• Ciao Guest - You’ve landed at the ultimate Guzzi site. NEW FORUM REGISTRATIONS REQUIRE EMAIL ACTIVATION - CHECK YOUR SPAM FOLDER - Use the CONTACT above if you need help. New to the forum? For all new members, we require ONE post in the Introductions section at the bottom, in order to post in most of the other sections. ALWAYS TRY A SEARCH BEFORE STARTING A NEW TOPIC - Most questions you may have, have likely been already answered. DON'T BE A DRIVE-BY POSTER: As a common courtesy, check back in and reply within 24 hours, or your post will be deleted. Note there's decades of heavily experienced Guzzi professionals on this site, all whom happily give endless amounts of their VALUABLE time for free; BE COURTEOUS AND RESPECTFUL!
  • There is ZERO tolerance on personal attacks and ANY HYPERLINKS to PRODUCT(S) or other competing website(s), including personal pages, social media or other Forums. This ALSO INCLUDES ECU DIAGnostic software, questions and mapping. We work very hard to offer commercially supported products and to keep info relevant here. First offense is a note, second is a warning, third time will get you banned from the site. We don't have the time to chase repeat (and ignorant) offenders. This is NOT a social media platform; It's an ad-free, privately funded website, in small help with user donations. Be sure to see the GTM STORE link above; ALL product purchases help support the site, or you can upgrade your Forum profile or DONATE via the link above.
  • Be sure to see the GTM STORE link also above for our 700+ product inventory, including OEM parts and many of our 100% Made-in-SoCal-USA GTM products and engine kits. In SoCal? Click the SERVICE tab above for the best in service, tires, tuning and installation of our products or custom work, and don't miss our GT MotoCycles® (not) art on the BUILDS tab above. WE'RE HERE ONLINE ONLY - NO PHONE CALLS MADE OR RECEIVED - DO NOT EMAIL AND ASK QUESTIONS OR ASK TO CALL YOU.
  • Like the new V100, GuzziTech is full throttle into the future! We're now running on an all-new server and we've updated our Forum software. The visual differences are obvious, but hopefully you'll notice the super-fast speed. If you notice any glitches or have any issues, please post on the Site Support section at the bottom. If you haven't yet, please upgrade your account which is covered in the Site Support section or via the DONATE tab above, which gives you full site access including the DOWNLOADS section. We really appreciate every $ and your support to keep this site ad-free. Create an account, sign in, upgrade your account, and enjoy. See you on the road in 2024.

Tank Swelling due to ethanol in petrol

Gazdok

Gazdok

Cruisin' Guzzisti
Joined
Oct 27, 2008
Messages
124
Location
GB
I have a Breva 1100 from 2005. For the last 1.5 years I have been wondering why my top yoke seemed to be closer to the tank on one side than the other. I have not had any shunt or accident. I had a disintegrating fuel filter issue but did not think much of it and I had to change my air filter last year and it was a pain to get the tank back on. Recently I noticed 2 white marks on the front of the tank where the handlebars are touching the tank - there used to be about a 1cm gap!!
So I went to the dealer to check whether I had an issue with a bent frame or some other reason why the yoke distance was asymmetrical not knowing about expanding tanks due to ethanol.
The dealer advice was to intermittently fill up with super unleaded as in britain this is still available without ethanol.

Has there been an official Moto Guzzi statement or even a recall?

What tank material are they using on the newer bikes?
 
I've noticed the difficulty in attaching a tank on mine and other 1100 Brevas and 1200 Norges. I now use a scissors jack and block of wood to get the hole to line up. I have not noticed the degree of swelling you report with handlebar interference and ethanol fuel is pretty much all you can get in the US now. As for the tank material and any recall, I don't know.
 
Tank is probably nylon.

Never had a problem with swelling on either of my bikes with nylon tanks, fill up solely with E10..

I know ethanol is the popular opinion on this, but there are many other, local, additives put in gasoline.
 
From spending time on the Ducati forums since they actually did a recall on the nylon tanks on some models. The actual problem is that nylon will absorb water, The ethanol in the gas CAN - not will, result in free water in the tank that the tank then absorbs. The solution in Ducati world - as the recall just gets you a new, nylon tank of the same material - is to completely empty the tank and let it air dry. This should let it return to its normal shape and size. Then you get it lined. The lining of choice seems to be from Caswell.
 
Ducati was quietly replacing tanks even out of warranty .... until the class action lawsuit, then you only got one replacement tank and that was it. So its probably not advisable to create a class action law suit... :?

The Guzzi tanks seem to be cast much thicker nylon than the Ducati tanks. I think that's why you see the slower malformation in bikes with thicker walled nylon tanks as compared to the thinner walled Ducati nylon tanks.

I have read that Caswell slows down the water absorption but it is not 100% effective. However that may also be due to not getting a good coating all thought the inside of the tank.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top