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Green AV Gas

g zero

Well Known Member
Today I sumped the fuel tanks of a Cessna and got Green Fuel , bright green .
Checked another plane that gets fuel from the same truck , his is green too .
Both planes had fuel put in the tanks 3 weeks ago ( and flown)
Looks like 100 is Green / 100LL is Blue . Where is 100 available ? Airport is checking on the problem .
 
So 100 Green has no lead, is that right?

EDIT - Nope, googled it... Green is full-lead, blue is low-lead.
 
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Green

Green has more lead , looks like it hasent been produced in over 10 years .
( I mixed the green with some fresh blue and it did not turn clear )
 
That's scary

Used to be a farm supply firm all over in the Northeast called Agway that sold Green diesel fuel. In fact that was one of their selling points.:eek:
 
If it is in fact leaded and not low lead, it would be interesting to know how old it is and at what stage the octane is rated. Doesn't octane begin to diminish after about 30 days?
 
Green dyed Avgas is 100/130. That is with twice the amount of lead as in 100LL.
It has almost died out now, but the last US places with it were Hawaii and Utah for some reason.
 
If it is in fact leaded and not low lead, it would be interesting to know how old it is and at what stage the octane is rated. Doesn't octane begin to diminish after about 30 days?

No, not true. If it were the many pilots who go several months between re-fuelings would be in trouble. In fact, the local refinery only makes avgas once or twice a year, and stores it in between.

100/130 used to be common in Mexico.
 
Green fuel

Going to drain the plane tomorrow and refuel it. Have not decided what to do with the fuel (50 gallons ?) . Might have the airport replace it .
Biggest issue is how it got in the system .
 
No real need to drain it as it's a higher grade aviation fuel that is approved by Lycoming.

But I would be keen to verify that it really is 100/130 as presumably it was delivered from a 100LL dispenser and doesn't conform to 100LL dye colour.
 
IMHO, Before I drain the tanks, I would get a sample directly off the fuel truck. If it is indeed green, have the fbo contact the supplier for an explanation.
Whether it's a higher octane, old fuel, leaded or mogas, they owe you an explanation as this could be a safety hazard and others may be impacted
 
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FWIW, and IIRC, the 100LL AvGas in New Zealand appears to be greenish rather than blueish. I stand ready to be corrected by my Kiwi friends....
 
Green

I pulled a sample from the truck , blue as a swimming pool .
This was confusing to the truck guy as they sample the truck and self serve every day . I asked him if they note the color and he shrugged and said yea I guess .
 
Fuel contamination (microbial, at least) can change fuel colour ... though I've always only ever heard of it turning yellow under those conditions, not green ... but it might be worth testing the fuel quality?
 
fuel

100 LL = blue
Off Road Diesel = red
Total = green
Out come = new engine
Have it tested for your safty
 
Green fuel

Still trying to determine the source of the green fuel . Tested the specific gravity and it's in the range of AV Gas , Jet A and Diesel are much heavier fuels .
It evaporates at the same rate as 100LL and does not leave any residue.
The plane was flown with this fuel and showed no abnormalities .
 
Still trying to determine the source of the green fuel . Tested the specific gravity and it's in the range of AV Gas , Jet A and Diesel are much heavier fuels .
It evaporates at the same rate as 100LL and does not leave any residue.
The plane was flown with this fuel and showed no abnormalities .

If it is important enough to you to know the type of fuel, you might consider sending a sample to a testing laboratory. A google search for "fuel testing laboratories" will yield some options. A couple near the top of the results of my search were:

http://clarktesting3.reachlocal.net/fuels_lubes.php

http://www.iowafuellab.com/
 
What color is the fuel used by the unlimited high power racers at Reno? Don't they have to use 130 Octane? Every year. Someone must be producing it.
 
Green dyed Avgas is 100/130. That is with twice the amount of lead as in 100LL.
It has almost died out now, but the last US places with it were Hawaii and Utah for some reason.

From some old articles in Flying about fuel, I believe 100 has 4 times the lead in 100LL, and 16 times the lead in 80.
 
What color is the fuel used by the unlimited high power racers at Reno? Don't they have to use 130 Octane? Every year. Someone must be producing it.

This is going back to a source from the mid 90s so take it for what it is worth. They use purple avgas 115-145 octane. Make a small batch every year and that is enough to satisfy the guys pushing 90-120 or more inches of manifold pressure. Water-meth injection and all, I am sure glad I do not pay the maintenance bill on those engines. When not racing, they burn the same 100LL, but limit the manifold pressure substantially, 45-50 inches max from what I remember.

As for the green fuel, I have seen older blue 100LL acquire a tinge of green. I am referring to a floatplane being parked for the winter and the fuel is off-blue and leaning towards green-ish.
 
This is going back to a source from the mid 90s so take it for what it is worth. They use purple avgas 115-145 octane. Make a small batch every year and that is enough to satisfy the guys pushing 90-120 or more inches of manifold pressure. Water-meth injection and all, I am sure glad I do not pay the maintenance bill on those engines. When not racing, they burn the same 100LL, but limit the manifold pressure substantially, 45-50 inches max from what I remember.

As for the green fuel, I have seen older blue 100LL acquire a tinge of green. I am referring to a floatplane being parked for the winter and the fuel is off-blue and leaning towards green-ish.

Purple gas is some good stuff. VP still makes it. For the Reno guys they make a fuel called VP Air Race. It's 127-160.
 
Back in the late 70s the purple avgas was available around here. I was a dumb high school kid with a 429CJ Torino that I'd bumped up to 12.5:1 compression, and man did it run great on purple avgas with the timing advanced to the max. I shredded a few Ford 9" 31-spline rear ends with that engine :D
 
Today I sumped the fuel tanks of a Cessna and got Green Fuel , bright green .
Checked another plane that gets fuel from the same truck , his is green too .
Both planes had fuel put in the tanks 3 weeks ago ( and flown)
Looks like 100 is Green / 100LL is Blue . Where is 100 available ? Airport is checking on the problem .

Hi Tom,

Has your airport fbo gotten back to you on the possible cause? I'm interested because the airport I am based at saw something similar in the heat of last summer. The green color was noticed only in the tank farm filter vessel. It never made it to the truck and the tank also was fine. No complaints from aircraft owners. Samples of the greenish fuel showed normal API gravity. The fuel distributor was called and hadn't had anyone else report a problem. They did mention that it is not unusual to have the dye go clear if say a sample is left in a bucket in direct sunlight. At my airport fuel is sampled before the transport is even hooked up to off load. Color, API gravity and sediment is checked to be within specs. A certificate of analysis from the refinery is furnished by the refiner and is checked. I don't believe this is a case of the wrong octane and am wondering if the refineries have switched to a different dye for some reason and the dye itself isn't holding up to high temperatures, especially in a stagnant vessel. I'm interested in what they find out.

Joe
 
A while back I was tasked with writing a fuel manual for our operation. I spent quite a bit of time researching fuels. Granted I was looking at turbine fuels but the data I was accessing had avgas info as well. This was five plus years ago so I have probably forgot more than I remember and things might have changed but I recall noting that it was not uncommon for fuels to lose their dye'd color when exposed to sunlight. Also, if I recall correctly, there was no hard and fast regulations regarding the amount of dye. A batch of fuel from one refinery could have X PPM of blue dye added while a batch from a different refinery could have Y PPM of blue dye. Seeing variation in color didn't seem to worry the ASTM spec as long as the color was obvious.
 
Green Fuel

Sad to report no answer on the Green Fuel . The airport was not too helpful .
I did not purchase the fuel and the affected planes do not belong to me, therefore I did not push the issue for answers .
I filled mine the other day and put a gallon in a white pail for inspection , it was blue .
Sorry but no answers .
 
I just encountered a case involving green 100LL fuel. It turns out that the fuel filter (NAPA 3118) installed in the fuel bowser that stored and dispensed the gas was dyed yellow and this dye was leaching out, creating green 100LL.
 
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