Proper fuel grade to use

[Bubba717]

Just wanted to see if everyone usually runs 93 thru there voyagers. The guy I bought mine from was running 93 but you can’t buy ethanol free in 93 , only in 87. And I know ethanol isn’t exactly good for a carburetorated engine, just wanted to get some opinions, thanks

[misft]

I use mostly 87 octane E87 gas, that's mostly what you will find when on road trips anyway. You will want to use a fuel treatment and drain the carburetors if stored over the winter.

[vxiirider]

I have used a product called Sea Foam for years with great success. A can or two during the riding season and a can with the last fillup before winter storage, added before the fill-up and run a few miles to get the treated fuel into the carburetors. My bike is stored in a heated shop, hooked to a battery tender, and has always started in the spring without a problem. I always use E87 for fuel.

[Stew]

It's almost impossible to find ethanol free fuel here (Alberta, Canada) so I just run regular grade gas with ethanol. My bike is used quite regularly so I've never noticed any problems with ethanol settling out, and in the fall I run Sta-Bil into the last tank and top it right up for storage. I should drain the carbs as well, but I've never bothered. My garage is unheated so that might actually keep the gas fresher? Anyway, never any problem starting in the spring and the bike runs great. I used to run premium grade gas in my previous bikes but gas is insanely expensive here now so I dropped to regular. Quite honestly I don't notice any difference in the running of the bike, though it might drop one or two mpg with regular.

[cushman eagle]

Hi,Bubba717,I also run 87 gas in my VXII,and have put 90,000 on it with no fuel related problems,and as vxiirider,I put seafoam in the last tank before winter. I also will run a tank or 2 with seafoam during the riding season
I did have to run 92 in my GS1100GK,to reduce the detonation,as it ran hot.

[SgtSlag]

The risk in using gasoline containing Ethanol, is that the Ethanol can, over time, destroy parts making up the fuel system. It can take years of exposure to ruin parts, however.

The manual for my '93 specifically states to avoid Ethanol gasoline formulas in the bike.

I look for Ethanol-free gas when we tour. I can usually find it. If not, I just run the Ethanol formula, replacing it with E-free gasoline, whenever I can.

As for Octane Rating, 87 is fine. The Octane Rating is a number pertaining to its resistance to pre-detonation (pinging, which can blow a hole into the piston heads). On a high compression engine (10:1 or higher), higher Octane fuel is necessary to avoid pinging (93 to 100+ Octane). The Voyagers have lower compression in the cylinders, so 87 Octane gas will run without pre-detonation/pinging.

The only reason I run 93 Octane gas in my bike, is because that is the Octane Rating for the E-free gas available most of the time. Any Octane Rating of 87, or above, is fine. Avoid Ethanol gas, as much as you can. Higher Octane fuels will not result in better gas mileage -- that comes from more stored energy within the E-free gas, than what is contained within alcohol gas. The only benefit to burning higher Octane fuel, is the reduced possibility of pinging, which won't occur in a Voyager, unless you run fuel with an Octane rating below 87, likely below 85...

My old, 2000 Chevy Silverado lost its fuel level float due to Ethanol gas, over a period of 10 years (it died before I bought it). The replacement float part was $750 + labor to install it into a 26-gallon tank... I ran E-free gas in that beast, to avoid further damaging the fuel system. It was expensive to fill that 26-gallon tank! Cheers!

[Bubba717]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I’m going to switch to 87 ethanol free and see how it goes, really appreciate all the advice I get on this forum.

[Bubba717]

Thanks everyone for the advice, I’m going to switch to 87 ethanol free and see how it goes, really appreciate all the advice I get on this forum.