Fuel in Western Sahara
 

Good evening lads n lasses,
In Morocco Overland (2nd edition) it states that it's hard to find unleaded fuel south of Tan Tan.
Is this still the case? Anyone had any problems?
We are on single cylinder F650GS's and have ripped the cats out :eek3:
I have read somewhere that these old mules can run on leaded stuff, but my husband is concerned about it buggering up the sensors :stormy:
Can someone put the old boy's mind at rest?
Cheers

Relax! You'll be fine. I have an F650 as well and the cat has gone too to moggy heaven. aka the back of my garage.
Leaded or unleaded, she has burned the lot- before I changed my exhaust for a Staintune one, the OE did get severely choked and I experienced a very noticeable power loss hence the change needed.

If you head further south and buy fuel in bottles from stalls then worry more about water and other unmentionables in it. Your friend is a filter called Mr Funnel look at the video) which separates water from fuel as well as other debris. Filters to 5 microns. Google it and consider getting the smallest one. Great kit and weighs little.

unleaded fuel available everywhere in western sahara.

Morocco switched from predominantly leaded to unleaded a couple of years ago.

Yes, Mr. Funnel is essential in my book. I've plugged them up in 20 gallons but better the Mr. Funnel than my truck.

Drove through Mauritania and Western Sahara two years ago on a Africa Twin. It´s close enough between the gas stations that buying fuel on bottles is unnecessary. However, not all fuel smells like petrol.

What distance are you talking. I only have a 17 litre tank. That's about 250 kms

Unleaded fuel in WS
 

Hi, I rode through Western Sahara last October/November on an XCountry 650 and had no issues with getting fuel. There is one long gap between fuel stations of around 160km which I think is south of Dakhla, so fill up when you can.

If heading on to Mauritania then your 250km range will not be enough as it can be 500kms between stations.

If you stick to the sealed Nouadhibou-Nouakchott road, as most do (<500km), there are fuel stations along the way - certainly less than 200km.

A rider I know went through last week and reported no probs on that ride.

Heading directly west along the sandy piste to Choum for Atar is another matter.

I think that was me. No problem getting fuel along main road and down to Diama.

Oil was more of a problem, as my old bike is using about a litre per tank of fuel.

Then again, this thread is nearly as ancient as the Tengai...

Mauri fuel
 

When I went down the main road connecting Nouadhibou-Nouakchott in late October '14 there was petrol in the service station about half way, a relief when your main tank is only 9.5 litres. However on the way north in November the same station had diesel but no petrol, not even in bottles. I then hoped I had enough in my TT spare tanks, and the 2.5 litres in Fanta bottles. However the yellow fuel light was on as I crossed no-mans-land back into Western Sahara... I did not see any other service stations on the road.

In Feb 2011 I stopped at a small fuel "station" in Bou Lanouar, that is, between Nouadhibou and Nouakchott.
At the time only diesel was available.
Photo and location here

Luis Cabrita