?? About octane for mowers and chain saw

[goeduck]

I realize that motor was an exception, and I've never treated any of my other equipment that way.

Better be careful or someone will turn you into EPS, Engine Protective Services. :whistleblower::whistleblower:

 

[bigtiller]

Moss.... I may have had that same Craftsman mower. It was blue with chrome handles, It had no choke or throttle. The manual said if it didn't start in 7 pulls of the rope, it was broke, take it to a mechanic.

 

[MossRoad]

Mine was silver. Rear bagger.

 

[Gary Fowler]

E10 is not really the cause of all small engine problems AND bad breath like what gets repeated on the internet. When it was introduced it did cause some fuel system problems in vehicles whose fuel systems were not designed for ethanol. But that was a long time ago (1980s here). All modern carbs, fuel lines etc. handle E10 just fine. Ethanol does make the mixture leaner (it takes about twice as much ethanol per unit of air to reach stoichiometric ratio as it does with gas). But that just means slightly larger carburetor jets, or a slight change to the adjustment on a saw's carb. Ethanol doesn't make gas go stale appreciably faster; pump gas has always gone stale in a few months, even before ethanol.

We can't get E0 for a reasonable price here. I've done fine with E10 in all my gas equipment. The secret is to use a good fuel stabilizer and run the gas out of the carb if its going to be sitting for a while. The generator doesn't get run for seven or eight months over the summer yet it starts up first pull every winter. I run the carb dry after every use. It's still on the original fuel lines after 20 years. If a saw is going to sit for a while I drain the tank and run the carb dry. Aircraft "low" lead has a lot more lead than old leaded pump gas. Sometimes it's so much it causes plug fouling on two strokes.

I agree with everything except the part where ethanol doesn't make the gas go stale faster. Before ethanol, we could store gasoline for months (500 gallon storage tank for the cars) and it wouldn't go stale. Today, I can see the gasoline change color from clear to brown in just a few weeks. Store it over the winter and it will hardly burn when a match is put to it. I had forgotten to put Stabil in on of my mower tanks and left the fuel over winter. I had to remove the tank, pour out the gas on my driveway (about a gallon) and burn it off. I used several matches trying to fire it up and finally had to get my propane torch to heat it up enough to start it burning. Once it started burning, it put off the thickest black smoke I have ever seen with gas or diesel.

For winter storage, I double dose my gas tanks with Stabil 360 in my equipment when I cant run the tanks dry. It keeps the gas from going bad for at least 3-4 months.

 

[Jstpssng]

In pre-ethanol days I had an old John Deere snowblower with a tough old B&S engine. Somehow I had some year-old gas I had drained out of my snowsled into a coke bottle. (Yeah, real safe ) It was setting outside on the top of the trash can, with a huge ice chunk in the middle when the JD ran out of fuel. I poured that stale gas into the tank and managed to finish my driveway. It didn't LIKE it, but it burned it.

 

[buickanddeere]

I've told this story before, but its worth telling again... when my wife and I got married, our in-laws bought us a lawnmower. A 2.5hp Craftsman with a Briggs engine. While I appreciated it, I really wanted to pick out my own mower. I didn't like it all that much, and being young and stupid, I didn't treat it very well. I kinda hoped I'd kill it so I could by one myself that I liked. So... I never changed the oil. I never drained the gas over the winter. All I'd do is top off the oil the first of spring, add gas only when it ran out, tap out the air cleaner if I could see grass sticking out of it, and that's about it. Well.... that stupid lawnmower would start first pull every spring with last year's gas. And first pull every time throughout the summer. In fact, after about 10 years of this, it became a family ritual to see if the lawnmower would start first pull each spring. It did.... FOR 22 YEARS! The wheels were falling off, the height adjusters were broken so I drilled self tappers through them into the side of the mounts. The deck finally cracked, and I knew it was the end. But I couldn't bear to junk the motor. So I removed the motor from the deck, and it now sits in a place of honor (the corner of the do not throw away skid) in my shed, waiting for a worthy project.

22 years of never an oil change, E10 87 octane gas, original air cleaner, original spark plug, never had the gas drained. Left gas at whatever level it was at all winter.... started first pull every time.

I realize that motor was an exception, and I've never treated any of my other equipment that way.

My first mower was the same faithful Briggs . It was a surprise find , found under a pile of junk while cleaning up after an estate auction. Used it for 12 years before the wife threw it out on me . Bought a new POS Tecumseh that would not start unless the primer bulb was pushed 40times. Or the mower was stood on its Nose until gas ran from the carb. Totally gutless in long grass .

 

[MossRoad]

In pre-ethanol days I had an old John Deere snowblower with a tough old B&S engine. Somehow I had some year-old gas I had drained out of my snowsled into a coke bottle. (Yeah, real safe ) It was setting outside on the top of the trash can, with a huge ice chunk in the middle when the JD ran out of fuel. I poured that stale gas into the tank and managed to finish my driveway. It didn't LIKE it, but it burned it.

I know some people that have found alcohol bottles like that and drank it... they didn't like it either, and it burned, too.

 

[Jstpssng]

I know some people that have found alcohol bottles like that and drank it... they didn't like it either, and it burned, too.

My HS friend's mother used to have a big unopened bottle of Coke with a moth in the bottom which she liked to show people. One day she took it out and the moth had disintegrated, so she put it out in the trash, on the top of the barrel. When the trash truck came she watched him carefully take the bottle out and put it in the cab of the truck. He probably never knew that he was drinking a moth.