No Ethanol vs Ethanol Gas

[Hammermechanicman]

I was absolutely amazed when the motor home that had set in the barn for 5 years with about 30 gallons of regular gas gas in it started right up and ran fine. '89 w/454 with electronic Q jet carb. Then you have customers have equipment set for 6 months and the carb is trashed. My FS80 string trimmer is 23 years old and always run on regular gas and only thing wrong with carb so far is a split primer bulb. My LawnBoy with an F engine is 30 years old and never had the carb off it. If you don't leave fuel in equipment for an extended time it works fine.

 

[bertsmobile1]

E 10 has nothing to do with reduced pollution
he reason governments went gar gar about it was to reduce the volumes ( $$$$$ ) of imported fuel but that is a hard sell to Joe public
So they took the cowards spin and quite truely stated that it reduced the TAILPIPE emissions which is factually correct .
But like 99% of the so called planet saving ideas, it actually makes total pollution substantially worse .
Battery powered anything is also the same, the total pollution will substantially increase but because the point of use pollution is less the pencil pushers can beat their hairless chests and claim they are saving the planet while vilifiling the countries where they have exported the USA's pollution to .
Good thing is I am 70 so when things get really bad with endless summer days of 120 deg + , tornadoes every 10 minutes , hurricanes that leave nothing standing whatsoever and droughts that will have countries importing water . I will be long dead .

 

[sgkent]

Hey Bert I am with you. 1950. Things ain't what they used to be. Even my most liberal friends from HS and University days say the best days are behind us. Don't think any generation has ever felt that way.

 

[wekjo]

I know what is said about everyone's opinions ! Is it really worth the 85 cent extra cost over 93 octane gas to no ethanol gas? I will refilling at least 1 time every month.

I spend the extra for no ethanol, its 89 or 90, no need for 93. If your fuel system has brass parts in it, you will find it full of green goo every spring if you use ethanol and if it has rubber orings they will deteriorate in 5 years. No ethanol gas no such problems.

 

[oldlawnguy]

Weather ethanol will cause you any grief is totally dependent upon the actual formula of your local fuel and the microclimate where your mower is stored.
Rule of thumb is using the e-XT fuel regularly will not cause grief
Letting it sit for a long time will and this includes the cans you use to fill your mower with.
Whatever happens it is TIME dependent because the diffusion reactions are slow.
My recommendations to customers is to buy fuel as it is needed
When they finish mowing turn off the fuel & starve the engine off then top up the tank with whatever is left in the filling can thus there is only 1 partially filled container to condense water out of the air that can be adsorbed into the ethanol till the ethanol drops out of solution.
That is the point of problems starting.
All of the other stuff comes from mowers that were not made from ethanol resistant materials so will be 20 years old and thus suffering a lot of age related problems which people like to blame on the ethanol.
Add to that most consumer grade mowers are trash designed to make the retailers rich while destroying the planet .
So the fact your 2020 mower is constantly giving grief while your old 1990 mower ran for years faultlessly is not because of the fuel it is because the new mower is full of junk that fails and made to a very low quality but finished with real pretty powder coat ( again an short life inferior product )

I think bertsmobile1 hits the cause of most of the problems with ethanol gas.

Many many variables as cited in the thread, but root cause is ethanol gas draws water. If your tank/container is full/topped off and sealed (no loose caps) air (H2O) can't condense into water (H2O). I always keep my tanks bone dry empty or topped off.

I remember as a kid in grade school wondering why all the nice shinny chrome plated flushing values in the restroom (located in the basement of the school) were always sweating, especially when warm outside?

 

[BTBO]

I know what is said about everyone's opinions ! Is it really worth the 85 cent extra cost over 93 octane gas to no ethanol gas? I will refilling at least 1 time every month.

I have a 21" push mower (Honda engine) and a 48" ZTR (Kawasaki engine) and a Stihl 2 stroke blower. They are all only 3 yo, and have used nothing but 89 octane non-ethanol gas. For the mowers, I use Seafoam at 2 oz/gallon, Stabil Marine and Yamaha Ring Free+. In the Stihl, Seafoam at 1oz/gallon. With these mixtures, I have never drained the fuel tanks or run till carbs are dry when cutting season is over. Instead, I start and run all three at least once monthly with not a single issue. After all, one of the worst things you can do to an engine is not run it for extended periods of time. Lose it if you don't use it. Also, some of the fuel I use is leftover from last year---again, with no problems. I'm sure this will get mixed responses, but hey it works for me.

 

[BigBlueEdge]

I spend the extra for no ethanol, its 89 or 90, no need for 93. If your fuel system has brass parts in it, you will find it full of green goo every spring if you use ethanol and if it has rubber orings they will deteriorate in 5 years. No ethanol gas no such problems.

In MN the only non-oxy (non-ethanol) gasoline is 92 octane. Unsure why that might be. But it obviously makes it quite a bit more costly than standard 87 octane ethanol gas. The last time I put some in my cycle it was probably $4.65/gal for non-oxy 92 when 87 regular unleaded was about $3.90. For my small engines when a 5 gal can lasts all summer, not a problem. But on my Rogue mower that I put 5-6 gallons per mowing into I'm not paying the extra. I burn it fast enough in that that it doesn't offer any value to me.

 

[AdamE]

I've been meaning to ask you guys what you think about Sta-Bil's 360 Protection. It's Ethanol treatment as well as stabilizer.

 

[Hammermechanicman]

I've been meaning to ask you guys what you think about Sta-Bil's 360 Protection. It's Ethanol treatment as well as stabilizer.

I have a gallon of 360 marine. When i am doing annual maint on customers mowers i add it to the fuel for storage. Not sure how much it helps but customers like it. Just remember to run engine long enough after adding to get it to the carb. Most folks don't.

 

[Graeden]

I've been meaning to ask you guys what you think about Sta-Bil's 360 Protection. It's Ethanol treatment as well as stabilizer.

Stabilizers like Sta-Bil, Lucas, etc are a ”scam”/false sense of security as is SeaFoam. They do NOT prevent ethanol containing fuels from absorbing water into the fuel. Ryan from FortNine tried several stabilizers promoted to motorcyclists for off season storage & through his tests, some actually increase the amount of water drawn into the fuel. The best practice is to either use non-ethanol fuel or run your tank dry @ the end of the season.

Edit: Spelling corrections.

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