How fuel stabilizers work...or not

Grit dog wrote:
Small engines, guys, seriously check out Av gas.
It may actually be cheaper. If going through gas quickly, non of this matters. Use E10 all you want. No problem.
But stuff that may or does sit for months at a time, by the time you buy no ethanol, generally it’s premium. Very few stations with 87 no E gas. I know where a few are but even 87 no E is ‘spensive. Then you dump in stabilizer.
Add it up and you may have paid more than buying 100LL.
Here 91 no E is usually around $4 plus stabilizer. AV was $4.56 last week when I filled up.

:R

I have mentioned this before, MANY "airports" you cannot simply walk in and buy "AV" gas without a valid "Tailnumber", PERIOD.

HERE is a simular "discussion" on a different forum that I am not involved with that basically says the same thing.. They do list some possible ways around the tail number but in most airports you WILL find the fuel pumps out of the way AND LOCKED and you WILL need the airport manager to get access.

HERE is another discussion forum that says the same thing as the link above..

HERE is yet another discussion forum that says the same thing as above.. Not to mention this discussion talks about the possible need to rejet, may need to adjust timing to take advantage of the higher octane.. Not to mention, standard off the shelf small engines are low compression (8.x to 1) which means a lot of wasted energy in the higher octane fuel needlessly being sent right out the exhaust.

HERE is yet another AV gas in small engine discussion which mentions that the us of 100LL AV gas CAN cause small engines to RUN EXTREMELY HOTTER.. EXCESS HEAT can destroy your precious EXPENSIVE SMALL engine you are trying to "protect" from that nasty old Ethanol :R :E

There are plenty more examples as to why AV gas may not be easy to get or may not be a good idea to use if you let your fingers search the wobbly web..

Small engine carbs are dirt cheap compared to repowering a gen or lawnmower with a new or rebuilt engine.

Besides, 100LL is way overkill for any small engine and is stupid to spend $4 per gallon when you can use any old regular 87 (which IS what small engines are designed for) at $2 per gallon..

How?

DRAIN THE CARB, that's it.. Nothing special, no "AV gas", No "racing fuel", no magic potions, incantations, wizardry, no snake oil fixes.

In the spring, add fresh fuel to the tank and open the tank valve and let it rip. Been doing it this way for the last 30+ yrs with small engines with zero destroyed small engines or small engine carbs..

That is a push mower, two gens, two chainsaws, one weed eater, several 1960s-70's gas tractors with no Ethanol laced gas resulted damage..

I MUST be doing something wrong? :B

Fuel stabilizers never were designed to do much for gas with alcohol. It is a sad political commentary that the whole country needs to prop up the agricultural industry. Alcohol is hard on engines. Costs more than gas and robs performance.

Small engines, guys, seriously check out Av gas.
It may actually be cheaper. If going through gas quickly, non of this matters. Use E10 all you want. No problem.
But stuff that may or does sit for months at a time, by the time you buy no ethanol, generally it’s premium. Very few stations with 87 no E gas. I know where a few are but even 87 no E is ‘spensive. Then you dump in stabilizer.
Add it up and you may have paid more than buying 100LL.
Here 91 no E is usually around $4 plus stabilizer. AV was $4.56 last week when I filled up.

Sea foam isn’t snake oil and the others I’ve used aren’t either.
BUT it’s one of those, “you don’t know if it works, you only know if it doesn’t....sometimes”.

Bobbo wrote:
Every drop of gas that goes into my small engines and outboard motor is ethanol free and has Seafoam in it. Before starting that regimen, I had a lot of trouble with gummed up carburetors, since, I have not had a single problem. I don't know if it is the ethanol free or the Seafoam, but I am not going to test to find out.

Ethanol-free is the way to keep a small engine happy.

I love Seafoam. It may be snake oil, but three or four times out of ten that I try it the carb straightens up quickly and it saves me the labor of tearing down the fuel system. May just be dumb luck, but I’m sticking with it.

Every drop of gas that goes into my small engines and outboard motor is ethanol free and has Seafoam in it. Before starting that regimen, I had a lot of trouble with gummed up carburetors, since, I have not had a single problem. I don't know if it is the ethanol free or the Seafoam, but I am not going to test to find out.

I’m not really a video watching guy. What did they conclude?

For several years now, every time I fill my gas cans, I’ve been treating them with the blue marine Sta-Bil product. Haven’t had any small engine fuel problems yet (knock on wood).

In fact, the Kawasaki engine on my 10+ year old backpack blower I’ve never done anything to other than clean and oil the air filter element. Ive never done any maintenance that involves tools on it at all. I occasionally pressure wash it when it gets too filthy, and I swear I could start that engine under water. :W

:):)

mowermech wrote:
I have been using Sta-Bil Storage for years in my ATVs, weed whackers, garden tractor, Toro ZTR, chain saw, and rototiller for years.
No problems. They all run on 87 octane 10% (more or less) ethanol.
In my experience, Sta-Bil Storage works just fine, at 2 ounces plus a little in 5 gallons of gas.
It is working for me.

Same here !

Guy

seafoam has worked great for our small engines.

chevman

Interesting test.
Fuel stabilizers work but what works better is no ethanol + stabilizer for storage, or drain fuel and run dry with carbs.

Or what I’ve been doing recent years for my small engines is I run them on Av gas and then no need to worry about them over an off season.