Fuelstar?

[plc]

G'day All,

I am new to the forum and to the R65. I am currently pondering buying an R65 currently for sale. Being a 1981 model, hence pre unleaded petrol I am concerned about valve seat recession.  I discovered this little device from New Zealand called Fuelstar that adds tin to the fuel, this does many things including providing protection from valve seat recession.

http://www.fuelstar.co.nz/home.asp

Has anyone tried one of these on an R65 or another BMW motorcycle? I would be keen to hear your thoughts?

Best wishes,
Paul

[awaffa2003]

Welcome to the forum dude! and no i've never heard of this product but i know that there are people that run unleaded gas and had made no changes with no problem...

[Ed Miller]

Here's an article on our valve seats and stuff:

http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/valves.htm

Basically, your '81 had valve seats for unleaded fuel.  Unfortunately they did not conduct heat away from the valve head very well, so after a while the valves can suffer from plastic valve deformation, which will show the same symptoms as seat recession except that after a while the valves can come apart.  He talks about how to monitor your valve clearances to know if it's starting to happen.

If your bike has a lot of miles on it the repair may have already been done.  

If you do buy the R65 (or any Airhead BMW) you may want to read many of Snowbum's articles.  That's a pretty valuable web site, at least if you're a fast reader!  

[thrang]

My 83 R65 has not had the heads converted to unleaded, so I lobbed a 'fuel cat brocket,' from Motorworks in the tank until I get round replacing the valves. Going on my last R65 a tank brocket  is a good way to avoid any recession problems.

[MrRiden]

Mmmm, fuel star, yes yes. This thingie falls into the category of "Too Good to be True" and therefore it is! um, not...true that is. Someone once postulated that if you put several of these wonder gizmo's on your bike you'd have to pull over every few miles to drain off the excess fuel they create. Researching turns up a lot of testimony 'bout this but no science. Basically a can with a zink / tin screen and a straw. Everyone wants an easy fix, thats why these things sell. I'm not putting one on my '82 bike. i'm equally suspicious of a "fuel cat brocket" [Broquet]
http://tinyurl.com/3c67md
http://www.fuelsaving.info/catalysts.htm
rich

[nhmaf]

As Rich indicates, I also think that some of these fuel additives are the snake oil of the 20th/21st century as far as
efficacy goes, at least with respect to the valve issue on these early 80s airheads.   The problem is indeed one of
metallurgy and heat transfer, and unless the fuel additive results in lowering the combustion chamber temperature (and thus
reducing the temperature rise of the exhaust valve which is trying to shed heat through its contact with the valve seat while closed)
I don't think that it will, in reality have any positive effect.   Though, if you do find a product that doubles your fuel mileage or enables
you to run your bike with 50% water in the fuel tank, please let us know - we are beginning to feel the pain of petrol prices
that are getting closer to what people in Europe have had to deal with for years !!

[balibeemer]

There is another "catalyst" on the market called FITCH. Tried it in my R 25/2 and it did improve the performance - well, the starting anyway! It looks like 4 metal ( 1.5cm dia. x 5 mm thick)  pellets in a plastic cage that you drop into the tank. Again, lots of false claims, BUT I sent one to a metallurgist friend who told me it was a tin / platinum alloy that stabilises the fuel, thus preventing the evaporation of the lighter elements in the fuel. It also means it hold everything in suspension - Including any dust, rust, elephant droppings etc. that may be in your tank. This was certainly true as I was cleaning the filters about every 20 km! It is useful if you are living in a sh*thole, I mean 3rd world country, where:
A) there is no unleaded fuel and
B) Fuel quality is variable

I was given a whole box of these things and so far, the best use I have found for them is as fishing sinkers.

[Bob_Roller]

You can check for valve face plastic deformation, by removing the exhaust pipe from the cylinder head, and rotating the engine until the valve opens, and you can take a look at the valve faces.


I did this at about 45,000 miles, and found the valve face melted and 'flowing' towards the valve stem, the service deptartment at San Jose BMW where I sent the heads in for re-work 10 years ago, said that I had at best 5-10,000 miles before the valve would have failed.

The valve seats on my cylinder heads looked like 'new', no damage to them at all.