[Manatoc fox]

So, I took my bike for its second ever fill up last night (so proud) and noticed around the edge of the gas tank inside the locking gas cap the paint is bubbling and flaking.  Is this normal?  I don't want it to spread, certainly.  Can a dealer warranty this?

[dginfw]

Pretty normal. There is a screen that protects the fuel pump from picking up little flakes. I didnt worry about it on mine

[Rich Mintz]

Confirmed this is common, although I think it's unfortunate. It happened to me on both my RE tanks.

[High On Octane]

Are you referring to paint peeling "inside" of the gas tank or the paint on the "outside" of the filler neck?

Scottie J

[Manatoc fox]

Scot, I am referring to the outside of the filler neck.

[High On Octane]

This may sound sketchy, but the best thing to do is take a sharp razor blade and cut/trim the paint at the edge where the filler neck meets the tank or just below the lip of the filler neck, depending on far down it is bubbling.  If you don't, the gas vapors will keep continuing down until eventually the paint on the tank starts to bubble.  By trimming the bad paint off now it will prevent any further damage to the good paint.

Scottie J

[Kevin Mahoney]

It is a product of whatever foul, noxious, corrosive cancer causing chemicals the government is mandating to be thrown into your local gas. Some is worse than others. Use the razor blade

[NorEaster]

The paint used on the tanks is not ethanol proof
 

[dginfw]

Ethanol is one of (but not THE) biggest scams pulled by the government.

[Kevin Mahoney]

I don't think it is all the ethanol. We are in a farm state with a powerful farm lobby and have mandate ethanol in everything except our breakfast cereal.  I find the problem to be somewhat regional.

[mattsz]

I don't think it is all the ethanol.

I'm inclined to agree.  The first time I checked out Enfields a couple of years ago, there were three brand new ones in a dealership that had the paint peeling around the inside of the tank opening.  When I see new ones now, I look whenever I can, just out of curiosity - haven't seen the problem lately...

[gashousegorilla]

 Urethane paint is pretty resistant to Ethanol.... and whatever the hell else they are putting in there.  And I do believe they use a baked on urethane at the factory. And it's usually fine if you should spill a bit of gas on the tank and wipe it off. But, it cant be exposed to our fuel all the time, like under the cap. The vapors and the fuel itself will soften the paint and cause it to peel. You cant have any of it under the cap. I would take off any paint around the filler and that is under the seal down to bare metal. So that none of that fuel and vapor can get under the paint and work it's way to the paint out side of the cap's rubber seal.

[Ducati Scotty]

My filler collar is peeling more than the overspray in the tank.  Could it be the vapors affect the paint more than liquid gasoline?

Scott

[gashousegorilla]

 Could be Scotty.  But it may be from when there was paint under the lid.  It gets under the paint and lifts it.  So.... the earlier you get it , the better. I've made that mistake once when painting and noticed it separating from the filler neck. So I just tapped off a nice straight line around the filler.... back to good paint and outside of the seal. And removed all of that paint.  And that stopped it... but I caught it quick. So.....  But yes, if you don't have a good seal at the cap, I think the vapors and some splashing will get it. 

[Manatoc fox]

Noticed now the paint is peeling inside the tank, too.  Anything I can do for that or is that just what it is?  Did do the razor blade thing.  We'll see how that works.

[High On Octane]

Unfortunately there isn't much you can do about the paint on the inside.  Which frankly I think is estupido to paint the inside of a tank.

As far as the paint lifting around the fuel neck, yes vapors DO play a huge part of the paint peeling back.  What usually happens is the fuel splashes around the filler neck after you fill up and have a full tank.  All that paint that is on the inside of the filler neck then gets exposed to the fuel and starts to absorb it.  As the fuel is absorbed into the paint, the paint loses it's molecular bond to the metal and becomes soft.  Once it becomes soft, the fuel that is already soaked into the paint naturally turns into a vapor.  As the fuel vaporizes it starts to work itself between the paint and the metal of the tank, and the bubbling will get exponentially worse until you see the whole top side of your tank peeling, at which point a complete repaint will be required.  By cutting off the bad paint with the razor like you did, you are breaking the bridge between the introduction fuel to the paint.  With only bare metal at the fuel neck, the fuel has no way to contaminate the paint, unless you have a bad gasket.

Scottie J