Water in fuel tank?

[rwh]

...IPA is miscible with water...they'll think you are making 'oil' if you try to buy it, tho...

India Pale Ale?

Richard

[ellipsis]

India Pale Ale?

...haven't found one that doesn't taste a little like water...dont know if adding isopropyl alcohol would improve it any...

[notme]

scumdog and rwh are both correct by saying it does and doesn't work, and p.dath has hit the reason for the difference square on the head (nice common sense analysis there dude!), but Flip provides the science.

Meths in fuel is a valid solution for removing water. I've had to tell many people over the years that just because something doesn't work for them, doesn't mean that it doesn't work period. The trick with meths+fuel solubilizing water, is that it only works for reasonable amounts of water - which is why it seems to work better in cars - there tends to be much more fuel to water compared to a small bike tank. Bigger fuel lines injectors and all that will also help.

The commercial solutions you can buy for removing water are generally isopropyl so will remove more water, but in the end if you have given the fuel a good splash of water you're going to have to drain it.

At least a bike tank has a big advantage in being easier to remove and dry manually so if meths doesn't work in your situation it's not a huge deal....and a quick way to dry it if you don't want it to be off the bike long is to get it off the bike, tip the fuel out, throw a bottle of meths in there and swish it around then tip it out. Well ventilated work area of course!

[slofox]

...get it off the bike, tip the fuel out, throw a bottle of meths in there and swish it around then tip it out. Well ventilated work area of course!

Exactly. BTDT.

[notme]

Exactly. BTDT.

Dang, must be coffee time. Took me 5 mins to figure that one out!

[slofox]

Dang, must be coffee time. Took me 5 mins to figure that one out!

In the days of my very first aged British bike, it was common enough for water to get into the tank - after all, the oil got OUT easily enough, why should the water not be able to get IN? (Filler cap was fukt actually).

Regular thing to remove tank, pour out gas, tip in bottle of meths, shake it all about (no no not your right foot dammit!) drain, dry. All go right after.

[sil3nt]

Waters at the bottom. Just don't hit reserve