ethanol

Contrary to popular, misguided opinion, Ethanol has never destroyed an engine. Just run it and you will be fine.

Turning off the gas and running it out when you park the car is a good idea.
 
I average a drive twice a month all year . I use MMO in the gas, the only problem I've had is the cork float. Replaced with a neoprene.
The lawn mower, I use reg stabil, again, no problems.
 
Like Purdy, I too have nothing but problems with this crap! It rendered three fuel pumps in my 95 e250 inoperable, have had to replace front and rear fuel pumps and two tank switching valves in my 87 f150, which just last week lost the rear pump again. All my gas small engines have had fuel lines very brittle and break looking at them. Played hell on my 93 softail fuel system. Closest real gas to me is in West Virginia, not feasible to use. If you haven't been lucky enough to find fault with this vial mix, wait till you get the e15 it'll be twice as bad.
 
After boating experience in FL, I have always used seafoam for all my small engines and in my Roadster. I use one oz. per gallon faithfully. I only drive about once or twice a month and I know that not using anything would be a real problem. You should see what it did to the gas tank and motor on a 15 year old boat!!!
 
Purdy Swoft said:
Just another example of what little you actually know about anything.
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That was harsh. He said that Ethanol had never destroyed an engine. He did not say anything about components and such.

If you have evidence of documented engine destruction then please share them, but, lets keep things as Gentlemen.
 
Yeah, Not really that harsh. As for documentation, I just see experirence on the one hand and opinion on the other. This is about the best way that I can put it.
 
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Everything Purdy and Steve W. said about ethanol crap gas has also happened to me.

Back in the 80's I first used it in my 1949 Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck that I rarely use. It Made the valves stick and it rotted the fuel hose on the gas tank, which is in back of the seat. I lost a full tank of gas.

Sure would be nice to have some intelligence in Washington and get rid of that junk.

Two guys bought flex fuel cars or trucks and used E-85 thinking they were doing a good thing. Both guys had to have the engine rebuilt at only 65,000 miles. My friend tried one tank of E-85 in his flex fuel and said the loss of power and gas mileage was so bad that he actually paid more for the fuel used per mile.
 
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I have been building and running old cars for decades. I have never once, not a single time, had any engine or component fail due to ethanol. I know some of the pre-1980's cars did have some rubber lines go bad and ethanol was the likely suspect, but not confirmed. But this did not ruin the engine.

I have also seen a sunken float a time or two. However, again, Ethanol was the suspect but not confirmed.

Purdy - my comment was not a snipe at you. It is a commonly held misconception that Ethanol will ruin your engine. This is simply not the case. It will cause your engine to run a little lean and if you don't do maintenance like cleaning, examining, and gapping your plugs, you could in time burn a valve or a hole in the top of a piston. This is not the Ethanol's fault, it is the owner's for not doing their maintenance properly.

Now, that being said, I would love it if we could get real gas back again and get rid of the watered down crap we have to run these days.
 
Purdy Swoft - Maybe I don't know anything. That is a possibility. Especially after wrenching on cars for over 30 years and having built about a hundred-thousand horsepower worth of engines of many sizes, makes, and types.

One thing I do know, being rude to another forum member only makes you look bad. I had hoped for better from someone from the mostly respectful and polite south...
 
Yeah right. I've had nothing but trouble with ethanol fuel. We try to be polite,but stand our ground.
 
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If you really want to remove the ethanol, there's a fairly simple way and it doesn't require buying hi-test. It takes advantage of ethanol's affinity to water:

Get a six or larger gallon can but only fill it with 5 gallons. Compute the gallons of ethanol in the gas (0.5 gal for 10%, 0.75 for 15%). Measure & add that amount of CLEAN water. Cap the can & shake vigorously. Let stand for several hours. The water will mix with the ethanol and separate, then the lighter gas will float above it. Carefully decant the gas thru a chamois or similar water-blocking filter.

The only problem is that you will end up with slightly lower octane fuel than you started with, in addition to having paid for 5 gallons but only ending up with 4+ usable. This means that if you pay $3.85 per gallon it really cost you at least $4.28. It might be cheaper to just buy the "real" stuff if it's available.

By the way, a carburetor rebuild guy told me that the worst problem with gasohol is that the ethanol prevents it from atomizing properly, and thus you don't get as fine a mixture. I don't claim to know the validity of this myself. I do know that my old engines don't seem to run as well on gasohol.
 
I've had bad luck (I suspect) with ethenol here in Florida. '30 Tudor kept shutting off and after sitting for 2-3 minutes it would start up and run for 5-10 minutes. Suspected vapor lock, etc and finally found the Model A supplier non-leather gas cap gasket had swelled due to the ethenol and was causing a vacuum in the tank. Replaced it with leather and no more problems. The gasket had been in the cap prior to FL getting ethenol and had never given any problem.As there isn't much else in the way of rubber in the fuel system that's all I've experienced.
 
Funny I should see gas caps mentioned here. My gas cap locks up on my coupe. I Almost need channel locks to get it off. I never thought that the gas had anything to do it. No stalling or anything, but it really locks up and I've always wondered why. Terry
 
ethanol has messed up many of my machines, chainsaw like Terry-powerwasher, lawnmowers, and cars........ I consider it a big mess.

Ran "old" gas that had sat for years and never had a problem

thx to "modern technology".
 
Terry said:
About5-6 years ago, I had to replace the "Rubber" fuel line in my Stihl chainsaw. They told me it came from putting the saw away with gas in the tank. I've often wondered if it was the Ethanol in the gas. Anyone know?
Terry
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I used to have a Stihl Dealership. The gas/oil mixture goes stale pretty quickly. A two stroke Engine should never be store with mixture in it, Either drain it and run it dry, or put a little Sta-Bil in it for storage.

The mixture can and will turn fuel lines into mush. This happened before ethanol was used but is more prevalent now.
 
You guys that start going after each other for sharing your OPINIONS then the whole post will be deleted.

The ones that are sniping at each other can figure out who you are and know what you are risking.

If you have difference of opinions than take it to a private message and leave the other posters to sharing the information.

Let's "try harder" to keep it civil.

Thanks fellas.
 
I have three leaf blowers, three chain saws, five string trimmers, and four push mowers. All are 2 cycle engines. I run Stabil in my fuel mix all year long, 2 ounces of stabil to 5 gallons of fuel. I do not drain the fuel or run the carburetors dry. 2 of the push mowers are 40 plus years old, and Lawnboys. I have had no problems with any of my equipment. My one string trimmer is a Home lite ST275 bought new in 1994. It still has the original spark plug and has had no fuel related problems. I also use a synthetic 2 cycle oil in all my gas mix. Maybe I'm just lucky.
 
Huddy I did that with a quart glass container to see exactly how much ethanol was in my Tucson Shell gas. You can really see the gasoline floating above the "water" and with a suction tool pulled the gas out leaving water only. I could not ignite it with a match. Ethanol content was precisely 8%.
 
tdlmomowers said:
I have three leaf blowers, three chain saws, five string trimmers, and four push mowers. All are 2 cycle engines. I run Stabil in my fuel mix all year long, 2 ounces of stabil to 5 gallons of fuel. I do not drain the fuel or run the carburetors dry. 2 of the push mowers are 40 plus years old, and Lawnboys. I have had no problems with any of my equipment. My one string trimmer is a Home lite ST275 bought new in 1994. It still has the original spark plug and has had no fuel related problems. I also use a synthetic 2 cycle oil in all my gas mix. Maybe I'm just lucky.
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same, the only thing i have noticed is our 72 mongomery ward outboard 2 cycle engien LOVES regular non ethonal gas, will run on e10 decently well still tho.
 
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