Fuel Additives

[GoldenMT07]

Just would like to get your thoughts on fuel additives such as Sea Foam for my 2021 MT-07.  I live in Colorado and my mechanic recommended it for my DR Z400.

[DewMan]

What condition is he recommending the fuel additive for? 

[scat2me]

It helps his bank account

[GoldenMT07]

He said that the gas in CO is not pure and it would help. I didn't purchases any from his shop, I picked so up at Target for 1/2 the price.  I only use about every 5 tanks on my DRZ so the cost isn't much. I wasn't sure if he recommended it because the DRZ is carb not FI.  I see so many post regarding octane for the MT-O7 with different opinions.  My 2021 owners manual says to use unleaded 90 octane. Regular unleaded in 87 so I thought maybe the Sea Foam would be good.  Otherwise, I'll use mid grade at 90 octane.

Thanks for all your help guys!

[YZEtc]

I've regularly been using a product called Ethanol Equalizer from Liquid Performance for a couple years now. It's cheap, you don't have to use much per dose, and I've been adding it to my fuel at every gas stop for the past year with no problems. It negates the bad effects of Ethanol of your gasoline and is also a fuel system cleaner and a fuel preservative.

Since I split my riding among three different motorcycles, they can sit for a week or two sometime, and Ethanol Equalizer allows the fuel to sit longer before it starts corroding or gumming up the fuel system. In fact, I have not had any problems with stale or gummed-up fuel since using this product, no matter how long the bike may sit. That's one of the main drawbacks of Ethanol in the gasoline: It goes bad more quickly. 

Toward the end of my 2015 FZ-07 ownership, I parked the bike for 1.75 years with Ethanol Equalizer in the fuel system, only disconnecting the battery negative lead, occasionally charging the battery, and sometime wiping dust off of it. When I decided to put the bike back on the road, I simply hooked the battery back up and hit the starter button. The bike fired up as if it had run the day before.

[Triple Jim]

If you look at the MSDS for Seafoam there isn't much useful in it.  I use Sta-bil for long-ish term storage and Techron if I think the fuel system is getting dirty.  I've had Techron take a stalling chainsaw that kept needing choke to run and make run normally by adding it to the fuel, running it for a while, then leaving it overnight.

[shinyribs]

No gasoline will be pure. We've been adding things to boost the octane ( lead, ethanol) since early in the 1920's when compression ratios got high enough to outrun what gasoline was capable of. Compression ratios today are nearly double what were we running 100 years ago.

Seafoam is incredibly expensive for what it is. It's just a solvent ( Naphtha) mixed with a little oil and a fair amount of isopropyl alcohol.