Stabilizer will not remove the ethanol - it has to be physically separated from the "gas" (if one can even call it that anymore) mixture. You can build an extractor for this purpose (or just find a "0E" gas station).

The stuff being sold as "gas" today is pure garbage. I have little doubt it cost me my 951 (engine fire - rubber fuel line degradation) a few years ago.

There might be some kind of chemical that would have more affinity for ethanol than water or rubber (hydrogen bonds?) but I'm not aware of any. I've seen some blue stuff in marinas that's supposed to help but have no idea what the chemical theory is behind it or whether it even works.

Thankfully I've now got access to "sober gas" that's VERY convenient but it's only 87, so I still use Stabil in the boat, and keep my fingers crossed on the Carrera. It's freaking amazing the difference in mpg I get in my truck although I've never calculated it. 10 cents more per gallon (less than 3%), and the mpg increase is easily several times that. Hopefully this mandated crap will end soon, as both political parties have contributed to it, and I "think" that awareness (opposition) is growing. It would hurt businesses though...small engine repair businesses :(.

ps: for those without access to non-ethanol (and I realize Stabil isn't a cure all)...it's not the use of it that causes harm, it's sitting in the tanks during storage etc. Before "my good" station began carrying it a few months ago, I had began the practice of leaving all my two-cycle engines dry (and I have a bunch - a total PITA) when finished. YMMV...

I have had clogged pilot jets after sitting one winter in my Interceptor 500 after storing with Stabil and I siezed my snowmobile engine at the beginning of winter a couple years ago which was the result of chunks of crap that formed in the carb and apparently got sucked into one main jet while making a long high speed pass across the field. I had treated the sled the prior spring with Stabil before storing it.

Last time I counted, I have well over 50 internal combustion engines and draining/prepping all of them in case they might sit over a month has really become a PITA. My "easiest" solution is to try and remember to drain the tanks then run each "seasonal" machine on pure AVgas before storing.

I have have owned multiple gasoline engines my whole life and NEVER had these issues until a few years ago.

Unfortunately, nobody in the Phoenix area that I know of sells Ethanol free gas. You used to be able to buy it in Northern AZ but not anymore. The best solution is for it to go away - opposition to it may be growing but Iowa has a pretty strong voice.

The solution to all your problems.....


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:p

That's what I did with the weed eater and chain saw. It works great!

If you like replacing batteries every 3-5 years...

Stabil is the old reliable standby, I used Starbright 'Startron' Enzyme fuel treatment last winter on the recommendation of a bunch of boat guys and everything fired right up in the spring, My snowblower fired up last week w/o issue. My lawn mower w/o sat for the month of Oct and was full of water, drained it and put treated gas in for the last few mows

I suspect they DO work great...so long as you've got an 8 lb sledgehammer to bash the crap out of 'em and REAL two-cycle backups when you've got serious work to do :). Like Tim, I've been doing the same thing for 30+ years with no problems until the "good stuff" disappeared (around here) last summer...I'm SO glad to have access once again.

We need a place in CA that makes Non-Gasahol available. I could be getting 60-70mpg on my motorcycle and 28mpg on the Carrera if they had good stuff here.

My other option is to go forced-induction on both :D

DIESEL is the best solution to this problem. I am planning the repowering of anything I can with diesel. Of course super small engines cannot be dieselized but everything from edgers on up can be turned into diesel. For those who are not familiar with diesels: they are fuel injected and old diesel rarely does anything negative. Heck my buddy has a CAT that has 20 year old diesel that still starts right up and moves around. Go diesel or keep replacing expensive carbs and engines.

Yeah.... I will get right on that. How much could replacing a lifetime collection of 50+ engines of all sorts/sizes possibly cost? :rolleyes:

Guess it depends on how many you want to convert and which ones are vital. For me it's just a tractor lawn mower that I want to convert at first. The rest of the stuff I can live with. Your question also depends on how much you could sell the gas engines for and how much you can find a used diesel for. Lombardini diesels are a couple hundred an engine if you find the right seller.

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your choice

the cheapest (per gal.) is the 85% bio-ethanol - they have a cornucopia of chocolates there too & organic salads, sandwiches, etc.

the 76 station has good BBQ and cheeseburgers

No batteries - they're all plug in. The weed eater was free though, from my grandpa. Late '70s Craftsman from the look of it. I've been using them for about 7 years now without any issues. The chain saw got a real workout with a neighbor's hackberry tree that Irene took down this year, and since that's about the only tree that could fall on the place it'll probably sit for a long time in the garage. If I lived somewhere with more trees on the lot I'd have a gas chain saw on hand in case of hurricanes. As things are now there really isn't a need.

A diesel Harley, a diesel, "high performance" bass boat outboard, diesel chainsaws, ...for some reason, I don't think so :)

I'd need a cord several miles long...good luck with 'em when you need to clean up after a winter ice storm or tornado :). The only way an "electric" chainsaw would fell a decent size tree is if the tree fell over laughing....

Last night I put my old ATC on the battery charger and cranked it over after it has been sitting for a few months without being started. Of course I knew it would not start as it had been sitting with untreated shiit gas in it. Unlike my seasonal vehicles, I occasionaly use this thing year round although it's main mission is for drunken ice racing at a friend's man made ice track a few times each winter. :)

So..... after cranking over a few times and getting absolutely no response, I decide to open the carb drain screw to see what comes out.... nothing. Off comes the tank and carb. The problem "this" time ended up being a varnished/stuck float needle (and of coarse the float bowl had a bunch of crap in the bottom). A quick cleaning fixed the problem and luckily this time the pilot and main jets were not plugged.

This is a typical scenario for me with nearly all my carburated gasoline engines... especially the ones that are not "seasonal" but sometimes happen to sit unused for a month or so. I HATE MODERN CRAP GAS!



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mix oil two stroke fuel goes bad far quicker then unmixed gas will
real bad idea to leave premix in a tank/carb very long

diesel grows bugs if allowed to sit
my old 300sd came with a tank full of black bug sludge

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that was a screen in tank filter
and the on motor line filters clogged every few miles
but that did lower the price
and two drains + stabul did clear the bug sludge

I cut up and hauled off a neighbor's hackberry tree that fell over a few months ago. It was about 2ft in diameter and abut 3 truckloads of wood once it was chopped up, but it's a fairly soft wood. That pretty much takes care of any trees that could fall over and hit anything on our little 1/2 acre. About the only thing left within striking distance are tall bushes.