Forum Discussion
fortytwo
Aug 28, 2014Explorer
I leave an outboard motor stored for 6 months in hot & humid SW Florida. I found the tribal wisdom of leaving tanks full is wrong. The ethanol will separate leaving you with a tank full of something the picky high performance 4 cycle outboard doesn't like. Had to have the tank pumped. I now leave as little fuel as possible, add the marine stabil, and then fill with new fuel when I take the boat out of storage.
A second option: make your last fill at a local marina that sells gas that does not contain ethanol. More expensive, but avoids the problems.
However, my V10 in the MH was also stored for 6 months at a time, and never failed to start on the 10% mix, nor did I have injector problems like the outboard did. Nor did my 4kw Kohler generator. I usually started them a couple of times during the 6 month storage, but the fuel was old, and I did not use stabil in the MH. Be aware that the small form generators in Class C's are much more sensitive to old fuel. I think it's from evaporation in the tiny carb jets and resulting varnish deposits.
A second option: make your last fill at a local marina that sells gas that does not contain ethanol. More expensive, but avoids the problems.
However, my V10 in the MH was also stored for 6 months at a time, and never failed to start on the 10% mix, nor did I have injector problems like the outboard did. Nor did my 4kw Kohler generator. I usually started them a couple of times during the 6 month storage, but the fuel was old, and I did not use stabil in the MH. Be aware that the small form generators in Class C's are much more sensitive to old fuel. I think it's from evaporation in the tiny carb jets and resulting varnish deposits.
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