Water in fuel tank?

**HEMA** · 13th February 2011, 17:18

Spilled some fuel on the tank while filling up and the wife

thought she was helpful by immediately rinsing it off with the watercan, except the fuel cap wasn't on yet, so some water got into the tank.

advice please!

**bogan** · 13th February 2011, 17:25

There are a number of solutions for curing wife / motorcycle maintenance issues. Perhaps the most common is to ensure the bike lives in a man cave, with plenty of pin-up wife deterrents. However if she has a bike as well, you may have to shell out for a training course.

Your second problem is more easily solved, apparently there are chemicals that are combustion safe and absorb the water, or you could drain the tank, I haven't had personal experience with these techniques though, no wife you see

**scumdog** · 13th February 2011, 17:32

Drain it and let it dry properly.

You'll be miles ahead compared to adding meths (it don't work) or some other idea.

**Juzz976** · 13th February 2011, 17:58

Originally Posted by scumdog

Drain it and let it dry properly.

You'll be miles ahead compared to adding meths (it don't work) or some other idea.

+1 dont want fuel pump to slurp up some water and inject into cylinder.

dont risk using emulsifiers if more than a few drops got in there.

**rwh** · 13th February 2011, 18:13

Originally Posted by scumdog

adding meths (it don't work)

Really? I've done it successfully in the past - though not an injected engine; it was an old mini.

Richard

**FJRider** · 13th February 2011, 18:32

Originally Posted by rwh

Really? I've done it successfully in the past - though not an injected engine; it was an old mini.

Richard

well I had an old mini .... it was hard to tell if there was water in the tank or not ... I often knew there was. But nothing much changed in how it ran ...

**rwh** · 13th February 2011, 18:36

Originally Posted by FJRider

well I had an old mini .... it was hard to tell if there was water in the tank or not ... I often knew there was. But nothing much changed in how it ran ...

LOL. Actually, mine (well, I'd sold it to my dad who'd lent it to my sister by that time) ran pretty well most of the time. The water in the tank was a theory we considered confirmed by how well the meths cured it.

Richard

**scumdog** · 13th February 2011, 20:32

Originally Posted by rwh

Really? I've done it successfully in the past - though not an injected engine; it was an old mini.

Richard

OK, did an experiment.

I got a 2-litre coke bottle, half filled it with petrol then added about 1/2 an egg-cup full of water to it.

Then poured in about 200ml of meths.

I shook the whole lot up and it emulsified into a grey mass.

10 minutes later it separated into three distinct layers with the water on the bottom.

No matter how much shaking etc it was the same result.

**rwh** · 13th February 2011, 20:36

Originally Posted by scumdog

OK, did an experiment.

Can't fault that, cheers.

Must have been some other problem I had.

Richard

**rwh** · 13th February 2011, 20:41

Thinking some more, though.

Meths is essentially ethanol, with a few additives.

Alcoholic spirits, suitable for drinking are pretty much water and ethanol, with a few additives.

Why does my vodka not separate out? Is the difference in the additives?

Any chemists around?

Richard

**p.dath** · 14th February 2011, 06:48

Originally Posted by scumdog

OK, did an experiment.

I got a 2-litre coke bottle, half filled it with petrol then added about 1/2 an egg-cup full of water to it.

Then poured in about 200ml of meths.

I shook the whole lot up and it emulsified into a grey mass.

10 minutes later it separated into three distinct layers with the water on the bottom.

No matter how much shaking etc it was the same result.

I don't know anything about it, but that sounds like a great test.

Perhaps it needed time. Was the result different after 24 hours?

Although the meths appeared to separate out, did perhaps the amount of water in fact reduce (meaning a lot more meths was required)?

**scumdog** · 14th February 2011, 07:01

Originally Posted by p.dath

I don't know anything about it, but that sounds like a great test.

Perhaps it needed time. Was the result different after 24 hours?

Although the meths appeared to separate out, did perhaps the amount of water in fact reduce (meaning a lot more meths was required)?

I left it for a 4 or 5 days and gave it a shake at the end of each day - still no better.

And as I did not accurately measure the quantities involved I guess the meths COULD had absorbed some water - but if it did it wasn't much at all.

**dogsnbikes** · 14th February 2011, 07:14

Originally Posted by HEMA

Spilled some fuel on the tank while filling up and the wife

thought she was helpful by immediately rinsing it off with the watercan, except the fuel cap wasn't on yet, so some water got into the tank.

advice please!

Scummy is right meths is a waste of time.......Water will always sink too the bottom being the heavier component If you feel you need too put something in the tank use kero once you have emptied tank as kero beads the water

But your best bet is too empty tank and let it dry out and get a wind sorce passing through the tank ie leaf blower,compressed airline or using the old hoover if it has a blow attachment hell dude even a airbed pump,and let it dry out properly over a couple of days

**Flip** · 14th February 2011, 10:09

Petrol has about 150 ppm (parts per million) water in it normally or 0.015%. At this level it is saturated with water. If you add 5% methanol or ethanol you can disolve a little more water, but its really fuck all. Probably only 500 ppm.

I have the lab gear to test for water in diesel, but its a bugger to set up for petrol because it is a heated process, petrol has such a low boiling point and I do not want to flood the lab out with petrol vapour.

I tip some waste methanol in the landy from time to time mostly because I have it and would otherwise have to pay for it to be disposed of. Seems to keep the fuel system clear of water.

Methanol Ethanol Aceatone MEK are all partially polar solvents. What this means is they can disolve in water and oil. Petrol is mostly a non-polar solvent it can not disolve in water (but a very little water can disolve in it.)