On 9/18/2015 9:25 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:
On 9/18/2015 6:39 AM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Leon wrote:

Yeah I forgot to mention that. I might suggest adding "Stabil" or
another gasoline stabilizer. while I never had a problem with my
Honda the additive worked wonders for my fathers Honda. The dealer
recommended it since alcohol is likely to be in the gas and that
attracts water. Relative inexpensive and good insurance against bad
gas or gas that might go bad.

The best approach is to use enthanol free gas in all of your small
engines. Unlike you car, the gas for your small engines can sit
around for a long time before you have to fill up the gas can again,
and can it in the tank over the winter season. Some of the
stabilizers do work, but not for as long as they advertise. That
said, the stabilizers do nothing to mitigate the effect of alcohol
on rubber hoses. Replacing fuel lines can get expensive at $6-$8
per foot for neoprene lines. Carb diaphrams disintegrate, the pot
metal used for the carb disintegrates. It's just bad stuff. Around
here ethanol free gas has become very common, but it is only sold as
91 Octane, so you're paying a premium price for it. Cheaper though,
than the repair costs for ethanol related problems.

Down here it is kind of hard to find ethanol free.

You know what really sucks? All gas comes in ethanol free. My SIL works
for a company that delivers gas to gas stations. They are the dominant
player in that space, in all of this region. They mix the ethanol in right
there at their facility. It all comes in as just plain old gasoline, and
then they ruin it by adding ethanol. Even worse - ethanol free is only
available at the pump as 91 Octane, as I said above. There is no reason
that it can't be available as 87 Octane as well. In NY, the requirement is
for a minimum of 10% ethanol, and different brand names have different
requirements for the ethanol blend. Sunoco has one requirement (they are
very specific about their gasoline), the regional names have (or can
have...) a different requirement, all based on their marketing. (Sunoco for
example, even stipulates that the tanker trucks be branded as Sunoco, rather
than the name of the company that is doing the delivery. They want to
really protect their branding). They're all at least 10%, but some are
more. Around here, none are 15% yet, but give Congress enough time and
they'll foist that on us too.

It's too bad that you can't find ethanol free gas easily down there - it
makes a huge difference in maintenance and reliability. I used to use the
additives, and they were OK, but they were not the total solution. I found
they would keep gas useable for up to a year (as compared to the
manufacturer's claim of up to 3 years...), but like I said earlier, that
only address separation, and does not address the corrosive and destructive
nature of alcohol on different forms of metal and rubbers. I've taken apart
many carbs - from things like string trimmers, to my 1945 farm tractor, and
have personally seen the effects of ethanol. Some can be addressed with a
bit of work, and some just can't. Small engine carbs of today (things like
string trimmers, etc.), just are not even worth the effort. You can't get
into all of the passages to clean them out and your chances of rebuilding
them is 50/50 at best. Anyone who works on these or has experience with
them will quickly tell you that it's not worth the effort - just buy a new
carb off ebay. I can attest to that.

The biggest shame of this whole ethanol scam is that it is a net energy
loss. But - whackos in California were able to convince idiots in
Washington...


It seems that every station I go to has a warning label that indicates
that anything from the pump may contain up to 10% alcohol. It does not
indicate a specific octane having or not having it.
From what I understand there are typically two underground tanks for
the three different obtains. The medium grade is a mixture of regular
and premium. That probably explains why premium is alcohol free and the
lower grades are not, IF gasoline is handled the same way up there. And
if so a medium grade gasoline should have less alcohol content.

Alcohol in fuel is like cereal in dog food, strictly a filler.