My Honda HS828 snow blower stopped dead in its tracks yesterday. Mrs. Chili and I dragged it up to the garage (it's a heavy b@$tard) and inside. I had the drive passable but not finished. It seemed reluctant to pop even with a whiff of starting fluid so when I closed up the garage last night, I wasn't sure if it was a spark or fuel problem but I was too disgusted to look at it then. This afternoon I connected a spark tester and verified a fat blue spark. OK, it's fuel. I've been running nothing but ethanol-free rec fuel in all my small engines for about the last four years. I was surprised when I pulled the carb and found all the crud in the bowl. Image attached I disassembled and cleaned as best I could and the old dog started on the first pull after I put it back together. It looks like the Honda has a complete fuel system cleaning in its future.
Same thing happened to my buddy. He switched to ethanol free about 4 years ago but, the previous 18 years of corn gas had taken its toll and it actually needed a new carburetor. It was all green and corroded inside.
I worked in a repair shop for nearly 4 years. I'm not kidding or exaggerating...50% + of the issues I saw were fuel related (in all varieties of equipment). The only gas I'm comfortable with leaving sit for extended periods is the expensive stuff that comes in the metal cans. I will note that premium fuel has longer lasting carbon chains than Reg 87 and can stave off the gas problems a little longer.
Can't agree more. I helped out in a chainsaw shop and saw about 50% of the problems were fuel related. First thing when something came in was to dump the gas and put in some canned fuel to eliminate fuel as the culprit. Canned fuel for two stroke and aviation fuel for 4 strokes is what I use when storing machines.
From the Stihl web site. Will a 10% (E10) blend of ethanol hurt my gas-powered STIHL product? All STIHL gasoline-powered engines can be used with up to a 10% (E10) blend of ethanol in the gasoline/engine oil mix. We also recommend that if a unit will be left unused for more than 30 days that it be stored “dry.” This means emptying the fuel tank and then restarting and letting the unit run until all the fuel is consumed and the engine stops. For maximum performance and engine life expectancy, we also recommend using STIHL Ultra HP 2-cycle engine oil. This is just how I roll with gas. Works for me in all the engines that I have that take gas. I dont have the funds to buy expencive "canned" fuel and have never had a fuel related issue with running corn in my engines. Just gotta know how to deal with the stuff. But thats just me.
