Ethanol fuel...

While im no fan of ethanol, I believe its ill effects are commonly exaggerated. Due to the rona we didnt do much fishing this year, the boat has been sitting in the shop since probably june or july with ethanol fuel in it. We were thinking about getting ready for white bass and spring fishing so pulled it out this weekend and gave it a whirl. Started on the first crank and idled smooth as could be. Its a suzuki four stroke and was left with fuel in it.

Wow, that’s lucky! Last boat I had the injector pump got clogged up and cost 1k for repair. Had all the fuel additives in a full tank, but got out of the habit of starting it once a month. Sat up for a year.

I have a friend who is an automotive engineer for BMW. Asked him about it, and he said it hasn't been an issue since the 80's. The automotive industry uses 90% of it and they changed from pure rubber hoses, and susceptible rings and seals way back then. Said small market, low cost stuff like mowers, blowers, and saws still have issues because they don't get a lot of use, and sit for periods of time. We still have lots of performance toys here in the West like dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and all the UTV's that recommend ethanol-free premium, but they will run fine on 87 octane and up. You can always use the aftermarket additives like Stabil too.

Its pretty normal for me. I had to move my riding mower to get the boa out. Its been sitting since october, it also fired right up. There is a chance the boat has some seafoam in the gas although i doubt it. The mower i know is straight regular unleaded with ethanol.

You talking about E90 or E85? E85 is what causes the problems.

Regular unleaded, I believe its called E10 or similar for no more than 10% ethanol, but think it may have been bumped to 15% now. Pretty sure all the folks that claim it wrecks boats lawn mowers chain saws and weed eaters are not using E85.

Perhaps the best advice you can get, or give to friends, is to keep your tank as full as possible. If you do that, then it will minimize any moisture absorption from the air, minimize the "breathing" effect of having a large empty volume in the tank, and reduce the amount of condensation and rusting on the insides of the tank. If you have problems with clogging, first run some of the carburetor cleaners thru it, then change brands of gasoline. The change is because each brand advertises their "additives" that work so much better than the other guys. Some of those may be coming out of solution.

My SxS, chain saw, lawn mower, bass boat and weed eater are all too young to drink corn whiskey.

E85 is worse on equipment than E90. I was in the fuel distribution business for 29 years and we sold E90.

Regular unleaded worked fine for me.

Lucky here in Graham we have non ethanol and that's all I run in the boat, SxS, chain saw, etc.

I run non Ethanol in everything now, it’s way more expensive but my stuff has never ran better. Corn Whiskey gas sucks plain and simple, the idiot that dreamed that mess up should have been shot on site for even saying it out loud.

I think you have the numbers backwards. E10 or E15 is regular unleaded now adays and is 10-15% ethanol. E 85 is 85% ethanol and is commonly sold at a little lower price and isnt compatible with all vehicles. E90 as i understand it is more or less race fuel and not found at common gas stations.

I run regular unleaded and every 5 gallon can gets treated with Stabil 360 before the gas goes in.
Once I switched from regular Stabil which I had been using for years to Stabil 360, all of my problems went away.
I run this in Mules, ATVs, lawn mowers, pressure washers, log splitter, 4stroke weed eaters, etc.

In my chainsaws and other small two-smokes (race bikes not included), I use the premix from big box stores.

We do run one of our stock motor SBC race cars on Bucces alcohol free gas with Stabil 360 added - and finished 3rd overall in class with it.
We take a 55 gallon drum and fill it and the drum usually lasts the racing season.
3 bux a gallon vs 7-9 for race gas.
The other car runs pure Methanol - if you think 10 percent alcohol is fun, you should try pure Methanol - but DAYM, it makes power and runs cool!

At one time GM published performance numbers separately for regular unleaded and E85... the gains from E85 in the performance department were pretty staggering! Of course mileage went down though.

i put star tron in the 5 gallon can that we fuel the mule up with. and pre mix from TSC for 2 strokes.

try saying that on a small engine repair forum i'm on, you'll get strung up, tarred and feathered. "the ethanol keeps their businesses afloat"
which ain't a bad thing, but it's headaches and more $$$ for the user when his equipment won't start when he needs it.

I use the pre mixed in chain saw and weed eater and never a problem. 4 wheeler gets non ethanol and lawn mower and boat. No problems as of yet .

E 10 is 10% ethanol, 90% gas.
E 15 is a blend that can be anywhere between 10.5% ~ 15 % ethanol with 89.5% ~ 85% gas.
E 85 is a blend that can be anywhere between 51% ~ 83% ethanol with 49% ~ 17% gas.

---> US DOE afdc

And a good hamburger too!

And E 10 is generally sold as regular unleaded everywhere i have been. Few places in my area sell non ethanol fuel, none that are any kind of convenient or close to me.

Not yet but it's coming. Sorry you are talking bout the hamburgers at Thriftway and you would be right. Made to order

We have several sources of NON-ETHANOL fuel in our area, 3 to be exact that I know of.

https://www.pure-gas.org/extensions/maps.jsp

Surprising, there are a lot more stations listed on there than there used to be. Although a few years back i checked the closest one it showed for my area and it didnt in fact have ethanol free gas. Currently the closest one listed is about 15 miles out of my way.

only 2 places around me within 20 miles, on the lake and one by cleveland, just easier to drive to O'rielly or tractor supply 5 miles away and get some and Star tron.

I run non ethanol fuel in my chainsaw, sawmill and four wheeler. I get it at Lake Tawakoni at Dan's.

I keep three racing fuel jugs in the bed of my truck in a rack. Whenever I am going by our two local fuel stop that carries non-ethanol I fill ‘em up. Run my Honda Pioneer on it and my mower.

Kinda hard to do that on boat with a 95 gallon tank. I used ethanol free in it for a while but with the Mercury Optimax it does fine on regular 10% ethanol. On my 2 cycles I use ethanol free. The problem with ethanol is the aquarium lines (that is what my boat mechanic called them). Ethanol causes them to get hard. I have found that even the ones that are rated for ethanol get hard. Ethanol is commonly used to boost octane so ethanol free gas is normally 87. That has been my experience with it. I do not worry too much about ethanol these days as long as fuel lines are rated for it.

Tygon fuel line is a lot more resistant to Ethanol.

Buccee's has non ethanol

The new QT by my house has non-ethanol. No more fighting the Walmart loons.

I saw that this weekend myself when I stopped at a QT for the first time. My gas powered appliances, the Toyo & the Scrambler will be getting nothing else.

Mine does fine on regular unleaded.

we got a QT in our area about a year and a half ago, to which I have been buying ethanol free gas (90 octane I believe) for all our gas powered lawn equipment (mowers, weed eaters, blowers, chain saws, pressure washer, generator, etc.) and our wake boat. Prior to switching, I was continually having to jack with, clean or replace carburetors almost annually. I haven't had to touch one piece of equipment since switching in that regard and all normally fire right up after sitting for long period of time between usage. From here on out, I will only use the ethanol free gas in anything gas powered other than our vehicles which get used regularly enough to not have issues.