Stabil My not be the Answer

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

wkpoor

Minister of Fire
Oct 30, 2008
1,854
Amanda, OH
Director gave me a Husky wacker and a Sears blower this past weekend to work on. Classic after winter storage and won't run. Said he put stabil in the tanks and run them both a while to pull fuel into carbs. Both had fuel lines rotted off and the blower (only one fixed thus far had fish eggs in the carb. Also fuel smelled and looks like old rank fuel and supposedly was fresh last fall. I told him better to dump tanks and run dry. IMO either get some pure gas or drain it. Not really sure if Stabil is the storage answer.
 
A number of small engine shops around here recommend buying gas at the local airport, as it contains no ethanol.
 
He could have had an older Stabil formula. They re-formulated within the last 2 years to deal with the ethanol in fuel. Before the re-formulation, adding Stabil to your fuel was like adding salt to boil water faster. It don't work worth a chit. No problems that I've heard about with the new formula. Marine or new ethanol compatible formula is clearly labeled.

I still reccomend Star-Tron or AMSOIL Quick-Shot.
 
A number of small engine shops around here recommend buying gas at the local airport, as it contains no ethanol.

Not every airport is willing to sell AvGas since it is leaded (If it's 100LL you're buying) and they can't guarantee you're not pouring it in your car. (Despite being 100 Low-Lead it actually contains more TEL [lead] than auto fuel did in the 60's) It's illegal to run in any over-the-highway motor vehicle. While I believe it's still legal to run in small engines and it shouldn't cause catastrophic damage, (The lead deposits aren't necessary tho.) I don't think it's a great idea since most of these engines exhaust within close proximity to the user. Love the smell of 2-stroke in the morning? (I do!) Keep in mind that running AvGas will put lead vapor in that aroma.

Beware some newer power equipment may have a catalytic muffler installed and 100LL AvGas will plug that up in short order. Same goes for ANYTHING using O2 sensors as the lead deposits will kill them too.
 
While I believe it's still legal to run in small engines and it shouldn't cause catastrophic damage
Been using it a long time myself with no ill affects to anything I use it in. Looks like you pretty much said it right about 100LL. Good stuff just not easy to get. I hear some home stores are selling mower gas that probably is ethanol free.
 
He could have had an older Stabil formula. They re-formulated within the last 2 years to deal with the ethanol in fuel. Before the re-formulation, adding Stabil to your fuel was like adding salt to boil water faster. It don't work worth a chit. No problems that I've heard about with the new formula. Marine or new ethanol compatible formula is clearly labeled.

I still reccomend Star-Tron or AMSOIL Quick-Shot.

I pretty much have been using Star Tron since the switch over to ethanol here in Maine . . . no issues so far.

Like MM what I saw on line was to stick with the Marine Stabil if you go that route.
 
Not every airport is willing to sell AvGas since it is leaded (If it's 100LL you're buying) and they can't guarantee you're not pouring it in your car. (Despite being 100 Low-Lead it actually contains more TEL [lead] than auto fuel did in the 60's) It's illegal to run in any over-the-highway motor vehicle. While I believe it's still legal to run in small engines and it shouldn't cause catastrophic damage, (The lead deposits aren't necessary tho.) I don't think it's a great idea since most of these engines exhaust within close proximity to the user. Love the smell of 2-stroke in the morning? (I do!) Keep in mind that running AvGas will put lead vapor in that aroma.

Beware some newer power equipment may have a catalytic muffler installed and 100LL AvGas will plug that up in short order. Same goes for ANYTHING using O2 sensors as the lead deposits will kill them too.

I was doing a fire extinguisher class last year for the guys that run the terminal here in Bangor . . . and I specifically asked about purchasing av gas and they said that selling it for any purposes other than aircraft results in some stiff fines for them and so they've been pretty careful about who and how the gas is sold.
 
[quote="MasterMech, post: 1101129, member: 18173"]Not every airport is willing to sell AvGas since it is leaded (If it's 100LL you're buying) and they can't guarantee you're not pouring it in your car. (Despite being 100 Low-Lead it actually contains more TEL [lead] than auto fuel did in the 60's) It's illegal to run in any over-the-highway motor vehicle. While I believe it's still legal to run in small engines and it shouldn't cause catastrophic damage, (The lead deposits aren't necessary tho.) I don't think it's a great idea since most of these engines exhaust within close proximity to the user. Love the smell of 2-stroke in the morning? (I do!) Keep in mind that running AvGas will put lead vapor in that aroma.

Beware some newer power equipment may have a catalytic muffler installed and 100LL AvGas will plug that up in short order. Same goes for ANYTHING using O2 sensors as the lead deposits will kill them too.[/quote]

Must be an east-coast thing. . .
 
I must just be "Forrest Gump" lucky, but I run 87 octane, ethanol fuel in virtually everything I have (and I gotz lotz of engines). It is DANG rare that I ever have an issue associated with fuel. I don't treat it, sniff it, poke at it in any way. Just burn it. I have everything from old skool to newer string trimmers, saws, etc. Dunno, maybe one of these days my luck will run out, but Illinois was a consumer of ethanol fuel from the start of it, so I have been doing this for a long time.

I just did the head math and can instantly come up with 16 internal combustion engines that I work. I probably forgot a couple.
 
Call me crazy, but I've never run my equipment dry and/or stabilized the fuel for winter. My saw, splitter, and blower get used year round, but the trimmer and mower sit all winter. I've never had a fuel system issue, yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ScotO
Call me crazy, but I've never run my equipment dry and/or stabilized the fuel for winter. My saw and blower get used year round, but the trimmer and mower sit all winter. I've never had a fuel system issue, yet.

Must be a mid-west thing.;)
 
While I have never had an issue with 'bad' gas, I started using some sea foam in my fuel a few years back. Still no issues. Figured a stabilizer would not hurt. Only bad gas i ever had was when i bought my boat and the gas can for the outboard had not been used for 10 years
 
Fuels are not the same the country over. My guess living ere in the corn belt ethanol is prevalent in all pump gas sold unless you find a pure gas station and thy are mostly around water. Just like summer and winter fuels are different.
 
Quick question: when you run an engine dry for winter storage, do you run an added risk of gaskets, etc., drying and cracking? Cheers!
 
I bought a dune buggy w/ a 1600 air cooled motor last year that had been sitting for a few years w/ rotten fuel in it. I usually use sea foam in my products but I had a good amount of stabil in an older bottle that I saw in the garage I had forgotten about and was out of sea foam. The car would run but would have hesitation, idling issues, common symptoms for having a varnished up carb.

Before pulling the carb and rebuilding I figured what the heck and put in about 3-4x as much stabil as what the label recommends for the gas that was in the car (It says using a double dose for gas that was untreated, but I just wanted to use the bottle up). It wasn't 5 miles down the road after putting that in that the old mistreated girl just woke up and acted appropriate.

I suppose it could have been a coincidence that it cleared up then and would have done it w/out the stabil, but I doubt it. Since I used stabil, I'll never know if the sea foam would have done the same job or not. I have used sea foam in the gas since, and haven't noticed any change in performance for the better or the worse. I add it most every time it gets gas since it doesn't get many miles in a year.

I've used either sea foam or stabil in all my equipment as long as I've owned equipment. I also start everything up at least every 2 months and let run for a while. If the equipment has a fuel shutoff it gets the fuel shut down and carb run dry. If there is no shutoff, I just leave the gas in it.

Again, no telling here if the stabil / sea foam is what has made things keep working for me, or if it's because I don't let them sit too long w/out some use. All I do know for certain is that what I have been doing has been working on equipment for years, so I'll just keep the same routine going. In that time, I've never seen any unforseen failures such as rotted fuel lines either. I've had a few get old and look like they needed replacement, but that can happen to anything.

pen
 
I am gonna start an Internet email going around that Yak pee is better than Stabil. Then buy a couple of Yaks.
 
Seafoam in all my gear
+1
I don't bother with Stabil or high-test. My old saw has low enough compression that it doesn't need high octane gas. In fact none of my OPE does.
 
I have had several engines that had what I can desribes as a "chicken fat" like substance in the carb. I clean the carb and they run good. I got a very nice Honda mower cheap just because of that. I wonder on the original post if the guy had added stabil in the Fall to old gas. I treat my gas when I get it. Sea Foam seems to do well. My old plow truck was idling terrible and the Sea Foam took care of that.
 
+1
I don't bother with Stabil or high-test. My old saw has low enough compression that it doesn't need high octane gas. In fact none of my OPE does.
Using high test has nothing to do with needing the octane. It simply about the quality of the fuel. I think most people are cornfused about that. And higher octane fuel is plenty fine for low compression engines. Look at airplane recips. They are typically very low compression yet run on 100 octane.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Bigg_Redd
Local hardware store sells ethanol free gas in quart in gallon cans... pricey (about $20/gallon) but how much do you really use in a chainsaw?

Avgas no problem for me, I buy it for my ultralight plane during the winter when I don't fly much since it stores better, but I use ordinary car gas (with 10% ethanol) with no trouble all summer. The lead in avgas can cause problems too, spark plug fouling and lead deposits on valves in a 4-stroke engine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.