Bike lessons learnt BP Petrol
by Lelani Burger Du PLessis on Thursday, 03 November 2011 at 16:07
Today I learnt a valuable lesson about different petrol stations.
I rode to Rooi Els on my Ducati, and was getting low on fuel once there, so decided to fill up at the BP station in Betties Bay- BIG MISTAKE!!!
On the way back the bike was shuddering and I decided to ride straight to Julian at Superbike Solutions, he is the Ducati service contractor.
He told me the petrol probably had water in ,and also it was often a problem with some additives in BP that didn't work well on high performance enjins.
They tapped out all my newly bought petrol and checked it in a bowl- the evidence was clear. NO MORE BP PETROL FOR ME!!
I drove to the nearby Total garage and filled up, and then had to go ride the bike hard at constant 8000 revs to try and get rid of the remaining water in system. It is feeling a lot better but I still feel she isn't as smooth on the low revs as before.I am very grateful for Julian's insight, and also that I trusted myself enough to have it looked at,as initially I thought "I'm just a girl,maybe I'm imagining it". Hotness and I have 150kms to go before her 1000km service which I hope can be next week,so that Julian can clear her of all water and gunk in that petrol tank.
We had a similar problem with Caltex last year
That was the Durbanville Branch ....Guess it can happen anywhere.
Wayne
Ride Like the Wind
Hi Mark
Not too sure about the comments regarding the additives, but if there was water in the fuel then Lelani should contact the manager at the BP garage - she could get compensation.
See this thread for similar issue at an Engen garage:
http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=81162.msg1638957#msg1638957
Thanks for information.....
We had a similar problem with Caltex last year
That was the Durbanville Branch ....Guess it can happen anywhere.
Wayne
Wayne - absolutely correct and that is one of the reasons a pre-flight on an aircraft is so important and we check the fuel at various "low"points underneath the a/c wing. I have often found water in the fuel during the check....
In 99.99% cases the filling station is the cause of contaminated fuel. Usually water that finds its way into the storage tanks. Water collects at the bottom (fuel floats on the water) then when you happen to be filled from a storage tank that is very empty, then you may well get some water as well. Ultimately it is a question of good/bad housekeeping at the filling station. So, keep clear of the problem filling station.
Such contamination can happen to any brand of fuel. Unfortunately you as customer cannot know how clean their fuel is, until you use it in your vehicle. 
Geelkameel is right. It's nothing to do with the fuel brand, it's the garage and the tank. At the Sea Rescue station where I served we changed petrol stations because the boat engines were dying out at sea and we found huge amounts of water in the fuel traps (boats have a glass fuel filter which traps the water in the fuel).
After changing the petrol station the problem went away.
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