh fuel in and left it full, didn't drain the carbies. There was a slight petrol leak somewhere at the base of the tank but I didn't have time to fix it.

 

I then shipped it to Aus which took 14 months and the battery was gone when it arrived, put a new battery in and it started. Have since drained tank, refilled with Shell 98, cleaned and balanced the carbies and it runs well. The leak at the base of the tank was very slight but getting worse and coming from a low fuel level switch, overnight the fuel had dissolved/softened the plastic electrical plug on the switch.

 

I think it was the Shell fuel that dissolved the plastic.

It survived 14 months with a slight leak and fuel in it from the USA and a few days with Shell fuel and the plastic is ruined, it also dissolved paint off a cover for the starter motor.

 

In the States the service stations don't have the same nose irritating smell I find here, one of the fuel/oil reps I spoke to years ago said there was lots of chemicals in fuel here as a way to dispose of the chemicals. Don't know if its true but I have noticed a ig quality difference between fuel here and in the States.

[RallyRed]

Yeah, that varnish stuff is a bitch.

Had a YFZ450 quad bike that was in the shed for yonks, on the next ride it had a horrible hesitation. I guessed it maybe had a clogged up accelerator jet or something....back at home pulled the carby and stripped it and it everything inside was that lovely dark brown colour...took for ever scrapping / picking it all out and then some carby/brake clean to finish it off..never got 100% of it out.

  Should have tried good old metho!

Edited by RallyRed, Today, 10:10 AM.

[Shiney005]

I’ve been thinking of using a fuel stabiliser in my car ,it rarely gets driven ,but started a run for half and hour or so every few weeks ,can you recommend a good fuel stabiliser? Certainly don’t want that gunk in my car.Paul.

I put the Nulon Fuel stabiliser in my cars back when we shifted up here as I knew they wouldn't get driven for ages. I don't know if it has worked yet.  I though the bike would get used more regularly so I didn't bother with that.  

 

Thats pretty unlucky.

 

The corolla I rescued after siting for several years started and ran fine without touching the fuel in the tank.

It probably had better quality fuel. I reckon unleaded has been getting worse every year.  My old man parked his EH ute out in a paddock when he bought his new HQ in 1973. About 12 years later I put a battery in it and fired it up on the fuel that was still in the tank. A few years ago when we were having car races on the farm, we would drive around until we saw a VN or EA in a front yard with grass growing up around the wheels. The owner would say it doesn't run and we would tow it away for a couple of hundred bucks. Once home, all it took was to replace the fuel and they were off and running!

 

I use 98 in mine.

This was 98.  I use it in everything that isn't diesel.

[Indy Orange]

Thanks Laurie.