Small engines, fuel with ethanol.

My genny wouldn't start right before x-mas. For the most part I run it every 2 mos or so and it's been working great. This time it wouldn't run, my first guess was fuel because the genny is only 2 yrs old and has maybe 4 hours of run time so far. After a suggestion on using some Sta-bil in the fuel I did that, still nothing.

I went to my local small engine shop to drop the genny off for service. The tech immediately got into thinking it was fuel as well, and of course the subject of ethanol came up. He showed me some examples of what ethanol does to stagnant fuel and a few carbs taken off some small engines that had some damage.

So, my question is to anyone that knows this stuff. My repair tech said only to store engines that do not run regularly (like snowblowers and generators) with non-ethanol fuel only. He told be sta-bil does not work on ethanol added fuel either. Does any of this stuff sound right? does it make sense?

I'm far from being a small engine savvy kind of guy but I can get by.

 

I stopped using ethanol gas in small engines over 4 years ago. No more problems.

 

Reason enough right there. Thanks Sunfish .

 

Ethanol gas is the death of small engines. Here in Canada most the major gas chains have statements on their websites to not use regular gas (87 octane with up to 10% ethanol) in small engines. From what I've heard here, fuel treatments like Sta-bil will treat ethanol gas but I don't worry cause I only use ethanol free high test gas in all my toys.

Not a complete list but I have used this site to help locate ethanol free gas.
http://pure-gas.org/

 

Thanks XXL. I'm learning as I go on this one

 

Had a lawn mower that was running like crap and smoking all over the place, turned out my roommate had used the last of my mower gas and replaced it. Emptied the tank and put in some straight 87 and all was magically fixed.

 

I use regular gas w/ethanol I add 1 ounce of Lube Control FP plus per 5 gallons of gas.
Then when I mix my saw gas 50:1 I add 1/4 ounce of LC-20 per gallon.
This has been working very well for me for the past two years. there have even been times when I have left fuel in my old Jonsered for an extended period of time over a year and it started on the third pull and runs great. The stuff works for me.

 

I store my mowers, tractor, etc. with 100ll from the local airport (Don't do that with catalytic machines though) since I can't get ethanol free gas around here. I'm sure there are places local to you that sell race gas which is another alternative. My saws, I drain the fuel and store with the canned pre-mix run through them. If you have any questions about ethanol, put some in a mason jar on the shelf for a month or two and see what it does.

 

Ethanol basically has gasoline,alcohol and an additive to keep the alcohol suspended in the gas. After about a month or so the alchohol starts to separate from the gas. Oil floats on water so the gas stays high and the alchohol settles to the lowest point. That's usually the carburetor. The alchohol isn't near as flammable as gas so it usually won't support combustion. To add insult to injury the alcohol attracts moisture from the air and then you get water in your carburetor and fuel system. There's more to say but that's a lot to digest in one sitting.

 

My Gen I run dry after use and put up for storage.

My 2 strokes I dont worry about the 93 ethonal gas I been using forever. As long as mixed with my Klotz KL-200 mix.
Good to go dont separate etc. Have a batch over a year old now in plastic container to watch and no moisture separation etc. Open the batch from time to time and even left in a saw of mine since Oct last year. Squarefile ran said saw not long ago with that Oct 2013 mix.

 

Of course the shop I was at this morning sells it. Go figure!

 

Thanks for the chemistry lesson rookie1 , very informative. Can you go one step further and tell me what the additive Sta-bil does for long term gas storage?

 

I hate to buck the status quo here but I have never had a fuel related issue with ethanol. It has been added to gas for along time and even the premium gas you are buying has a certain amount of alcohol in it weather you know it or not. E10 or 15 is fine to run but if you are buying the E85 blended for flex fuel cars you are going to have trouble. If I am going to fill several cans of gas for storage I normally add just regular Sta-Bil or Sea Foam at the recommended rate. I have a large number of engines that I have to keep running from old antique stuff to some brand new and run the same fuel in all of them. Even your top fueler strip racers are dumping 5 gallons of fuel per quarter mile into those engines and it is 10% ethanol.

 

I basically agree with your mechanic. It's not a big deal on a machine that is used frequently, but for small engines like outboard engines, generators or saws that could sit for a couple of months, bad news.

I go once/year to Canada for a fishing trip. The marina on the lake there gets lots of business from the Americans who don't go to the extra trouble of keeping ethanol out of their fuel. Carbs constantly need work. Fuel lines and fuel bulbs go soft and leak. They never saw that kind of stuff until the ethanol appeared. The Canadians have it much easier as all of their premium grade gas for cars is still ethanol free.

My approach is to only run ethanol free fuel in my 2-stroke machines, and at the beginning/end of season for my mowers. For my cars I don't have a choice and so if a car isn't going to be used much I keep the tank full and store it indoors to minimize the damage. I also use Sta-bil because it does help some.

David

 

Are you saying you added the stabil after it wasn't running already? If so, it won't help at that point. I add stabil right at the gas station when I fill up jugs used for small engine stuff and I have yet to have a problem. If all your fuel has stabil in it you can never forget. Some things like snow blowers might not get used for 12 months or more but they start right up when needed.

 

I don't do nothing. I buy my gasoline from the cheapest discount gas station and mix my Pennzoil air cooled 2 stroke in the gas at 32:1 - Run the saw or whatever. No troubles! Gas a couple years old runs just fine

But gasoline is not the same over all of North America. Some of you have a terrible time and have to just mix what gas you are going to use the next few days at a time.

I used to live in an area where there would be mud in the bottom of the tank and gas would have that old smell and turn dark in just a couple months.

 

Good advice that if your equipment has a fuel shut off, use it before extended storage. I do this on my log splitter and snow blower. I did nothing to my snow blower at the end of last winter but let it run dry after shutting off the fuel. Pulled it out a few weeks ago in preparation for this year, turned the fuel on, primed it and it started first pull.

 

I put a lil seafoam init