Gas tanks again

[rmullins]

A friend that bought a used Highlander had a close call yesterday. He had his engine quit on climb out and he was able to turn back and land. Luckily he was practicing at a 5000ft airport and not our short strip surrounded by trees where he keeps it. After checking it he found the fuel filter was clogged. Then he noticed the paint was discoloring and bubbling up on his tanks. When you push on the tanks, it feels like they have turned to rubber. It has to be the alcohol in the fuel softening the resin. This is kit number 97 and it is a few years old. It seems odd to me that it has taken this long to have the effect, although the alcohol levels in fuel are higher than it used to be and alcohol free auto fuel is impossible to find around here. May have been more available out west where the plane was built. Anybody that has an older kit should be carefully monitoring their tanks. Bob was real lucky.

[xpflyr]

That Ethanol is bad stuff! I wish they would just stop adding it. It's only purpose is to water down the gas and rot rubber.
This is why I only use 100LL. It cost more but is better for the engine and you get better miles per.Be safe.
Don

[KevinC]

I'd like to hear from the factory folks on this.... I was clearly informed (during the tank wash-out debacle) that the resin used in the tanks was not harmed by ethanol fuel.

k

[rmullins]

I had a long conversation with Troy this morning and he gave me some history on this. Back when alcohol first starting being added to fuel it was creating problems for many, Kitfox, Avid Flyer, even the yacht industry. Troy said he contacted the builders and replaced most the tanks but a few builders already had installed them and said they would only run pure gas, but they were supposed to label the tanks "no alcohol" if they didn't replace them (these weren't marked). Troy said the expense almost put him out of business. The current tanks are using the same resin they are using for the underground fuel storage tanks so they should be good. It was a good conversation and he is going to work with us on replacing the tanks.

As far as running 100ll in the Rotax engines, Rotax says it's acceptable but discourages it. It requires more frequent oil and plug changes and creates more combustion deposits. Pick your poison...

[Redeye]

I have a set of 18 gal tanks brand new from kit #154. I bought the bigger tanks after I bought the kit.
If you can use them I would let them go for some Beer $$

[scubarider2]

Do a search about my gas tanks here. After hundreds of dollars worth of cleaner and sloshing the tanks, I am lucky that I found a gas station with NO ethanol. That stuff cost me loads of time, headache and money. And, after all that I still see some discoloration in the fuel filters....
Dennis

[rmullins]

The is a web site that you can go to that lists alcohol free gas stations.

pure-gas.org

The closest one to me is about 75 miles, a little too far.

Thanks for the offer redeye. These are for my buddies plane and I think he is going to take the opportunity to upgrade to the bigger tanks, but I'll run it by him.