Detrimental effects of using 10% ethanol gasoline in small engines.
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jhwentworth
Active Member
Nothing, if the equipment was built in the past 20 years. If you had a new 1995 mower you could use E10 fuel without problems, but your 1995 probably has many hours of use. Over the course of years using non ethanol fuel a lot of junk has been deposited in the fuel tank, fuel lines, and carb. Alcohol is an excellent solvent, and cleans the deposits. Those deposits then travel to the carb where they plug things up.
E10 also requires better care when being stored as it will absorb water readily, either liquid water or water vapor in the air. Once the alcohol in the fuel is saturated with water the alcohol/water mixture will separate from the gasoline and settle to the bottom. If that happens in the equipment fuel tank the fuel pickup will draw the alcohol/water mixture and the engine will not run. If it happens in your 5-gallon can you will get straight gas when you pour from the top, but the gasoline will be low octane as the gasoline relies on the alcohol to boost octane to its rated level. If you continue pouring to the bottom you'll get the alcohol/water mixture.
I guess the best advice I can offer is if you are just converting to E10 you might want to flush the fuel tank and replace the fuel lines and fuel filter. Store fuel in a dry location in a non-vented container. Worst case is a place with a lot of water available, either liquid or vapor, that experiences significant temperature swings, in a container that allows air access to the fuel. My personal favorite is seeing people storing gas in non-air-tight cans under the eaves of their garage. When it rains .................
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BKBrown
Lawn Addict
Just FYI -- Sta-Bil makes a "marine grade" product that is better for gas that contains ethanol. The Older engines were not designed with parts (gaskets etc.) that could take the ethanol. The newer engines are designed to take this fuel. Some of this post may be a repeat of what others have already said.
jhwentworth
Active Member
There's been a federal mandate that engines must run on 10% ethanol fuel since the early 1980's. A major driver for this requirement was pollution reduction, but another was the gas lines of the late 1970's. Back then the stuff was called gasohol. When the switch to gasohol occurred there were major problems in the boating industry and in small engines. Some inboard and I/O powered boats used fiberglass fuel tanks, and the alcohol caused the fiberglass tanks to fail. Aluminum tanks were also at risk for leaks. The gasohol also destroyed the fuel lines in use at the time. Leaking tanks and fuel lines in a gas-powered boat were just about a worst-case scenario, so the Coast Guard required that tank and lines be able to handle alcohol.
All this stuff happened back in the 1980's, and here we are in 2010 still fighting the same battle, probably because we dropped ethanol for MTBE for about 15 years.
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jhwentworth
Active Member
I've also read, and heard, about the marine grade Stabil and another product called StarTron. Some people swear by these products, but it's tough to find unbiased test results on them. StarTron claims to stabilize fuel for up to 2 years, cure ethanol problems, make the engine run smoothly, rejuvenate old fuel, improve fuel economy, and remove water. Plus more! They say they use an enzyme that alters the molecular structure of gasoline; beats me.
Here's a response from a StarTron VP to a complaint by a poster on a boating site:
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I consider this to be a good example of overselling the benefits of a product.
All these products attempt to deal with excessive water in fuel by mixing it with the gasoline and running it through the motor. At some point, the amount of water being burned with the fuel will exceed the limit that the engine can safely handle. I would rather have my motor fail to start than to suffer severe damage. There's nothing being sold to consumers that will safely "remove water from gasoline", and once the water/alcohol mix has separated from the gasoline there's not much you're going to do about it except drain the tank. Products that make the claim that they will "fix" separated fuel often contain large amounts of alcohol, much like dry gas. Many fuel treatment products contain alcohol, which you may not want to add to the existing 10% ethanol already in the fuel. I use Seafoam, which is one of these. The primary ingredient in most treatment products is a form of petroleum distillates, commonly naphtha. Stabil and StarTron both use naphtha, while Stabil Marine uses a different petroleum distillate.
Best shot: Read the product label and remain skeptical.