‘750 Start gremlin.

[K2-K6]

It's interesting to hear other views independent from my own Johnny, and build a bigger picture.

Its a remarkable oil, but there's of course no magic in these topic. Peter Williams wrote in depth about it's properties and limitations,  which I found very interesting  quite a few years ago.

My 2ml example is on a pumped fuel injection system, low pressure @ 40 psi  but on a loop round to cycle it back to tank after pressure regulator, but with no observations to the detrimental in roughoy 5 years now. Gets a lovely waft of "R" when you boot it with the ecu going full bleed in acceleration pump facility to light up the response.

It doesn't seem to have a probem at that dosage though in carburettor that I've used. An old, 1980's Honda four stroke generator has been on that for 10 yrs or more, with running and starting impeccably even though it's not in action much recently. I never have to clean it for fuel problems, just run it out with fuel tap off, then open tap and it starts within about 3 pull usual from deep storage.

[Oddjob]

Maybe we should all decant some caster oil into one of those measuring bottles, the one you squeeze and a very small bottle on the side of the cap fills up with a specified amount, that way you'd know to drop say 2 caps full into every tank filling. Average SOHC tank is around 3 gallons or say 13 litres, that's 13000cc if my mental maths is correct, so you'd need around 130cc of caster oil in that case, sounds a lot TBH.

My maths correct?

[K2-K6]

Yes, correct Ken, 1 ml in 100 fuel.

10ml per litre as you note.

Obviously depends on usage profile, with many collected bikes not doing a great mileage, interspersed with sitting around.

Economics of significant daily mileage may be of different bias, keeping properties too with modern engine and high fuel turnover giving different view as to value etc.

No difference if you're running a blue-smoker 

[taysidedragon]

Cheers Gareth,

I’d argue though that 2 weeks is insufficient to pool any substantial amount of water, but more pertinent is the fact that on Normal (vs Reserve) you’re taking (good) fuel from a couple of inches up.

If a fortnight was enough to cause grief suppliers would have done something about it surely?

Appreciate the thought though.

True, 2 weeks isn't long. I was thinking about longer periods of a couple of months.
On the other hand, light aircraft with piston engines have to drain fuel samples from special fuel drains every day  in the first pre-flight inspection. Transparent containers show separated water at the bottom.

[McCabe-Thiele (Ted)]

Is this the type of Castor Oil a 30 grade ?

.https://www.morrislubricantsonline.co.uk/race-c-30-castor-based-motorcycle-engine-lubricant.html

[K2-K6]

That's a fully formed, with appropriate additives, engine lubricant Ted. Effectively to run in place of "ordinary" engine oil for those users that need it.

I use this, straight undoctored base oil as I'm not testing as primary lubricant https://www.amazon.co.uk/Castile-Liquid-Soap-Base-Litre/dp/B07D8VC7DX/ref=asc_df_B07D8VC7DX/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=344409848636&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11876244962003662064&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045911&hvtargid=pla-682847856424&th=1 but as addative effectively.

[Oddjob]

You're burning what is essentially soap in an engine, very weird.

[Johnny4428]

I use the same Nigel, probably your recommendation.

[K2-K6]

You're burning what is essentially soap in an engine, very weird.

 

100% pure castor oil, made from beans innit  and base oil not only for those race engine oil types, but skin treatment, lipsticks etc, along with Carnuba wax in car polish + lippy too.

Essentially its a mineral oil straight from bean without having to go through millions of years rotting and compressing into crude oil, only for us to get it out of the ground and refine it.

Castor has one of the highest shear/film strength of any oil, hence its useful attributes for this sort of thing.

Wakefield (I believe) was the oil company that predominantly brought it to motor use, so successfully it renamed the company "CASTROL" in a contraction of caster-oil words to define itself.

[Lobo]

On the other hand, light aircraft with piston engines have to drain fuel samples from special fuel drains every day  in the first pre-flight inspection. Transparent containers show separated water at the bottom.
[/quote]

To be fair here, the issue here is more related to faulty fuel cap seals with the aircraft standing out in rain, washing etc. Light a/c will typically have vertically mounted filler caps, and often recessed - which only exacerbates this. Bad fuel can too be an issue. I’ll stop washing the bike!

[taysidedragon]

On the other hand, light aircraft with piston engines have to drain fuel samples from special fuel drains every day  in the first pre-flight inspection. Transparent containers show separated water at the bottom.

To be fair here, the issue here is more related to faulty fuel cap seals with the aircraft standing out in rain, washing etc. Light a/c will typically have vertically mounted filler caps, and often recessed - which only exacerbates this. Bad fuel can too be an issue. I’ll stop washing the bike!
[/quote]

Not correct.  Even aircraft hangared overnight get water in fuel. Any air space in the fuel tanks has water vapour content which condenses out when the temp drops. Most aircraft I'm familiar with have wing tanks so the filler caps are horizontal on the top surface of the wing. They are designed to prevent rainwater getting in, the same way that our fuel caps are.

[Lobo]

Totally accepted Gareth, condensation in fuel is a concern, and apparently occurs at abouts 1ppm per degree Fahrenheit drop in temperature. At 30ppm upwards it begins to be a problem - enough condensation can lead to a hazardous volume of water in the fuel over time.
Regular fuel drains / topping the tanks of course keep this in check, minimising this as a direct cause of engine failure.

Interestingly, came across this: https://www.casa.gov.au/aircraft/airworthiness/airworthiness-bulletins/water-contamination-aviation-fuel-avgas/mogas

… where it quotes:
“An analysis of defect reports and accident investigations shows that there are five main causes of loss of power and engine failure due to water in the fuel; water entering the fuel tank via faulty fuel cap sealing; water contaminated fuel being pumped into the aircraft fuel tank during re-fuelling, and poorly executed post-refuelling / pre-flight water checks, compounded by unintended water retaining ridges in the bottom of fuel tanks, and flawed water drain location”

Certainly I agree dissolve water becoming free water within fuel (ie with change of temp) is an issue; tho’ hopefully kept at bay with protocols. In the context of engine failure however (this thread), and light aviation, it could be argued that other system failures are generally more to blame?
Cheers,
Simon

Nigel - at great expense have now purchased 4L of Castor oil…. 😬