Here below is some parallel chat pasted over from a PM thread. I thought it was relevant, but that I should respect the other parties wish for privacy by keeping them anonymous.
I don’t find the stated unavailability of fuel stabiliser in Taiwan very surprising, given the lack of a “maintenance culture” here, though it is a little sad.
Arising from that, if WD-40 is a bummer, how about 2-stroke oil, either in the tank, or just a bit in the carb? It’ll run a bit smoky of course on re-commissioning, but hey, this is Taiwan.
Ducked wrote:
Wouldn’t oil (or WD-40) do for the carb if a preservative is necessary? It wouldn’t protect fuel in the tank, but my impression (and its nothing more than that) is that carbs clog a lot faster than the fuel in the tank goes off.
This may be because the smaller volume of fuel involved dries out faster, but I wonder if there isn’t some catalytic or adsorbtive effect involved with the largish contact area in the carb. I don’t know what the chemistry is but I get preponderantly a grey sludge adsorbed on the casting surfaces, not the varnish residue thats usually described.
How do 2-strokes, particularly those using premix, compare for fuel system sludging and corrosion?
Anonymous Reply:
Although I love WD40 myself for everything I cannot confirm or deny any of your questions here sorry.
Although leaving a metal gas tank empty can certainly result in rust but I think you intend to leave fuel in the tank anyway…
I like the idea of the running the stable fuel through the system because it gets into those hard to reach places throughout the system.
I have never in my life noted this problem as a specific fuel decay problem so I couldn’t answer on the 2 strokes, perhaps it either passes through and gets spat out the exhaust or I have just cleaned the carb not caring where the muck came from since off road we are exposed to so much muck on river crossing and riding on so much dust, dust and dirt that inevitably what ends up in the carb is brown muck haha.
Is it possible that 2-stroke oil acts a stabiliser, I don’t know it would be interesting to research. But I would still like a stabiliser for my car and scooter.
I have spoken to my friend who works at car magazine and he says there are no stabiliser products in Taiwan, thats sad and hard to believe but if I can’t find one I may just import some.