i hate the price of fuel

we are the only country who pay money for fuel!

Nah, I went to France and Belgium recently, they also required money for fuel. I've heard that the practice of wanting money for fuel is actually commonplace...

ok, fine
what i meant was, is paying over the odds for fuel

america is on the up but its still only $3 ish for a american gallon,

I knew what you meant...

I should hope so too Mr H!

If we paid the true costs to society of our motoring, fuel (and VED) would actually be a good bit more expensive. Don't complain about it too loudly, you never know what's around the corner ...

ben,
when you say 'old type 2 strokes', I guess you mean engines which use premix, rather than separate oil pumps, in which case a failure so soon after a fill up might suggest that someone had forgotten to add oil when they topped up the fuel tank.

However, your problem with gunk in the carburettor sounds more likely to be related to higher ethanol content, as the ethanol may well have dissolved deposits which had been lurking at the bottom of the tank.
Years ago, I remember putting some injector cleaner into our Visa 652's fuel tank. It had been free with a crate of engine oil from Maccess, problem was that within the week the Visa wouldn't get beyond 30 mph, since the cleaner had loosened 15 years worth of grot in the tank and choked the in-line fuel filter...

Have you rejetted any or all of your 2 wheelers, as most A series benefit from having the mixture enriched to compensate for the effects of unleaded fuel?

An ethanol E10 blend of fuel will normally have an oxygen content of about 3.5% oxygen. Therefore, it is usually necessary for car engines to have the air/fuel ratio reduced in order to take into account the oxygen that is present in the ethanol blend. The air/fuel ratio for a VW Golf running on 22% ethanol is 12.7:1, which is significantly less than the 14.6:1 air / fuel ratio that is used for conventional fuels.

ken

Petrol in France is dearer than here.

Ken ,i suppose mean the more crude vespa and lambretta etc carburettor engines with steel tanks (a type of which is still in production albeit catalysed and strangled)
That story in particular of the seizure after a fill up was on a model that has autolube, i.e a carb but a separate oil pump so it was unlikely ,unless the oil tank had run dry but apparently all was present and correct . The only other thing i can think of is that it was a new indian built model ,and unless the guy or dealer had checked things out they're not always the best set up with regard clearances and jetting.

It was noticed that piaggio (vespa) were backing the timing off on their new standard but old design type 2 stroke models in recent years although the jetting didn't change, as for my jetting i adjust it by plug colour at cruising speed if changing a set up or running a newly rebuilt motor as of course it's probably more crucial on setting up a 2 stroke engine. (Without use of a dyno machine i do a 'plug chop' if setting up say a newly built run-in engine , on a clear road at the desired speed cut the engine and pull in the clutch, stop somewhere safe and the colour of the plug tells the story)
So i go from that on the scooters plus i use higher octane super wherever possible ,but yes i'm certain you're right ,r.e the gunk in the carb on my lambretta,and after cleaning and repairs have put an inline filter in too and i did up-jet my van on your advice and that has certainly worked a treat.
Jetting an even slightly tuned 2 stroke has certainly become much more of a game than it used to be.

What bothers me in the worst case scenario is it is probably going to cause a lot of problems with a lot of older vehicles because a lot of people don't think about stuff like this , and especially on a classic scooter or bike if you don't or are inexperienced you could end up constantly breaking down, or worse, sliding up the road because your blocked up carb has caused a seizure
Plus it must be making a lot of vehicles less economical ironically