Cheese and all of the other regulars on this awesome site from days gone by; First, I hope everyone is doing well! Forgive me if this is a dead horse issue here on this site; I haven't been on in quite some time but I don't have the time to search out the issue.

Secondly, I'm updating my train of thought on ethanol fuels and, more importantly, what everyone uses and/or recommends to use as a treatment-additive. Since 2009 our shop has been recommending, using, and selling Sta-Bil Marine Formula. Personally, I've been using it too since that time in my boat, snowmobiles, motorcycles (two- and four-strokers), riding & walk-behind mowers, and handheld equipment (all two-stroke) with no appreciable problems with respect to ethanol related corrosion. My opinion is that if you use the product at each and every fill-up, you will have no issues. However, many of our customers continue to come in with clear ethanol-corrosion issues with their fuel systems. Whether it's their fault in not following my directions on usage, or they have bad luck, I'm not sure. Since 2009 we here in my part of the country (northeast) and state (upstate, central New York) we have only E-10 to contend with. If and when we are forced to purchase E-15, or higher, I'm very concerned as to the effectiveness of the Marine Formula at the current dosage and if increasing the dosage - respective to the increase in percentage of additional ethanol content - will continue to be as effective as I believe it to be now, with the E-10.

Please weigh in on your fuel type usage, treatment-additive usage & recommendations as well as pros and cons of all treatment-additives that you are intimately familiar with. In other words, I'd like first-hand accounts, not hearsay. I've had two distributor reps from different companies trying to sell me on the B3C Fuel products - "Mechanic In A Bottle" and "Ethanol Shield"; if you are familiar with these let me know what your opinions are. Also, another product called "Fuel Medic" is a name that pops up in conversations occasionally; fill me in on this too, for those of you familiar with this.

Thanks much,
Rick

 

I don't know about the additives, or whether they work as described. I DO know that if you put a pint of gasoline containing ethanol in a jar and seal it up, within a week or so, a slime will grow on the bottom of the jug.....ethanol. We don't add things, we just are forced to buy higher priced ethanol free fuel. On my chain saw, Poulan, the gas cap began being harder and harder to remove. I finally forced the cap off and went to the parts house, where he showed me the sample of ethanol in a jar. Totally disgusting. It will cause plastic parts to swell and gas lines to deteriorate rapidly.

I hope others can chime in with additive information for you.

 

I normally use 10% ethanol in my walk behind mower and haven't had any problems but I rarely put it up with much gas in it. I always make a point to buy pure gas for the rest of my small engines! My last Sthil chainsaw died prematurely and having used 10% ethanol in it is the only reason we can come up with. Other than adding StaBil to the last tank of gas for the year, I never use any of the additives.

Hopefully the 15% ethanol never takes hold but if it does, I hope the few gas stations that still sell ethanol free gas stay in business!

 

Hello Puey! Doing great, thanks. Hope you are as well.

I can't tell you much about the additives or which works best, etc... We have several stations around here that sell non-ethanol gas and I recommend that to my customers. I personally hate the ethanol stuff. It's a hoax anyway... produces more pollution than it saves. I have a feeling it may not last.

 

I've always thought the problems with ethanol gas has to do with the source of production and the bio stuff added to the gasoline. In Iowa what I have experience with = no problems at all and I put it in everything. It's usually a few cents cheaper per gallon and carries a higher octane rating. The latter recently changed, though and dropped from 89 to 87, so I may rethink using it.

The bio diesel was the big headache the first winter we saw it. Everything plugged up with the cold weather and the animal fat that separated from it was gross at best. In the years that followed those problem cleaned up. It may have been from additives or a different processing.

The ethanol industry isn't built on pollution control, from my understanding of it, but rather renewable resources. It is simply a way to burn renewable plant/animal matter in an internal combustion engine. The big promo was a way to get rid of our reliance on middle east oil.

 

Since it costs more to make ethanol than it is worth, I think someone failed in their economics class in the government. Here, biodiesel is used quite a bit, but we find that you must use a manual switch between your biodiesel tank and a regular diesel tank, switching to regular diesel as you bring the engine to a halt. You start and end on regular diesel and switch to biodiesel as it warms up. Now, this is on home made bio, not the stuff Marksr is used to in Knoxville, etc. You can buy the stuff at pumps up there. Down here, it's like moonshine....distilled in a garage. Drive behind a truck running biodiesel and it smells like McDonalds fries

 

They put everything in it. Think of what you get with a grease fire on a stove. It the same think shoved into an engine. Multi fuel bio is part pig, part cow, part corn.

 

Farm substities are alive and well in the good old USA the gentlemen corn and wheat farmers are smiling all the way to the banks, and the IRS. And Don't
forget all their friends in congress.
Have an ethanol free day.
Sid

 

I appreciate the biodiesel issues but I'm more interested in ethanol gasolines and, more importantly, your knowledge of treatment additives. I was at a snowmobile show this weekend and another product was being hawked, K100. Anyone know anything about this and my aforementioned other products?