My snow blower died last year because I did not put Stabil in the tank the year before when we had no snow. When I really needed it most it would not run at all. The stuff in the carb looked like jello when opened.

Here is what I found on line about present day gasoline:

Ethanol in time separates from the gasoline and goes to the bottom of the tank, along with the moisture it has absorbed. This accelerates the rate at which condensation builds up in the tank. For reasons known to chemists, this water then seperates from the alcohol as water at the bottom of the tank. In addition to rusting the tank from the inside, the water is then drawn into the carb when you dry to start it. It typically will not start.

In addition to this mischief the methanol also deteriorates fuel lines and carb parts.

The best advice is to put stabil in your fuel tank if the car is to sit more than 30 days. Some advocate stabil in the fuel all year long to protect the carb gaskets and fuel lines. Stabil will not help if the fuel has already gone bad. You must drain the tank and put fresh fuel in, get the car started and burn the residue of old fuel out with the new.

Any other tips or advice out there about this? Any other favorite additives?

Sam

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Can you find non-ethanol gas in your area? We have one small regional chain that sells it here. This is a heavily agricultrual area and there is a lot of demand for non-ethanol gas for ag equipment, so it might not be as avialable in other areas.

I damaged a Stihl weed whacker because of ethanol. Stihl fixed the weed whacker and told me to use fuel stabilizer and run out all the fuel after using.


5 years and no problems.

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These ones go to eleven...

My son has a Mower/chain saw/weed eater....etc business and I know that he sells ethanol free gas at his shop in quart cans. There is also a gas station over in Littlestown, Pa that sell 100% gas, gasoline. Sam you could take your car for a ride and pick up 5 gallon and it would last you all year.

I believe most small engines have warnings on them about using ethanol/ gas in them. It may even void the warranty.

Funny thing though; I have not put any additives in my riding mower, tiller or my push mower for the last 3 or 4 years when I park them for the season. Every year I give them a small shot of ether and they fire right up. I've never had a problem yet! Go figure! Probably nothing will run next spring.

Rick

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Well, I had never bothered before either but did start using premium last year in all small engines (it's supposedly more stable) and am being more careful to run/dump out all fuel now.

And of course, my Stihl weed whacker had the carb gum up this spring; my son did not run out the gas. Tried to clean the carb but the crud was in some super fine passage that was sealed in where it could not be dissassembled. A new $33 carb fixed it.......

And.... about 11 years ago, I had some old gas drained from a Saab tank... decided to dump it 'responsibly' in my old Jeep 151 4 banger and burn it up.... how could it hurt that thing, right? My son called the next day reporting a loud knocking in the engine on his way back from school. Found that the varnished old gas had jammed an intake valve open, hit a piston, broke a rocker, and so on. Ended up rebuilding the engine. Now I 'responsibly' dispose of old gas in something other than a vehicle.

Sam, you have a chemist on the boards; ask me anything about organic chemistry.

The reason ethanol separates from gas is, as you said, ethanol attracts water. If the ethanol gets enough water content, it'll become insoluble in the gasoline and separate out (classic oil and water situation, gas and oil are both hydrocarbons). In other words, alcohols "stick" to water closely. If they get enough water in them, they behave as water, they separate out of the gas. That said, you have to live in a pretty damp climate to have that happen, and/or have a tank of gas that sits for a long time.

Water and ethanol are totally soluble in each other, so ethanol and water won't separate out from each other, ever. Same with methanol. But if either of them get enough water in them, they'll separate out from gasoline.

The "dry gas" additives you buy to "remove" water from your tank are just ethanol or methanol based products. When they hit your gas, they suck all the water out of the gas and "hold" it with them, the alcohol/water mix burns better than just water alone, and is soluble in gas up to a point (see above). Adding enough (dry) ethanol or methanol to a gas tank with water pooled in it, will re-dissolve the water into the gas as a mix of alcohol/water which gets burned in your engine as fuel.

So, technically, dry gas additives don't remove the water from your tank, they simply get it to dissolve back into the gasoline which then gets burned in your engine.

A little ethanol shouldn't hurt your engine, but if it's a higher ratio, then it seems like that would change combustion characteristics a lot. I remember when they used to use t-butyl methyl ether back in the mid-'90's, we had a lot of car fires around here because it was melting the fuel line components.

brian

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https://tinyurl.com/yynpj4v2

Running premium is a waste of money. I tried running a race car on pump premium and found it to be just as unstable as any other pump gas. If I left it in the cell for more than 2 weeks the car would slow down until I added fresh gas. If I kept it in my big storage jugs for more than 2 weeks you could actually see it change color.

I let my mower sit all winter w/o Stabil and it has always started on the 3rd or 4th pull in spring.

The 2 stroke stuff I always drain. The oil does not seem to care for the alcohol much.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Luckily, I have a "no ethanol" station 8 blocks from my house. I have not noticed large changes with pump premium in my street cars, but I try to avoid letting things sit around too long these days.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

I guess I should have qualified my statement with all our gas around here is at least E-10. I can always tell when I am in an area with pure gas because my car will pick up 3-4 mpg.

The red car would lose 1/2 second when the gas was over 2 weeks old. Buddy of mine found out the same thing with his Falcon. It drove him crazy until he was told about our pump gas.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

In our part of the world what you want is "off road Premium" in the summer its for boats and mowers....in the winter its for sleds and snowblowers. It costs the same as regular(no road taxes). It is 91 octane , unleaded, no alcohol, no oxygenated,,,,,best cheap gas there is....just never even think about filling your road car.....jerries only.

The best road legal here is Chevron 94 same basic attributes but for motorcycles and exotics....prepare to pay the same as off road premium plus road taxes....a large premium.

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Yeah....Im the one who destroyed this rare, vintage automobile.....

Very interesting! Maybe that explains why my car ran 3 tenths slower in Oct even with some cool air. I know I had a 1/2 a cell of 3 month old gas, topped off with new gas right before our race.

Rick

Headed to the garage to drain the car!!

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2 Mopars come with Spark plug tubes. One is a world class, racing machine. The other is a 426 CI. boat anchor!

12.70 @ 104.6

Our options in Australia are E10 or standard unleaded both at 91 octane,95 and also 98 premium.....Expect to pay $1.40 or so for E10 and like $1.60 for the good stuff. These prices are for one litre...makes running V8's a pretty expensive exercise. LPG is much cheaper at about 70c per litre.....not bad money for basically a watered down propane mix that's virtually given away to our overseas " customers" ...gotta love taxes. The worst problem I have with modern fuel over here is evaporation. Leave a carter BBD with that tiny volume of fuel in their float chamber sitting for a week and it's bone dry,gotta crank or prime bowls to start the thing...even 98 is no better.

Home Depot sells cans of ethanol-free fuel with brand name TruFuel. It's in small cans and it's expensive, but it's good for things like snowblowers that you don't use that often. They have 2-cycle (premixed 50:1) and 4-cycle versions. I used it in my leaf blower last year but I got tired of buying a can every week (I have an ungodly amount of leaves). This year I'm using pump gas with Sta-Bil. No problems so far, but I plan to leave my leaf blower and lawn mower dry over the winter just in case.

I buy Aviation Gas at local small airports for my HAMBster. Doesn't have most of the additives that street gas has, is dyed blue for identification, and keeps very well. I don't drain anything during the off season.

Also use it in my lawn mower, chain saw, pit generator, etc, that sit several months and more then, with no grief.

Wish I could afford to run it in the 'Toad and the float, but settle for Chevron's 87. Seems to be less of a problem than any other street gas I've tried over the years.

I do still add a cup of lacquer thinner to the 'Toad prior to an occasional fill-up though. For the float we use Stabile, but still change out the gas before the parade (it usually winds up in the 'Toad ).

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Sex, drags, and rock & roll.
Dick, 225% crazy.
Hobby (cars, that is) Photos link

Avgas will have alot more additives for cold weather, and it may give you less power that pump gas. avgas is designed to ensure that a motor will work well, not at peak, but well, under the worst conditions, at all times. if you stall your car because of bad gas, you might curse and get out, but if a plane stalls you have minutes to fix it at best, from the drivers seat. it has deicing addatives etc,


the reason you get worse gas milage with alcohol gas is because it has a lower BTU per gallon rating than petroleum, but it sure cleans crud out of a motor, take apart an alcohol motor after 100k, everything is shiny and clean