bad gas... quick fix
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2018 8:26 am
Hi all,
Last Sunday I was headed back down from Barnwell back to Houston and started to get some weirdness with the engine power in my 712. In short, it didn't feel smooth but I thought I was just getting buffeted by the gusty wind. Things got worse and power went lag-surge and then a thump, then some rapid lag-surges & thumps every 30 or 40 min... then every 15 or so only lag-surge-backfire. Backing RPM down to 3500 seemed to mitigate things for awhile but it returned after 30 minutes. So this was beyond annoyance but not quite ridiculous enough to stop and have the truck towed or trailered. So in some prior conversations with Andre, he had told me to try dumping in a pint of isopropyl alcohol in the tank if I thought there was a water condensation issue... or bad gas. So what the heck. I happened to have some 70% in my med kit and I thought I'd try it... though I really doubted the effect it would have on 15 or 20 gallons of gas... and I was wrong. The beneficial effect was almost immediate. The engine ran Much smoother with only a few rapid backfires over the next hour until we stopped at a Love's and I put 15 gal of 93 in it.
Leaving Barnwell I had filled up in Pittsburgh at an Exxon on medium grade gas, putting 15 gal in the 30 gal tank. It was an Exxon with a Subway in it, looked a bit mom & pop but seemed decent enough but I guess ya never know.
Needless to say, along with tools some PB blaster, WD 40 and a jump box I'll be adding a Costco two pack of isopropyl alcohol to my road kit.
thanks Andre, Merrick
Last Sunday I was headed back down from Barnwell back to Houston and started to get some weirdness with the engine power in my 712. In short, it didn't feel smooth but I thought I was just getting buffeted by the gusty wind. Things got worse and power went lag-surge and then a thump, then some rapid lag-surges & thumps every 30 or 40 min... then every 15 or so only lag-surge-backfire. Backing RPM down to 3500 seemed to mitigate things for awhile but it returned after 30 minutes. So this was beyond annoyance but not quite ridiculous enough to stop and have the truck towed or trailered. So in some prior conversations with Andre, he had told me to try dumping in a pint of isopropyl alcohol in the tank if I thought there was a water condensation issue... or bad gas. So what the heck. I happened to have some 70% in my med kit and I thought I'd try it... though I really doubted the effect it would have on 15 or 20 gallons of gas... and I was wrong. The beneficial effect was almost immediate. The engine ran Much smoother with only a few rapid backfires over the next hour until we stopped at a Love's and I put 15 gal of 93 in it.
Leaving Barnwell I had filled up in Pittsburgh at an Exxon on medium grade gas, putting 15 gal in the 30 gal tank. It was an Exxon with a Subway in it, looked a bit mom & pop but seemed decent enough but I guess ya never know.
Needless to say, along with tools some PB blaster, WD 40 and a jump box I'll be adding a Costco two pack of isopropyl alcohol to my road kit.
thanks Andre, Merrick