Ice in carb bowls

[thrang]

I've got a real head scratcher. This afternoon when I was leaving work the beemer let me down. The cause was frozen water in the bottom of my carbs and frozen moisture on the diagraphams... Wierd or what?

Wih my old Beemer it id not matter how cold it got so long as the battery was good it started.

The RT has so far been really well behaved, and I'm thinking that perhaps I have water contam in my fuel tank, in whch case how as my petrol cap was brand new in November, and all lines pipes and wearable fittings have been either replaced or refuished since I got the bike the April.

If the ice up happens again I'll post a piccy of the carb bowl.

Any suggstions?

Cheers
Tony

[Justin B.]

Try buying gas at a different station...

[Bob_Roller]

Might be a good idea to drain your fuel tank, and see what you get in the way of water.

There is a product here in the US to prevent fuel line freezing, it's called HEET, a yellow plastic container that contains methanol, I guess it tends to keep the water in suspension and broken up so you don't get a big blob of water to cause a problem.

Maybe a clear fuel filter, to let you see what's going into the carbs.

[MrRiden]

Thrang,
You've always got a good one. I would imagine you're getting condensation in the tank from yr damp climate and heating / cooling caused by the engine heating up things, then the petrol tank cooling off 'cuz it's parked in the cold overnight. You must have some fuel de-icer available locally that is primarily methanol. That should turn the trick. As for the ice on the diaphragm, same cause I would suspect. Keep your tank toped off if you can, use some sort of methanol additive and I'd be tempted to explore the addition of some sort of bowl drain mod. The old Amal carbies had one and I've always wondered why the Bings don't have this handy little fitment.
rich

[Bob_Roller]

Thrang,

You mentioned that you replaced the fuel cap last month, by chance is the seal that mates to the fuel tank filler neck missing from the cap ?

[thrang]

The cap seal is in perfect condition, so I doubt water is geting in that way. I replaced the fuel filter about a month or so back so I'm pretty sure that not the cause. If its just condensation I would not expect the amount of ice as it was way more than the odd blob of frozen water.

The methnol addative is a good idea I think I'll have to get some of that, and perhaps startusing the petrol station in Windermere, rather than Ambleside.

Anyway cheers for the input gang, and have a happy holidays.

Cheers
Tony

[Justin B.]

Every once in a while a station around here will wind up with water in their tanks and it really creates problems.    

[nhmaf]

In my part of the country, we usually add a pint of "heet" a.k.a "drygas" a.k.a. methanol (approx half liter, not an imperial pint !)  to a tank of gasoline in our vehicles about once per month during the winter time (November-March, basically) to bind with any water in the fuel tanks and prevent such ice buildup.   On my motorcycles and other vehicles, I usually run a bottle or two through it once or twice a year even though they only get run in the summer, it won't help you if you have large quantities of water in the tank, but will help smaller amounts from building up into bigger amounts, reducing float bowl crud, tank rust, etc.