Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Three Wheeler & Super 3 Should I fill up with gas?

By what I'm currently seeing on my trip, that could be anywhere between 120 and 220 miles.

It's a 10 gallon tank. Generally when it reads 0% on level roads it will take about 6 gallons to top off. The Odometer and Trip meter are tied together so there will be errors involved.

I trust the Speedometer and Fuel Gauge as far as I can throw them. The fuel pump and the fuel gauge are separate units and the gauge is at the rear of the righthand tank so that If you are going down hill the fuel drops and if you go uphill its back!

I try to fill it at about 200 miles. Having 4 gallons remaining is a nice cushion as, if you are careful, you've got at least another 100 miles before panic sets in.

Other cautionary note is that the fuel intake on the pump sits at the very bottom of the tank. If water is in the fuel it will sink to the bottom and then you are hosed. Don't do that. Another reason to use only high octane ethanol free fuel is that ethanol attracts water. Bad move. Ethanol also eats the seals on the fuel pump. or something... The fuel pumps have their own issues...

We cannot get ethanol free fuel here. Is there an additive that will eat the water?

Check out the places that sell to landscapers and mowers.

Ethanol free in WA

the only issue with ethanol is if it sits.... use stabil for when it sits. The issue is that etoh likes carbon based things like gas.... but it really likes water better. when your bike/m3w/etc sits moisture gets into the tank from the normal temperature and expansion issues and that moisture bonds to the etoh. eventually the moisture and etoh "bond" (like trump and a porn star) and settle.

One way to help this not happen is stabil… another is making sure the tank is full. when it is full, there is less expansion and contraction of the "air" in the tank. It is that air that has the moisture.

second fix.... drive every chance you get!

this is basic organic chemistry on ethanol.... the OH (which makes it an alcohol) likes water.... the C-C (on ethanol C-C-OH) likes lipids like gas and oil.... and C-C-OH with some peat smoke.... and used bourbon barrels.... well I digress

Ethanol (C-C-OH) likes both "gas" and water.... but given the choice.... will sleep with water every time, but around gasoline... well any port in a storm

Not sure if the more recent cars have the longer fuel gauge (280 vs 240 mm) VDO 224011000280G (Europa)) that was fitted by many early users to reduce (but not eliminate) the uncertainty of the fuel% readings. The whole system is a bit of a random number generator with gauge at back of one tank and only moderate balancing flow between the relatively shallow tanks so affected by both pitch and roll coupled with a slow averaging algorithm in the gauge. Long story short - the longer gauge gives more confidence...

The fuel pump module sits at the bottom of the tank but the pump sits in a collector pot that is only open at the top, other than a pressure off fill valve at the base. This means that the last 3" or so of fuel in the tank is unusable, you won't be sucking any water off the bottom of the tank.

Depending of what profile front tyres you have the speedometer "accurately" over reads by about 6%. The fuel gauge is just random, although my 280mm sender usually (but not always) shows 0% at about 200 miles. I always fill up on mileage as I trust that more than the fuel gauge.

Seemed a perfectly acceptable digression to me!

Since I don’t have fleet vehicles, and that is the only source of ethanol free fuel in the area Stabil might be the trick for long term storage. Farmers have access to that Type of fuel easily.
Driving as much as possible and topping off the fuel is the other solution. I have done that with the other cars I ha be own and it has worked for years. Just keep the fuel topped off, and the other thing I do is keep the garage heated so there are no large temperature swings day to night in the winter., it is also dry so water puddles are not sitting in there to create more corrosion.

Thanks for the chemistry lesson👍