Hi y'all,

I'm posting this after a long time as I have finally completed my Phoenix Model Strega and had a maiden flight almost 3 weeks ago. I had cowling problems and couple of linkage problems, and I have fixed them all. Magnum 46 XLS 2 Stroke motor installed on it and it was screaming on the first flight.

Last Sunday, I flew it and did 3 successful flights, 1 dead stick and it was very cold, not as cold as it gets in other states but it was the first time I flew it in this temperature, it was around higher 30's or lower 40's. After 4th flight, engine acted up so much, it won't stay on, kept shutting off, changed the plug O.S. # 8 medium, but problem persists.

The topic is discoloration of the fuel and my question is that I have a fuel which is 10% Nitro, I bought it from my LHS. It had been sitting inside the house in summer as well as in garage. It used to be dark pink color, ever since I took it out of the plastic bag, it changed color to extreme light yellow or almost no color. I was trying to find out is this fuel good anymore, has anyone ever had any sort of experience like that? If yes, did fuel work well? Is fuel good enough or had it gone bad? I'm also gonna check this Saturday how is it gonna work as well?

Thanks to y'all in advance.

Mody

* I'd post photos of my plane soon in this thread.

I would say NO. I have been doing lots of glider stuff this year and my gallon of glow fuel is acting weird. I suspect it has pulled enough moisture to have gone bad.
Glow fuel is hydroscopic ( it atracts water). I WOULD PITCH IT!

OzMo,

Thanks for your input. I remember that it's hydroscopic, so you I should completely toss it away and get new fuel?

Does glo fuel change colors when it goes bad?

Jimmy

Hmm... When I read the topic, I thought you were going to say that it got a little darker, or maybe a little lighter, but to go from Pink to Yellow???...

I'd get rid of it.

Its a simple matter to borrow a tankful from one of your buddys to confirm that the fuel may be causing problems. Fuels without color dyes in them tend to be clear and without any color. perhaps a clue there but I don,t know and I am suprised also by the lightening of color rather than darkening.

Anyway if you do quit using the fuel do not discard it. It is a great commodity to keep around. Just about the best thing you can immerse an engine in for for freeing up as well as general engine cleaning after a dirt bath.

John

I agree with John. While I said, "I'd get rid of it", in reality, I'd just set it aside and use it for other things

IIRC doesn't Nitro (not the whole fuel mixture, but just the Nitro ) have an ingredient in it that changes color when it "goes bad"? I believe it turns yellow?

I had an unopened gallon jug of Tower fuel turn yellow...it was exposed to sunlight over a period of several years. (improperly stored while I took some "time off" from flying )
I still have about a pint of it....been using it for cleaning, etc. like John and Minn have mentioned.

There have been numerous discussions on Nitro, and fuels, etc. in the Glow Engines forum...there should be more info available there if anyone were interested in a search...?

The only thing that can change colors is the dye. Usually from the sun. Usually such a small percentage of the fuel it is not a problem.

Fuel with castor oil will be slightly yellow to amber depending on how much of the oil is castor. They dye simply lost its color.

I really appreciate feed backs of y'all. I learned a lot. Well, I'm not going to get rid of this fuel and yes it's a great idea that I should ask any of my flying buddies if I can use their fuel for one flight and see the difference.

I stored the fuel inside home for a long time!!! I'd say since May 2010, then it was transferred to the garage, but never been exposed to the sun. I wrapped it with a trash bin bag and as soon I pulled it out, I saw it changed color it's very very light yellowish color. I still feel Nitro in it and plane flew pretty well, until the weather turned really cold. As Houston, Magnolia and surrounding cities max go 3 points below freezing, but that day it was not freezing.

Anyway, I'd keep y'all posted and Thanks a lot again. I'm all ears to getting more feed backs and experiences on that.


Mody

*Few pix of my Phoenix Model Strega 40, after completion.

Nice looking Strega there, Mody.

I have some fuel that I've kept sealed and indoors for over a year and it never changed color nor did it give me any indications of problems when I finally used it this year. I transferred it from the original one gallon containers to a larger two and a half gallon container with a pump where I pump it to the fuel tank at the field. I keep it in there and, as I said, it looked fine and ran fine too.

I also bought 8 gallons of S&W 15% nitro last Spring. I have a lot of it left in the original containers, again, indoors where it is cool and dry. It should be fine next year... or I hope it will be fine next year.

CGr.

I also have probably 5 gallons of S & W 15% fuel almost a year old and it is still good fuel. Just used some yesterday.

CGRetired

Thank you very much for nice comments. Well I'm really surprised that how come it changed the color. It's not a well-known brand but my local hobby shop's guys dad owns the brewery factory (Rich's Brewery). I don't think they are doing in any low standard way

I will see this Saturday how it goes.


I'd keep y'all posted.


Mody

ive used fuel over 10 years old properly stored and it ran just fine, it could just be a cheap dye they are useing thats fading????

Me too, I was given several gallons of fuel that was 12 or more years old and it worked fine. I have seen fuel that has been opened and absorb water that was bad but never ran into any that went bad due to age. The color is just dye and I have seen it go from pink to clear and it still worked. My fuel today is all in cans so I never really see the color, I'm color blind anyway so it's meaningless to me.
I would do what John said and just borrow a tank of fuel to see if that was the problem. As our temps have fallen I have had to fatten up the high end on all my glow engines, happens every year.

I'm with sport Pilot on this one. Seems like a cheap dye has simply degraded

In the first place, I thought I was using the cheap fuel, or the dye is of cheap quality. Anyway, last week temperature was higher 30's which is pretty cold for Magnolia, TX, I have never flown the plane in that temperature, tomorrow I'd be flying, as I have bought the new fuel as well as the old one which I have. I never saw the fuel changed color, thats the first time happened to me.

I would have to do some twitching to my motor, Magnum .46 XLS and lets see how it behaves. It may have been due to the cold, or the fuel. I had 3 good flights, one dead stick, and on 5th flight, I cranked it up, but it refused to start, so I called it a day. Tomorrow I'm gonna use the old fuel and new fuel and feel the difference. I'm using O.S. #8 plug, thats what I usually use.

When I went to my LHS to purchase the new gallon of fuel, I asked him why did it change the color, he told me, was it exposed to the sun I said no, in fact it had never been exposed to the sun, and it had been sitting in the house then I moved it out to the garage. As the brand is my hobby shop's brand, and I was told by their sales person, that, it's being exported out of USA and it's being sold out through horizon hobby. Horizon hobby is not a cheap name, if the fuel was poor quality, why would be marketed through Horizon Hobby?

Here is the link http://searchrc.horizonhobby.com/ind...d=12C6702CF8CF

I use 10% Nitro, I was told that 10% Nitro is best, I have never used 5%.


Keep me posted with your experiences and I'm gonna update y'all tomorrow after my flying.

Thanks


Mody

Glow fuel, if kept in a well sealed container, lasts for many, many years. If kept in a poorly sealed container that 'breathes' with changes in atmospheric pressure and temperature, the fuel may become ruined by water absorption in months or weeks.

I would 'borrow' a tank of fuel from someone at the field and see if that helps. Your fuel may be OK - don't throw it out yet.

I had a bad experience with my Magnum 46XLS. Hopefully you have a better engine than I had.

Thanks for your reply,

I'm gonna see tomorrow how it works, as I have already bought the new fuel tank, a lot of guys use same fuel in the field as I do, never heard any problem like that. My Magnum had been working fine, I hope it won't act up, if it does, then I'd see what can be done. I'd keep y'all posted.

Mody

Hello Guys!!!

Went to the flying field around 3PM as unfortunately at my flying field, not so many guys fly, we do have more than 50 members which for my area is a lot or close to 100 but mostly 5 or 6 guys are at the field, that's a good number of people otherwise usually 3 or max 4. I flew it with my new fuel, totally forgot to use the old fuel, and idle was not set, had an experienced flyer to fix it, he fixed the idle, and it ran pretty good, some how one time up in the air, it tried to kinda bog down, I pull back the throttle, then push it up full throttle, it did not stall. Anyway, temperature was like 70+, wind was like 7 to 10 miles.

Wind made the airframe shaky lil bit up in the air, but it flew good. As it was over-cast, and at 5PM after 3 flights, I called it a day. Well, I'm looking for a perfect sunny day, next week hopefully, and I'm gonna try my old fuel, and see how it behaves.

One more thing I noticed, the fuel gets on the muffler, firewall, lug and surrounding area, muffler is not leaked is it normal? Or it should not happen?



Mody

That is normal. Some fuel is spit out the carb while running and you are seeing the results of that.

Bruce

It's normal but some fuel has more oil and a different blend then others. I just maidened a plane this week and it had a brand new engine too, a maiden for both. I had more oil on the plane then I have seen on any of my planes ever before. Thick as snot!! I think part of the reason was the fuel I was using only has 16% oil and the other engines I run should have a bit more oil in the fuel so I added 2 ounces of Klotz oil. It is also a blend and has 20% castor in it. The new engine is a two stroke so it seems to blow out more spent fuel then my other four strokes. {YS} Clean up was nasty but I know the engine was getting enough oil, better safe then sorry.

Thanks guys for your great input, it means I don't have to worry about it, I guess I have not noticed that in my other motors or I'm keenly noticing it now.


Mody

Actually snot would be alot easier to clean than any model fuel oil.