Myth #2: “STA-BIL products don't work with ethanol-blended gasoline.” STA-BIL products treat ALL types of fuel—and that includes every ethanol blend, from E-10 to E-85Opens a new window, as well as pure gasoline and diesel.
StaBil and ethanol?
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Gord Baker
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Too many ads!
I use Marine StaBil because it is more concentrated than regular StaBil. I use it in the gas cans of my outdoor power equipment before filling them up with non-ethanol. (My neighbor uses regular StaBil mixed with ethanol fuel with no issues.) On average, I get two years or more storage out of the fuel with no starting issues.
No myth, ethanol will suck up moisture (humidity) to the point of saturation which is not enough to ruin your gas mixture and keep it from functioning. Some crooks have, in the past, added water to their ethanol to stretch it and steal profits. By the time we get to buy it, it most likely will be maxed out with moisture. More importantly, the ethanol fuel mixture is very unstable over time and with sunshine and heat, will rapidly deteriorate and go non-functional for internal combustion engines. In time, it will also help contribute to gumming up the internals of your carburetor. Run your carb dry if it won't be used for several weeks. A very good carb cleaner/de-gummer/gas stabilizer is, Startron. Sold in Walmarts, automotive supply shops and most anywhere engine chemicals are sold. 8 oz. is good for 50 gallons for on-going maintenance but if the engine is running a little rough, double the mixture.
kbowley
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I add Sta-Bil Red to my can prior to filling it and have never had fuel go bad. I get the 32 OZ bottle and mix as instructed. Two ounces to five gallons and it comes with a built-in measuring tank in the Sta-Bil bottles. The red states it will keep gas fresh for two years and the marine version for one year. I use the red and I have never had fuel go bad.
You were told wrong. Lol
While it may have been someone's personal opinion that it was a waste of time to use sta-bil in ethanol fuel or their point was you'd be better off to get ethanol free fuel and I don't know whether or not they're wanting you to put sta-bil in that or not but the fact is putting a good strong dose of it which is what I do at 1 oz for every gallon, absolutely makes ethanol fuel last longer and eliminates 99% of the problems.
I have been doing this for every drop of my fuel since March of 2011 and have had pieces of equipment sit for over 3 years and start right up.
I see no reason to take the time or waste the money on ethanol free fuel when a simple 1 oz a fuel stabilizer to every gallon of fuel makes my current gas last as long and work even better than the ethanol free fuel I used in the 70s and 80s.
It was quite common to have to remove the float bowl on every Tecumseh engine that had them to flush some gas through it before it would run properly for the season.
Briggs engines never had this problem because they had the different style carburetor as opposed to the float bowl and what you got them running by putting a little gas in there or holding your hand over the carburetor hole to help the little butterfly seal off even more... they would clear themselves out and run just fine.
There's a lot of crap personal opinions on the internet that people portray to be 100% true in every situation and for everyone when this simply isn't the case.
I have no idea what someone else's fuel is like in their area or their climate, or even their storage conditions BUT I do know the facts from my own experiences.
I also have run a commercial shop for almost 14 years and I can tell you that over 85% of the no starts and running issues are caused by contaminated or congealed fuel.
Ethanol is surely part of the reason for this but we still had issues before the fuel went to ethanol because of people storage conditions etc.
All I know is that with a nice little one ounce dose of stabilizer put into your empty gas can for every gallon of fuel and then put the gas in the gas can and THEN and only then pour that into the tank on your equipment....will eliminate almost all of these problems and put you in better shape then you would have been back in the seventies and '80s for starting each year back when there was no ethanol fuel to speak of.
I simply know that this works.
Some of those things you say can be true in certain situations but it feels like a lot of Doom and gloom. Lol
Also, there is no need for a "really good" fuel stabilizer like startron which is more expensive.
Plain old traditional red Sta-bil is what I've been using commercially for almost 14 years.
You don't even need to buy the 360 shield or The ethanol or the boat or any of the other overpriced ones unless you can manage to lower your cost per ounce because those are all more concentrated.
One caveat to all of this though.
I DO NOT use at the lowest recommended dosage which for regular sta-bil is 1 oz for every 2.5 gallons.
This is what they used to say for regular maintenance use.
Then, they had a pink one inch wide box across the back of the label on the full size bottle that said:
"For long-term storage up to 2 years, use at a ratio of 1 oz for every gallon of fuel."
They stopped putting this on there 8 or 10 years ago probably because there were too many jackholes calling up in 1 year, 11 months and 29 days wanting their money back because their engine wouldn't start because they left them sitting out in the rain or their gas can had water in it etc.
I have always and only used the one ounce per gallon ratio and you should ALWAYS AND ONLY put the one else into an empty gas can and then put your fresh fuel into it from the gas pump at the station.
NEVER cheat like a lot of people do and just add a capful or whatever to the gas tank on your equipment even if you try to shake It up or run the equipment for a few minutes..
JUST DON'T!
Doing it this way of 1 oz per gallon makes all the lousy 10% ethanol fuel I have used over the past 10 plus years maybe 15 plus years perform and last just as long as the gas in the mowers I had back in the 70s.
I still joke about it but it's very true that back then it seemed almost every year my Tecumseh mowers would have to have their carb bowl take it off and at least dumped out and let some fresh gas run through the needle valve before they would run.
You normally didn't have to touch the jet because it wasn't clogged it just had big moisture water bubbles floating around in the bowl.
This is with pure 100% fuel and even leaded fuel before that.
We never had to do anything to the Briggs engines because the earlier ones didn't have the float bowl style carburetor but the tecumseh's every time!
The fuel now even though it's lower quality, as long as you add the 1 oz of stabilizer correctly to each gallon of fuel, is far better than this old gas situation and these engines run fine and start right up at the beginning of the season.
Gas is lower quality and junky overall compared to what it used to be and I really don't think all the problems are strictly due to ethanol.
There's a lot of other crap in gas that I don't think used to be there and certainly a different ratios.
It also seems to vary about times and even brands or types of fuel you get.
Today it seems that when they evaporate at minimum you'll get a white chalky powder.
Theen a little bit more you'll get a greenish thicker residue.
Then the next step of lousy fuel would be a dark red mahogany almost brown or black goopy tar looking build up.
It's not like this didn't happen though with old fuel.
We had a vehicle sit for 17 years and probably had a full tank at the time or at least a lot of fuel in it.
The gas was purchased in 1971 so it was good quality leaded fuel by today's standards.
It turned into a Brown almost dark brown black at least caramel looking or peanut brittle looking concoction.
It was thick and sticky like tar and certain parts had dried up and would chip off just like peanut brittle but a little bit darker.
This certainly wasn't due to ethanol in the fuel.
So yes, ethanol fuel may have a shorter lifespan and doesn't store as well and it's raw form out of the gas pump but 1 oz of plain old regular Sta-bil makes it just as good if not better than the stuff we were using way back then.
Stabil works to keep moisture from creating gunk in your carbs during winter storage, especially if stored outside. Failure to start in the spring is usually the result of crude in the cab. Requires carb removal and cleaning. Stabil will prevent that. Been using Stabil about 40 years.
Can you take the info and maybe type the information in yourself? Why did they invent search engines? Is that toouch work? Geez...
Auto Doc's
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I use the mid-grade Ethanol and mix a cap full of cheap ATF per 5 gallons (shake gently, but well). The mid-grade seems to last quite a bit longer than the low-grade budget stuff.
The ATF encapsulates the humidity/moisture in the plastic gas cans. "Knock on wood" I have not had any issues for years. It is certainly not enough to create smoke from an engine.
It is important however to empty the fuel out of anything that is going to be sitting for more than 60 days. Catch it in a fuel jug and pour it in one of you gas vehicles. Simply repeat has needed.
Sta-Bil is not one of my go-to products because I have had it jell up on me too many times in the past.
For standby and emergency generators I only use non-ethanol because it is available in my area. I also keep small solar powered battery maintainers on all of my equipment batteries year-round. That keeps them from sulfating which is the biggest enemy of wet cell batteries.
Other than that, for my own equipment, I use manual inline valves to cut the fuel off, so I can run the carburetors as dry as possible. To prevent the fuel solenoid tip from sticking in the carburetor, I cut the tip of the needle or plunger off totally. Sorry, I have never liked those solenoids and after fighting with mine many times over the years, I decided that manual fuel shutoff was the way to go.
The ATF encapsulates the humidity/moisture in the plastic gas cans. "Knock on wood" I have not had any issues for years. It is certainly not enough to create smoke from an engine.
It is important however to empty the fuel out of anything that is going to be sitting for more than 60 days. Catch it in a fuel jug and pour it in one of you gas vehicles. Simply repeat has needed.
Sta-Bil is not one of my go-to products because I have had it jell up on me too many times in the past.
For standby and emergency generators I only use non-ethanol because it is available in my area. I also keep small solar powered battery maintainers on all of my equipment batteries year-round. That keeps them from sulfating which is the biggest enemy of wet cell batteries.
Other than that, for my own equipment, I use manual inline valves to cut the fuel off, so I can run the carburetors as dry as possible. To prevent the fuel solenoid tip from sticking in the carburetor, I cut the tip of the needle or plunger off totally. Sorry, I have never liked those solenoids and after fighting with mine many times over the years, I decided that manual fuel shutoff was the way to go.