Motorcycle With Diesel Fuel In Tank?

[PeaceBlondie]

I filled up with 8 liters of "fuel" on Tuesday. It's a Shell station franchise, the world's largest oil company. It's on a main street frequented by farang and Thais. I've been in there often.

Young lady fills up my tank. Three days later, the carburetor is obviously, and quite suddenly, very sick. We take it into Honda (this morning), with my partner having to push it the last two kilometers.

Diagnosis: wrong fuel. I don't know if they mean diesel, or gasohol, but it's messed up the engine.

My partner (a native of Chiang Mai) blames it all on me, for not telling ignorant Hill Tribe workers what the world's largest oil company was supposed to tell them (such as "Hey, Pachasara, don't put diesel fuel in motorcycles"). I had no idea that northern natives could be so racist against Hill Tribes, but I guess that's a personal problem.

What would diesel fuel do to a 4-stroke high-compression CBR150R? And what would gasohol do?

And how much is a consumer expected to tell a minimum wage worker? "Hey, Somchai, this is a motorcycle. It needs benzene, octane 91, no gasohol, and you take the shiny spigot off the front of the pump, and insert it carefully into this open fuel tank, and then you squeeze the handle...."

As a (former) teacher, I'm well aware that finishing Matayom 6 in Thai schools is no guarantee that your store clerk can speak or read any language or instructions, but.......whaaaah? Arai nah?

[ray23]

Your probably going to be rebuilding the engine, fortunately shouldn't be that expensive. Doesn't really matter who is at fault, you will pay for it.

[Thaising]

To bad to hear that, what you encountered is like what I have faced few years back. Luckily the pump operator willing to repair the damages and sacked the pump boy which I feel pretty bad.

Edited September 16, 2006 by Thaising

[Hog Head]

What are the carb sickness symptoms?

Swelling gasgets and leaking, bunged up, etc.

How long did it run after filling, and what was the concentration of gas/"fuel"

Can you not tell if it was diesel or E-10? Sniff it and feel for oilyness in diesel oil

I suspect diesel as E-10 would have no short term effect other than losing a bit of power and running lean.

Your compression is not high enough to ignite diesel, and there will be no harm at all to the engine internals. May play havoc with the carb internal circuits and bung them up.

Gasohol in the short term will have little effect, however long term will be a problem with your rubber lines and internal carb gasgets.

In any case it should not be such a big deal. Please let me know and go from there

I always fill up my own bike, even if just to prevent spills on the paint.

Robert

[apetley]

Hi. Were you running the bike for the 3 days? If so no way had it been fuelled with diesel as it wouldnt even have run.

If Honda say dont use gasohol I guess you have to take their word. Hopefully a carb clean/rebuild will be quite cheap.

I would take the bill back to the gas station and have a friendly word. You never know they may cough up or failing that may offer a free tank of the right stuff.

But then again they may just tell you that you should have known the correct fuel for your bike.

[davidgtr]

Hi. Were you running the bike for the 3 days? If so no way had it been fuelled with diesel as it wouldnt even have run.

If Honda say dont use gasohol I guess you have to take their word. Hopefully a carb clean/rebuild will be quite cheap.

I would take the bill back to the gas station and have a friendly word. You never know they may cough up or failing that may offer a free tank of the right stuff.

But then again they may just tell you that you should have known the correct fuel for your bike.

Agreed if it was a tank full of diesel you should not have gotten more than a km or two at the absolute max.

But interested to know which Shell gas station in Chiang Mai – why hold back? Spill the beans please.

[PeaceBlondie]

Thanks, everybody.

Davidgtr, the big shell station on Huay Kaew, just beyond Central. So, if it was gasohol, not deisel, I guess that's not so bad. After filling up (it was only 20% full when I pulled in), I went home to Lakeland, rode to and from the Rimping area one more time, and it went sour the second time I took a Lakeland-Rimping trip, on the way home. Even then, we got most of the way to the Honda dealer. They didn't tell my Thai partner much more than "wrong fuel" and that it's taking lots of labor; will be ready on the second working day.

I remember the attendant was using the pump that had a red vertical stripe. 7.8 liters, 210 baht, about 27 baht per liter, on Wednesday.

Oh, well. And I had just been thinking this week, how absolutely flawlessly the bike has run for 37,000 km (not counting that the battery died after one week and 945 km, because they probably sold the bike to me new, with a cheapo battery).

I shall interrogate and inform every attendant in the world from now on. "Hey boy, 91 octane, gow-sip-nung octane, chaimai?"

[Tywais]

I shall interrogate and inform every attendant in the world from now on. "Hey boy, 91 octane, gow-sip-nung octane, chaimai?"

Might want to say gow-neung or gow-sip-et to be sure he knows what you are talking about. I always say gow-hah dtem but then watch them closely anyway.

Edited September 16, 2006 by tywais

[Gary A]

Years ago some kid topped off my Suzuki jeep with diesel. I made it about 3 kilometers down the highway when it started pinging and losing power. I did make it to another gas station, had the tank drained by grinning Thais and then re-filled with gasoline. The engine suffered no damage and all I suffered was the loss of a tank of mixed fuel and lost face. I was much more careful after that.

[Thaiboxer]

I once knew a guy who put gas in a diesel Mercedes...that thing didn't make it too far:)

[PeaceBlondie]

I interrogated my Chiang Mai boyfriend some more, and he now clarifies that the word used by the Honda mechanics is not a word that applies to deisel, nor to diesel. It's some kind of benzene, so probably gasohol. He has not defamed a Hill Tribe Thai for over 20 hours now. He didn't even know that regular service stations sell gasohol for cars; thought they were for agricultural vehicles.

I'll bet the mechanics are reassembling the carburetor and fuel lines with new rubber. I can't believe that less than 100 km on 10% gasohol would ruin alloys in a high compression engine, though.

Oh, they also said something about the "spark" and the mechanics weren't talking about my partner's 2006 Yamaha Spark 135. I said, did they mean the spark plug? He thinks no, they meant something electronic that feeds to the spark. Regulator? Coil? Chip? Chippee?

[Tywais]

Oh, they also said something about the "spark" and the mechanics weren't talking about my partner's 2006 Yamaha Spark 135. I said, did they mean the spark plug? He thinks no, they meant something electronic that feeds to the spark. Regulator? Coil? Chip? Chippee?

Possibly the spark plug(s) are now contaminated (corroded) and a simple process of removing them and cleaning should fix that. New plugs though are cheap.

[PeaceBlondie]

Quick update. Supposedly it's my fault that I use the choke on start-up, ever at all, anywhere in Thailand. (why is it that the farang or the minority tribes can be blamed, but not the Thai? oh, well)

Supposedly. allegedly, apparently, a tiny piece of the choke assembly fell through the carburetor, through one of the intake valves, and into the combustion chamber! What are the chances? Well, I heard that it happened in 1959 to an Aston Martin, so I guess I'm in good company.

The professional looking staff at Niyom Panich is disassembling the cylinder. Not an easy task for a liquid cooled engine, but gaskets should be even cheaper than labor rates. If they have all the parts (hey, these things are made in Thailand, not Hammamatsu or Nagasaki).

It's all my fault, because I used the choke. Well gosh darn it, this is my 11th bike in a hot climate, and how can a choke piece get past an intake valve? Darned if I know.

So, fellow farang folk: never, never use a choke in Thailand.

[phibunmike]

Years ago some kid topped off my Suzuki jeep with diesel. I made it about 3 kilometers down the highway when it started pinging and losing power. I did make it to another gas station, had the tank drained by grinning Thais and then re-filled with gasoline. The engine suffered no damage and all I suffered was the loss of a tank of mixed fuel and lost face. I was much more careful after that.

In Africa once I ran a petrol Land Rover for about three days on diesel. The only problem was it was hard to stop the engine, and sometimes when you thought it was stopped it would start again spontaneously. But it was ok. Good for Landies !

[apetley]

Quick update. Supposedly it's my fault that I use the choke on start-up, ever at all, anywhere in Thailand. (why is it that the farang or the minority tribes can be blamed, but not the Thai? oh, well)

Supposedly. allegedly, apparently, a tiny piece of the choke assembly fell through the carburetor, through one of the intake valves, and into the combustion chamber! What are the chances? Well, I heard that it happened in 1959 to an Aston Martin, so I guess I'm in good company.

The professional looking staff at Niyom Panich is disassembling the cylinder. Not an easy task for a liquid cooled engine, but gaskets should be even cheaper than labor rates. If they have all the parts (hey, these things are made in Thailand, not Hammamatsu or Nagasaki).

It's all my fault, because I used the choke. Well gosh darn it, this is my 11th bike in a hot climate, and how can a choke piece get past an intake valve? Darned if I know.

So, fellow farang folk: never, never use a choke in Thailand.

What a totally BS answer from your dealer.

If your motorcycle is still under warranty insist Honda honour it. if the dealer wont co-operate contact Honda direct and explain your having problems with one of their outlets.

After all one of their parts has failed!

As for not having to use the choke, why fit one if you cant/dont need to use it?

I have a Phantom and a Mio, both need choke in the morning. Not for long but they do need it for an easy start.

[PeaceBlondie]

It's over 3 years old, over 37K kilometers on it, so it's out of warranty.

I just rode it home about 970 baht of repairs, and it's not running that well. I kind of think the explanation, "the choke mechanism fell into the engine" is bogus, because no engine parts were replaced. It didn't make sense, anyway (nor does the "wrong fuel" make much sense).

Agreed, that if Thai bikes should never be choked, a choke cable should never be fitted. Also, choking an engine first thing in the morning, for less than 30 seconds, makes it run correctly.

Who knows? Apparently the mechanics don't know. Maybe it's the old story of "We don't know but we won't lose face and admit ignorance. Just disassemble, reassemble, and earn money for decent labour but inability to diagnose problems."

[mike100]

I wrote on here a month or so ago about my bike (Kawasaki Boss) being damaged by Gasohol, at least that is what the service centre told me.

Ended up with the carb having to be replaced, and possible damage to the rings although I haven’t had that sorted out yet.

The Kawasaki dealer told me never to put gasohol in the tank again, but I read earlier today that normal 95 gas will be withdrawn from Jan 1st., and any oil station selling octane-95 gasoline would be fined no more than Bt100,000 or one-year imprisonment or both.

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=83880

My bike was bought from new and has less than 6000K on the clock.

Just hope there is an additive I can buy to mix with Gasohol to stop further damage come January.

Mike.

[SnakeBite]

Run 91 octane and no problem, non of the bikes mentioned in this thread so far would need 95 anyway.

[phibunmike]

Run 91 octane and no problem, non of the bikes mentioned in this thread so far would need 95 anyway.

I have a GSXR 750, and it certainly runs better on 95 than 91. Should I retune it to use 91 ?

Thanks