Unleaded in Africa
 

I just recently replied to a thread regarding catalyst free cans. It would seem that my info on the whole leaded/un-leaded issue is quite a bit off.

Apparently all african nations have signed an agreement to a standard to only import un-leaded fuel. This agreement was made years ago.

When I was in Africa, the operators at filling stations would look questioningly at me when I asked if they had "sans plomb" (unleaded). They only had one pump for petrol and one for diesel. The pump with petrol would just say "essence" and the operator had no idea if it was leaded or unleaded. At the time, the information I was able to get was, indicated that leaded fuel was still the only available petrol in Africa.

Apparently this is wrong. The operators of the filling stations were/are simply unaware that anything has changed, and most think that they are still pumping out the same ol' petrol that they've pumped out for the past 20 years.

It would seem, that for Africa at least, catalyst free cans is not necessary. Apparently it was also not necessary when I did the trip. Guess that's 500 Euroes out the window.

Figured this was as good a place as any to post this info.


Torsten

thank you very much for this information!

Cheers useful info. Are there any benefits to having a cat free exhaust. ie longivity ?

i've asked my yamaha dealer. They said: "no need for cat free cans. The cans will clean themselves when using unleaded fuel again."

Hi Torsten

Most fuel stations within towns sell only diesel and leaded fuel, unleaded fuel tends to be available in fuel stations on the way in/out of town. The modern Afriquia stations tend to be the ones that always have unleaded.

However once you get south of Tan Tan and also within Western Sahara there's no more unleaded, it's leaded only. On the plus side however the price of the fuel is about half that of the rest of Morocco.

Tim

Hey Tim.

I've heard this before. And having it come from you, makes it carry all the more weight. However, I am not convinced. Or shall we say "I don't know what to believe anymore" :). Based on the official information I have been able to gather from both government authorities and major oil companies represented in Africa, I have yet to find any written source who confirms that it is unleaded only south of Tan Tan. Or south of anywhere, as it happens.

It would be of great help to all of us here, if you could perhaps link some sources to the information you have. Or if the information is not online, tell us how you got it. That way, people can evaluate the different infos and make up their own minds what they choose to believe. 'Cause it seems that this issue will never be put to rest untill someone travels through Africa with a "lead-detector" and samples every fuelstation. If someone can come up with the money for such an endevour, I volounteer to join the trip :eusa_dance:.

Best regards

Torsten

Well, i can say that in South Africa unleaded is no problem, infact, at most pumps in cities you have a choice between 2 "octanes". The same is true for Namibia and Botswana. I wont trust the pumps in Zimbabwe these days, but Zambia is OK, except the rural areas maybe. Malawi has unleaded, as well as Mozambique. Angola, well, up north i guess you shouldn't trust the pumps.

I would imagine it to be standard procedure to "fill up" through a "semi". I don't know what you call it, but down here we use a piece of sheepskin to dry our cars after a wash. We also use this procedure when we fill up aircraft, especially when landing in remote areas and filling up out of opened drums. You never know....had a friend that filled up his plane out of a AVGAS drum. Someone stole the AVGAS and relaced it with JET A-1(Paraffin). He got up to about 400ft, the engine quit, and he made a forced landing into a half-full river infested with crocs.... Everybody OK though.

We also allways take a sample of the fuel and look at the colour(flying). The same should be true, i guess, for "Mogas" Down here unleaded is greenish and leaded is readish.... but i have seen exceptions.

Just telling like it is. The reason leaded fuel is still sold in Morocco is because of the number of ancient petrol-engined vehicles. If they ran these on unleaded it would burn out the exhaust valves.

Also, you will find some fuel stations selling both 'essence' and 'san plomb' from different pumps which rather blows the theory that they are the same.

As for south of Tan Tan only having leaded, it's because I've been there several times.

Tim

I don't doubt that you've been there. I've been there too (and a bit more south than that). I'm just saying that the info that I have been able to aquire on the net (sources from oil companies and domestic official sites) indicate to me that it is unleaded. I was hoping for a bit more than "I've been there" to support it.

Incidently, there was a story on a consumer program here in Denmark where we use the term 92 octane and 95 octane. I think the english term is Super and Regular, if I'm not mistaken. In the more rural areas where the small filling stations only have one underground tank, they put the same 95octane in the tank. But they have two pumps. One that said 92 octane and one that said 95 octane. And obviously at different prices. So the consumer program had found quite a lot of these filling stations where you could purchase your petrol at the 92 pump but still get 95 in your tank.

As I said, I don't know what to believe anymore, untill someone actualy measures the lead content (or lack thereof) in the pumps. Not just a driveby where you can read "essence" on the side of the pump that has stood there for the past 30 years.

So if anyone asks me "Do they use leaded or unleaded in Africa", I'll just respond "yes" :). Better safe than sorry.

Oh and Novice, I concur with the info about southern Africa. Namibia also goes on the list of countries that definately have unleaded. And if I remember correctly, many filling stations offer the choice of super or regular.

Best regards

Torsten

Hi!

I'm still confused about leaded and bad/low octane fuel for xt660z. I found several post here and there but didn't find 100% answer. Can you help me with this topic -> http://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=9822 ?

Thanks!

My friend just returned from Morocco to Poland on his Africa Twin. He told me about the transport strike which is affecting fuel deliveries. No more unleaded left in some parts of Morocco. So he had to buy some kind of motor "oil" for 2-stroke engines mixed with something. No idea what was that . His bike was more or less ok on that stuff but he saw some modern EFI bikes which couldn't run on that.

I met your friend at BikersHome in Ouarzazate, he's a real laugh/nutter and left us with some extremely strong orange-flavoured vodka. He still had half a tank of petrol so the two-stroke mixture ended up being diluted 50/50 from normal. Those of us on more modern bikes, including two on T�n�r�s, ended up being stranded for several days waiting for tankers to break through the picket lines.

Anyway, whilst in Morocco in mid April the fuel stations were changing over to new fuel types as their tanks were being refilled and were placing new sticky labels over the previous pump descriptions. The extremely smelly diesel and the high-spec Eurodiesel 350 have been replaced by a single standard Eurodiesel 50. I would guess E50 isn't as good as E350 but I really have no idea what the difference is, sorry.

The previous leaded super and 'sans plomb' unleaded have been replaced by a single super unleaded. No idea about additives or octane rating, though I guess it would be 95 RON or better. No information either on the situation regarding the previously leaded-only supplies south of Tan Tan.

By the time I left the country on 28 April the changeover was complete.

Tim

Yeah, he is a real nutter. He was going to ride to Morocco with another guy but that guy resigned just before the trip. So he ended up going there alone - not bad ;) - he bought his first bike and did his driving licecnce one year ago.

He told me that he had much less than 50% in his tank, but it was still enough to mix for his AT.

It's good to hear that Morocco is going unleaded.

I found an interesting link:
http://www.lead.org.au/fs/fst27.html

1. Algeria
2. Morocco
3. Tunisia
4. Western Sahara

in Africa.

Apart from that I think that they missed Mongolia.

missed quite a few places.........and we are 2010...Leaded only available...It's all due to the price....think about the locals ! Unleaded 2.75 le as apposed to 1.40 le for leaded. (and this is Egypt)

Unleaded only available in Alexandria and Cairo....( or Lahami :3some:)

Can anyone please give info on what (or how many) km the ten can go with stock exhuast on leaded fuel ?

Thankyou
Cheers