Engine Damage Caused By Ethanol Gasoline!?

[Buggs67]

I think we are stuck with ethanol in our fuel because the Gov't counts it as an alternative fuel and the greenies want alternative fuel. Now we are stuck with the corn-to-ethanol industry that the Gov't subsidized into existence and it's not going away. Some people hypothesis that this is why food cost are going up - too much corn going to fuel. I don't know.

I do know that 1) Pure Gasoline isn't available in NJ. And 2) My 2 stroke engines all run on premium with Star-tron mixed in. The premium makes a big difference in how my chain saws run, and the Stihl dealer actually recommends what they call Small Engine Fuel ($$$). I don't know if the Star-tron is snake-oil but it's worth what little it cost per tank.

 

[hutchman]

Back when all this E10 stuff got mandated, a large fuel supply company in our area was the only one around that had non-Ethanol gas. All the small engine and marine shops sent their customers there to get gas. One time I showed up and they didn't have it anymore. The story was the Fed had some date that everyone had to switch over to E10 and those that didn't faced a $30/40K (a day if I remember right) fine.

Today (due to an outcry and made them relent a bit) we have lots of places around here to get 87 non-Ethanol and even premium non-Ethanol (always see the Vetts and other high end cars filling up with that). I run E10 in my F-150 but all my small engines get non-Ethanol gas or that fancy engineered 2 cycle fuel.

 

[Buggs67]

Today (due to an outcry and made them relent a bit) we have lots of places around here to get 87 non-Ethanol and even premium non-Ethanol (always see the Vetts and other high end cars filling up with that). I run E10 in my F-150 but all my small engines get non-Ethanol gas or that fancy engineered 2 cycle fuel.

I see from the Puregas.org site that some states have many places with 91 or higher E0. I can't see buying the 1 qt bottles of SEF. Home Depot lists it for $47.60 for an 8 pack ($23.30/gal). OUCH

 

[onelostdogg]

Ethanol has so far cost me a $65 Carb rebuild for my tiller and a $400 rebuild for my MS 460 Magnum saw. No mas. 30 mile drive for ETOH free 91 octane and Startron in every gallon. Will be a long time till I recoup that money.

 

[hutchman]

I see from the Puregas.org site that some states have many places with 91 or higher E0. I can't see buying the 1 qt bottles of SEF. Home Depot lists it for $47.60 for an 8 pack ($23.30/gal). OUCH

I shrugged off using engineered fuel for a long time until I learned more about it and ethanol.
I have some chainsaws that I don't use very frequently and if you want to care of them like you are supposed to ... many recommend you empty out the ethanol based based two cycle fuel (OK, now what am I supposed to do with that) and run a small amount of the engineered fuel to protect the carb etc. ... so I just skip the ethanol gas part altogether.

 

[Will_C]

I was suspicious of the warnings about using ethanol. I always keep fresh , treated gas, and use at least a tank a month in all of my equipment when it is the season to use it. I never had any problems, until I had a Stihl 250 weedeater that refused to idle and then refused to run. $85 for a new carb- moral of the story, I have found a source for ethanol free and use it in everything except my autos and ZTR- I mow a lot and burn 7-8 gallons a week.

The dealership that did the carb replacement told me they replace 2-3 carbs a week-that's more than a 100 a year.

Will

 

[Walt 2002]

As I said way back up the line, I run Stihl, Echo, Lawn Boy, B&S, Kohler and Wisconsin all on 10% ethanol and have for at least 15 years and have never had any problem with any of them and never use an additive nor concern myself with how long I store it, often from one season to another. I am mystified by all these horror stories.

Walt Conner

 

[hutchman]

Ethanol has so far cost me a $65 Carb rebuild for my tiller and a $400 rebuild for my MS 460 Magnum saw. No mas. 30 mile drive for ETOH free 91 octane and Startron in every gallon. Will be a long time till I recoup that money.

Now that I think about it .... Ethanol has been good to me. I've scored several chainsaws for FREE that wouldn't run that a $10 rebuild kit and some love got them going again! Thanks Congress!

Maybe my friends, co-workers and relatives will screw up more to give me

 

[hutchman]

I was suspicious of the warnings about using ethanol. I always keep fresh , treated gas, and use at least a tank a month in all of my equipment when it is the season to use it. I never had any problems, until I had a Stihl 250 weedeater that refused to idle and then refused to run. $85 for a new carb- moral of the story, I have found a source for ethanol free and use it in everything except my autos and ZTR- I mow a lot and burn 7-8 gallons a week.

The dealership that did the carb replacement told me they replace 2-3 carbs a week-that's more than a 100 a year.

Will

I've noticed a similar thing in two weed eaters. Starts easy, runs good at first until it warms up (maybe 10-15 min) then it wants to bog down when you give it throttle and will stall and then is hard to restart ... but after a few choke cycles and lots of pulling it will eventually run and be OK.

I don't get too upset when the weed eater acts up ... I just tell the wife I can't mow.

Now chainsaws are a different story ... they are like sports cars ... a man takes pride in how well the run!

 

[hutchman]

As I said way back up the line, I run Stihl, Echo, Lawn Boy, B&S, Kohler and Wisconsin all on 10% ethanol and have for at least 15 years and have never had any problem with any of them and never use an additive nor concern myself with how long I store it, often from one season to another. I am mystified by all these horror stories.

Walt Conner

Dude, you could make money picking out lottery numbers!