| Author | Message | ||
     Mrpeanut |
Hi, I just bought an M2 year 2000, I was riding the bike for a good 50 miles at least and everything was riding fine. After that I made the stupid mistake of adding regular (87 octane) gas, after riding say 25 miles all of a sudden the engine sorta sounds like its struggling to breath and stalls. I initially thought I had turned the tank to reserve or something like that but this was not the case. The bike was able to start again easily however, this happened two more times. Is it possible that the low octane gas is the problem or should I look to the carbs? The reason I suspected the gas was that the first 50 miles was being ridden on AFAIK high octane gas. | ||
| Buell_bert |
I usually get 40-45 mpg and that would be 1 gallon so I do not think your hoses and carb would hold even close to a gallon of gas. The carb and hose would be good for only a couple miles. It may be some bad gas or you could have stirred some gunk up from the tank with the fill. I don't think the difference from reg. to prem. would cause that much change. | ||
| Cyclonecharlie |
Low octane gas especially in the heat can do some serious damage to these Buell motors. Check your plugs with a strong lite and see if it is showing any aluminum on the porcelain. Make sure you have the right plugs(cold) not what your manual says. Dump the gas(put it in your mower) and take the opportunity to pull the petcock and insp. and clean the screen. Flush the tank if you need to and if that doesn't fix it, pull the carb.and drop the bowl. Be glad you have a bike easy to work on. | ||
| Dwardo |
If you gas up while a tanker is in the station or soon after, you can pump all kinds of stuff into your tank. I always avoid gassing up where I see a tanker. So, maybe that's what happened. Make sure you have the heat range plugs that were specified later - earlier Buells were specified with hotter plugs. Mine had those when I bought it and it definitely pinged on a hot day even on premium gas. Changing the plugs eliminated that. | ||
| 92firebird |
I put Super Plus gas (highest octane) gas in my 02 m2, and it really seems to run way better...is the highest octane better than mid grade or worse or does it not make a difference so long as it is higher than 87? | ||
| Mtjm2 |
I put 87 in by accident in the spring . 2 cans , and the good stuff ended up in the Gator . What a b@tch ! . Run 93 . | ||
| Jim2 |
I've been seeing a lot of that 10% ethanol lately. I've managed to avoid using it so I'm not sure if it's noticeable. Is using blended ethanol a problem? | ||
| Kleinstein |
I found on my 99 that the 89 octane gets the best mileage and do to the lower octane the motor runs cooler....the higher the octane the higher the engine temperature and on an air cooled motor in traffic might not be the best choice. Early spring and late.fall I run some race gas 101 102 octane only a tank or.two...cleans out the system and I haven't ever had any issues.... | ||
| Fasted |
i believe lower octane fuels result in decreased thermal efficiency leading to LOWER mpg and HIGHER engine temperatures....especially during hot weather. high compression motors absolutely perform better with higher octane fuels. | ||
| Biggsammy13 |
same with kleinstein on my 02 m2. Used to only run premium and then dropped to mid grade. Increased fuel efficiency and runs a little cooler (I'll take all I can get in this TX heat) Still, I alternate between premium and mid grade. also agree with Dwardo - don't fill up when a tanker is there...I'd rather risk being empty than tearing down my bike looking for problems ...but that's just me. |
