Lucus Fuel Treatment for the NC?

[Old Can Ride]

Solution to fuel problems: Ride

Burn all the gas out, you might be stranded because you ran out of gas, but no bad fuel problems. Heck, I burned 7 gallons today. Never had a bad fuel problem.

 

[670cc]

On my 2 carbed bikes I run SEAFOAM thru once a year,30 year old bike with no problems !!.


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That's a good pitch for using Seafoam. It probably could do no harm to use it. By all means, continue if it works.

On the other hand, I have a 30 year old lawn mower (Honda, of course) that I've never put any additive in and it has no problems either. (I do drain the carb for the winter). So I guess we'd never know whether the additives worked or not unless we tried it both ways.

Greg

 

[turbodieseli4i6]

I've used Sea Foam for a few years now. Last year I didn't drain the gas in my mower and when I started it up, it ran like crap. I put a can in the tank and ran it dry, no more miss. YMMV

 

[johnakay]

if storing bike over winter months I put in fuel stabilizer on my last ride out.
never had a problem.

 

[oldmanaz]

A co-worker turned me on to the Lucas Fuel Treatment some years ago. I just added a bit on each fill up on my old carbureted engines. Since purchasing my NC new, I have added a little bit on each fill up just to see what kind of results and benefits can be had with a brand new bike. Why not? Curious to see the results over the years. The stuff is not that expensive.

 

[kjang]

I do know from experience, but not from bikes. Mine comes from outboards. The fuel additive does work. Especially on a 2002/2003/2004 mercury/yamaha 90hp 4 stroke (carburated variety) outboard. Outboard engines usually sit long periods of time without running, thus fuel will dry up/varnish the carb jets thus forcing you to rebuild the carb. Also the fuel additives help clean the combustion chamber from carbon buildup. Some outboards are 2 stroke design. Carbon is a killer of 2 strokes.

I have not treated my honda nc700 w/dct with any fuel additives thus far. I purchased the bike new from the dealer in may of 2013. Non of my cars or trucks either are treated with additives and there all fuel injected.


Ken

 

[VE258]

don't know about bikes,but our car manual was very clear about it:MB does not recommend any fuel treatment\Additives.
but i agree with oldmanaz-a little bit once in awhile probably not going to hurt. on other hand- i believe all this stuff is in the fuel already(seen it on discovery channel)

 

[Kupiakos]

I recommend Sea Foam. 1 oz. per gallon. It keeps varnish from building up and gets rid of moisture in the tank. Condensation always occurs, like a windshield on a cold day. Sea foam helps get rid of water in the system.

 

[670cc]

I recommend Sea Foam. 1 oz. per gallon. It keeps varnish from building up and gets rid of moisture in the tank. Condensation always occurs, like a windshield on a cold day. Sea foam helps get rid of water in the system.

I can see keeping varnish at bay, but how does Seafoam "get rid" of water? Is that explained somehow or is it just snake oil marketing? Sorry to nit pick but I don't believe it until I see a scientific explanation.

 

[Blackrider]

I'd use that in my old '69 Pontiac but it had a carb and used to require leaded gas.

I don't think it is needed on our bikes. I do use an ethanol treatment in my bike though.

 

[MZ5]

I can see keeping varnish at bay, but how does Seafoam "get rid" of water? Is that explained somehow or is it just snake oil marketing? Sorry to nit pick but I don't believe it until I see a scientific explanation.

Seafoam contains isopropyl alcohol (that's the "IPA" on the msds). Alcohol and water are cosolvent, so that's how it would help remove water. I've always found it ironic that complaints about water are so much greater when people know or suspect there's alcohol in their fuel, yet to get rid of water in fuel we add alcohol.

 

[670cc]

Seafoam contains isopropyl alcohol (that's the "IPA" on the msds). Alcohol and water are cosolvent, so that's how it would help remove water. I've always found it ironic that complaints about water are so much greater when people know or suspect there's alcohol in their fuel, yet to get rid of water in fuel we add alcohol.

So does the 10% ethanol in gasoline serve the same purpose in dispersing water, or does ethanol behave differently than isopropyl alcohol? Sure would be ironic if the people that hate alcohol in gasoline actually, unknowingly, add it themselves with the "snake oils".

 

[Fuzzy]

Depends on how much water the alcohol absorbed before you bought the gas. Big enough problem that not mixed with gas at refinery but at distributor and thus closer to end user.


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[turbodieseli4i6]

So does the 10% ethanol in gasoline serve the same purpose in dispersing water, or does ethanol behave differently than isopropyl alcohol? Sure would be ironic if the people that hate alcohol in gasoline actually, unknowingly, add it themselves with the "snake oils".

Gasoline Expiration - Ethanol Blend Fuels Have a Short Shelf Life

 

[MZ5]

So does the 10% ethanol in gasoline serve the same purpose in dispersing water, or does ethanol behave differently than isopropyl alcohol? Sure would be ironic if the people that hate alcohol in gasoline actually, unknowingly, add it themselves with the "snake oils".

The ethanol and isopropanol behave the same way with respect to water.

When considering the ills of water in gasohol, it might be that having alcohol in there from the beginning, rather than adding it in response to a specific problem encountered, makes a difference? I think we ought to be careful, though, to not scapegoat an ingredient when the actual issue is poorly-made and/or poorly-handled fuel regardless of ingredients.

Note: I'm not a lover of gasohol, though if we designed engines around alcohol in the first place, and used nuke-powered conversion of CO2 (and H2O) to methanol as the fuel, I'd be supportive.

 

[davidc83]

Same here in the Louisville, southern Indiana-all gas comes from the refinery over in Ashland Ky. You may even see the same truck pull into a shell station then go across the street to the Marathon station (see it happen many times in my small town). The tankers have separate units in them and each brand has their own additives in those compartments. The only time I place additives in my tanks is when I am going to store the bike for extended period (such as the KLX250sf I keep in storage in Florida). For extended periods of storage, I use STP fuel treatment and a little SeaFoam-this method has worked for 3+ years now).

 

[mercurydog47]

I had an issue with my 2012 model running rough between 5th and 6th gear sometimes and I treated my fuel with the prescribed amount of Lucas Oil injector/carburetor cleaner and I actually believe it helped with that problem. On the other hand it may just be a case of wishing for something hard enough to achieve the desired outcome. It is certainly inexpensive enough and with all the ethanol from corn in this country it is reasonable to believe that a residue could form, although that is just shade tree guesswork. I will probably treat my fuel once every six months or so. Good luck.

 

[TN Thunder]

Hate to differ from you Fuzzy. My Dad has hauled millions of gallons of various fuels from Jet Fuel to regular and all in between. Gas can come from a pipeline bulk station which means it can come from a variety of refineries. Various additives are added depending on name brand of gasoline. I was told years ago for my first Fuel injected car that if you run lots of fuel through it and do not let it set up you will need less additives. Some helps keep the varnish cleaned out of the injectors. Why pay for a premium grade of gas if the engine does not require for higher octane. I use Lucas some times, TechRon most times and have used a little Marvel Mystery Oil. I run low octane in both my Valkyrie cruiser and the NC. I put fuel additive in them occasionally, not all of the time. But then i don't normally let my bike set up more than a week. Additive every once in a while is cheap insurance. Beats having to tear down carbs and injectors. Main thing is not to set them up for extended times with ethanol gas and partially full tanks. Keeps the water or condensation from forming.

 

[Fuzzy]

TN Thunder. My statement was that ethanol is not blended at refinery or shipped in pipeline and I stand by that. It may happen, but not yet in U.S. Only being tested in pipelines with logistics hurdles and technical concerns. Also refineries are not near corn fields.
Ethanol Today Magazine - The Possibility of the Pipeline

 

[bvogel7475]

Don't know if its worth a darn or not, but this website makes me think about where I fill up. If a have a choice.
Top Tier Gasoline

I use Mobil, Chevron, Shell, or 76. So, I'm good until I get to another state where I don't know the brands. I put a couple of cap fulls of lucas fuel additive in my NC Once a month. Since I buy it by the gallon and use it in my other old cars, it's like 50 cents a tank for the NC. I don't use premium gas so I figure it should help with the ethanol content. I don't care what anybody says about ethanol being safe. It is not good for fuel systems. I took apart an intake manifold and throttle body on my wife's Acura MDX with 140K miles on it and it looked like a bomb went off in there. Gooey deposits everywhere and we only use premium gas per Acura's requirements. Cleaned it out with some brake cleaner and Sea Foam. Also cleaned out the EGR valve as well and now use lucas fuel treatment. The car runs much better after cleaning out that mess. Curious to see what it will look like in another 50K miles.