Water in fuel, odd symptom

[Deleted User 62]

When I found water in my friends GS fuel supply, I completely drained and dried the tank prior to refueling. The bike was inside a garage and covered for the last week due to the weather; lots of rain. Now there is water in the float bowls again. I was thinking maybe the local service station was selling contaminated gas, but then I noticed something odd. When I pulled the bowls to remove the jets for cleaning, the fuel in the bowls was clear. After I cleaned and replaced the jets I noticed the fuel left in the bowls had become cloudy in about 15 minutes, but fuel from the petcock was still clear. Having never seen this before, I'm wondering if the new fuels with alcohol can actually absorb moisture from the air. Anyone care to enlighten me?

[Kurt in S.A.]

Is it possible that covering the bike created a moist "envirnoment" under there and resulted in the tendency for water to fall out of suspension????

Kurt in S.A.

[Deleted User 62]

I really have no idea. I talked to the attendant at the Chevron station. She said the test the fuel daily, but didn't know if the Supreme, which is all I use, has any ethanol in it... Photo of gas turned cloudy after 10 minutes and droplets that were not there when first poured:

[pat76r90]

I think I might return to the station and put some more gas in a "known clean container", see if it changes overnight. Very little premium gas is sold anymore, so more chance of contamination. Another possibility is that your floats are porous and retaining liquids in the bowl. Maybe drop them in a clean container of gas.

[mattcfish]

Never seen fuel turn cloudy like that. When I get water in the gas it doesn't mix with the fuel. It appears as blobs of water rolling around in the bottom of the bowl. That fuel does seem to be abnormal. A large amount of alcohol will make the water mix with the gas. For what you guys down in the islands pay for gasoline, you should be getting best of the best.

[SteveD]

I can see water in the bottom picture...the pinkish blob at 6 o'clock.
Otherwise, it looks dirty & contaminated.

Have you bought the same fuel from another outlet? Check for the same response?

[Deleted User 62]

Well, I think I may have figured it out. Condensation. Alcohol or not, as the gas evaporates, it attracts moisture... Sound about right ? One other thing I noticed on this bike, the emissions control stuff had all been removed, but there's no plumbing under the tank for overflow. Just drain tubes exposed to atmosphere...

[Deleted User 287]

but there's no plumbing under the tank for overflow. Just drain tubes exposed to atmosphere...

Very common on old, used bikes. Either a PO pulled the tank and the hose came loose and never got hooked back up and lost along the way, or the end that connects to the tank got old and cracked and the hose got thrown away...

I remember at least once clipping the end off of my original overflow hose and reattaching it, a little shorter.

It's really not a good idea to drip gas on a hot engine at a refueling.

[Jean]

That is really NASTY-looking gas. I agree the "pink" blob must be water.
Maybe you should retune your engine to run on a lesser octane...OLD gas is not good. Even if you paid a premium price for it.

[Deleted User 62]

Actually, the gas coming out the petcock is clear. Try this, pull off your float bowl and don't dump the fuel. Let sit 10 minutes and see if it gets cloudy. A guy on ADVRider had the same results.