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Plastic gas tanks

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Basketcase

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In researching a new bike I have discovered that there have been problems with Ducati gas tanks in the U.S. In Europe the problem doesn't seem to be as bad so the thinking is that the 10% ethanol in the States is softening the plastic and making it stretch out of shape. Has anyone heard of this problem in Canada?
 
The problem was with the "Sport Classic" line.A lot of other models have plastic tanks and they have not had any problems.Ducati is very good with warranty extensions in the event of a timed out problem.Do a search on http://www.ducati.ms/ for ethanol for a ton more info.
 
There was an anecdotal experience by someone on a Moto Guzzi blog which also linked Ethanol content of US gas to the expansion he saw in his plastic gas tank. He went further to say that if the tank is emptied of gas and left to sit dry for several months, the swelling subsided and the tank returned to its normal shape. That is only one person's experience. There was no connection to that episode and gas sold in Canada. IMO assuming that swelling is due to ethanol content in gas, if you buy Shell Premium with 0% ethanol, this risk of plastic tank swelling should be eliminated.
 
Wingboy said:
The problem was with the "Sport Classic" line.A lot of other models have plastic tanks and they have not had any problems.Ducati is very good with warranty extensions in the event of a timed out problem.Do a search on http://www.ducati.ms/ for ethanol for a ton more info.
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There were a few 1098 models caught in this as well. Although, to the OP, if it was going to happen to a tank it would have happened by now.
 
All monster models been having same issue... its what turned me away from buying one.
 
Wingboy said:
The problem was with the "Sport Classic" line.A lot of other models have plastic tanks and they have not had any problems.Ducati is very good with warranty extensions in the event of a timed out problem.Do a search on http://www.ducati.ms/ for ethanol for a ton more info.
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Definitely not isolated to the sport classic line. All Ducatis with Acerbis tanks will be prone to this. My KTM is as well, though I haven experienced it myself. Some people say its not noticeable until you remove the tank and try to reinstall it, but the mountings no longer line up.
 
Apparently there are some Triumph models with the same problem. 2005, 2006 and some 2007 Speed Triples.
 
Basketcase said:
the 10% ethanol in the States is softening the plastic and making it stretch out of shape. Has anyone heard of this problem in Canada?
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Almost all of our fuel has 10% ethanol in it here too! lol. Shell 91 doesn't ;)

-Jamie M.
 
Ducati, Guzzi, Aprilia, KTM are all experiencing these probs.

My own bike has this issue a little.
The front tank mount takes some muscle to line up. It's about a 1/16th of an inch out of place.
KTM won't recall them, and tanks are a grand.
:(
 
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Ditto for my KTM. Thankfully VERY little, and I use V-Power 91 almost exclusively. I also have some adjustable tank mounts now so even less an issue.
 
Some Multistrada's have had the issue too. Apparently the Ducati remedy is to replace your defective fuel tank with an identical currently-ok-but-will-also-become-defective-after-warranty-expires fuel tank.
 
Ducati and everyone else using plastic tanks is dealing with lots of class action lawsuits over this it can affect all their models except for the few with aluminum tanks. Mine is still fine but lots are not across the range.
 
Bignoga said:
I'm 99.999% sure that Shell gas(even the 91 forget what its called) now has ethanol in it as of mid last year.
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I'll have to check on that. I e-mailed Ultramar a few weeks ago and they confirmed that their 91 has no ethanol in it! If Shell jumped ship I'm switching!

E-mailing Shell...

-Jamie M.
 
The ethanol in gas issue seems to have motorcyclists pretty ticked. Everyone seems to thing it reduces the power of the engine. I would think the engine management system (computer) would change the amount of fuel injected in order to compensate for this but maybe not? It seems like cars can adjust for octane rating so it should be easy to adjust for gas that might have less oompf.
One of the advantages of ethanol is that it runs cooler than gas.
I'm not 100% sure it is the ethanol that is to blame for the tank softening or stretching. I wouldn't be surprised if it softens with 100% gasoline too.
If it is true that Shell is putting ethanol in their premium gas then I'm sure a lot of people on here would like to know about it.
 
Ethanol in gasoline is a huge problem and not just for bikers. Its 100% responsible for problem relating to plastics. Early fiberglass motorcycle tanks were just fine for 30-35yrs , now they need sealer kits to keep the ethanol from eating the resin. The plastic bladder tanks in modern bikes swell with the reaction from the Ethanol.

For some real disaster stories check a marine forum, Ethanol is responsible for hundreds of thousands dollars damage to boats with built in fuel tanks, the ethanol eats the plastic resin in the tanks and produces a byproduct that gets sucked into the engines, clogs filters and injectors and ruins engines. Its a big problem.

Legislation to include ethanol in fuel isnt good for many people, except corn farmers.
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