Ok quick update. I quickly realized my comfort zone on some of the necessary repairs and upgrades. So I took my bike to a local shop where even more issues were pointed out. So I also added front fork rebuild along with some minor steering tweaks, also I was educated on using ethonal fuel on pre 2000 engines. Uugggg I'm crossing my fingers that it hasn't done to much damage, the mechanic seems to think it will be ok. The bigger tank is getting finished on monday so I will drop that off at the repair shop along with some non ethonal fuel in jerry cans. If anyone wants to share info on the ethonal thing I'd love to learn more. More updates coming soon.
Xr650l rebuild
- Thread starter dkyacht
- Start date
mechanic sounds like a quack. Ethonol will not damage your xr's engine. What it will do is gum up your carb with varnish if it sits in there too long, thus clogging stuff. What I would do is run stabil, or sea-foam with the pump gas you normally run if you plan to park the bike for extended periods.. 
Nothing magical happened in 2000 that made ethanol better. Its crappy, but will not hurt your old school xr. I have personally run ethanol fuel in all my bikes, just like most others here.
Nothing magical happened in 2000 that made ethanol better. Its crappy, but will not hurt your old school xr. I have personally run ethanol fuel in all my bikes, just like most others here.mechanic sounds like a quack. Ethonol will not damage your xr's engine. What it will do is gum up your carb with varnish if it sits in there too long. What I would do is run stabil, or sea-foam with the pump gas you normally run.
It wasn't damage to the engine, it was to the rubber hoses I believe. He showed me a old hose that had ethonal fuel run through it or that had it sitting in it for a while “ I can't remember what he said specifically“ and the entire inside just looked like it melted. He did mention a additive that neutralizes the ethonol in modern fuels. I have a station very close to home that sells non ethonol fuel so I might just stick with that route.
I appreciate your concern about the mechanic but he is a very experienced and well respected guy. I may have misheard him a little bit but he did say something about older bikes and newer fuels being bad in some way.
I've been running ethanol gas for 20+ years. Some fuel lines can't take it. Most have no problem with it at all. Get some fuel line from an autoparts store and you should be good to go. The ethanol gas can crud up your carb to a greater degree. The easiest thing to do is run the gas out of the carb at the end of the day by turning off the petcock and running the bike till it dies.
, non ethinol is always better
Let us know what this "additive" is
When I go there on monday I will find out.
or startron