Ethanol in small engines

westend wrote:

bigfootford wrote:
Do this test.

Put an ounce or so of E10 gas in a small glass jar or cup... Let it evaporate...
There will be a sticky syrup residue in the bottom.... That is the problem with E10...
Also you will find that the E10 will accumulate water in the bottom of a tank..

Jim

That varnish like "syrup" you describe will also be there if you do the experiment with ethanol-free gasoline.

Judging by the anecdotal reports of gasoline problems, I see most of them generated from the West Coast or Western regions of the US. It may be that the gasoline is blended differently or that the ethanol is not as good as other regions. At one time, I transported and pumped ethanol into refineries for blending gasoline. Most of that ethanol was from ADM, located in IL. The refineries didn't add anymore than 10% to the gas blend because of cost. I believe it's also an EPA mandate about the percentage.

For those that are having fuel problems, I'd suggest to make sure your gas is stored in a cool spot, if possible, and add fuel stabilizer into your transport cans as soon as you can. The breakdown of gasoline and E-10 is caused by oxidation (mixing with the atmosphere). Fuel stabilizer slows that process.

If the user is continually cleaning carbs and fuel lines, there is another problem besides the blend of the fuel. That could be a dirty transport can, a contaminated fuel system, or even a bad tank at the filling station. Another consideration is how the fuel system is built. Some mfg's (Kawasaki being most notable), allow for a lot of venting into the carb. Those, I've had problems with, no matter what stabilizer or how the gas is handled.

FWIW, I had one customer that brought his snow blower to me a number of times, complaining about poor starting. I made a house call to him the last time and found that he was using gas out of a can that had three year old gas in it. He was advised to get rid of the old gas but was clueless as how to do that so kept using the same can. Some folks you just can't help.

Ummmm I have about 15 old vw carbs from the 60-70's sitting in my shop. None of which have been exposed to MTBE nor Ethanol....
There is no solidified puddle of******in them... A varnish coating on the inside of the float bowl is all I see.


Many lawn mower, car's etc carbs have pretty big jets and thus not susceptible to jet's plugging... These little fuel sipping honda's are a different story. I have taken enough of them apart to see the results of Ethanol....

Jim