Posted on 08/01/2008 7:45:45 AM PDT by tobyhill
Rick Kitchings has been a small-engine mechanic for about 30 years, and he’s been busier than ever lately.
Recently, a customer came into his shop in Savannah, Ga., with a string trimmer that had barely been used. “It looked like it just came off the showroom floor, but the motor was absolutely shot, absolutely worn out,” Kitchings said.
The owner had fueled the trimmer with an gasoline-ethanol blend, which is becoming increasingly common thanks to a federal mandate to convert to biofuels.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I took my wife’s car in for servicing and my mechanic showed me a car that was brought in because the gas could not get into the tank. Then he showed me why. Ethanol had hardened into huge chunks and blocked the gas tank.
I’m so glad we don’t have ethanol blends in Alaska!
Started recently getting “up to 10%” ethanol here in Orlando. My 1998 Park Avenue went from 27hwy down to 24 on a 160 mile per day commute.
Hardened ethanol? Just how cold is it where you live?
alternately, where were they made?
I have found many small home appliances/mechanicals have been moved to manufacturing in China over the last several years, and even brands with trusted quality are selling junk now that breaks within a year, or never works right from the start.
I dread buying a new washer/dryer/frig.
Ethanol Fraud BTTT
Shhhh! Using more fuel means more trips to the pump, more fed gas taxes collected.
I now notice that the first thing any of the local mechanics do when a customer comes in is smell the gas - so it must be hurting injectors as well.
And, the second biggest scare in this thing is that you can't store gasoline anymore - it's gone away in less than thirty days.
Since we are on the subject - does anyone know if the various fuel stabilizers work with this new stuff. If so, which ones?
(When you have three '50s vehicles retrofitting to fuel injection is not a real viable alternative .)
non-oxygenated gas and a little Seafoam and your 2 stroke should run a lot better and longer.
Whatever you do, keep the tank full at all times; when you finish using the machine fill the tank as soon as it is cool.
Air space in a partally full tank allows for air to enter which will be hotter than nighttime air and cause condensation forming water and evenyually acid formation. Prolonged periods of nonuse with very small amounts of fuel then allows for gum and varnish formation plugging orifices and causing sticking of vanes and butterfly valves.
Worse, in about three years of misuse the deteriorating fuel will ‘eat’ the plastic fuel lines and create major headaches.
The mechanic said the ethanol dissipates the oil when he meant disperses but there is a difference in miscibility, synthetic oils is a stopgap cure.
Having said all this, I don't know if E10 would hurt a fuel line. All I know is most plastic fuel lines should be replaced ever couple of years anyway. Just feel them and see if they are getting stiff and discolored. The gunk in the carbs and screens comes from old gas no matter what blend it is. I'm 57 and it's been this way all my life.
Most people put their mowers and weedeaters up for the winter and have to have them serviced or replace them next year because the old gas made gunk in the carb. It has nothing to do with ethanol. Some of the other "stuff" is dirt, grass clippings, or sawdust. Particles in gas doesn't have to be some government conspiracy to foul your lawn equipment. Always run the gas out of your carb when you won't be using it for a few months. If you lean out a 2 cycle and run at full throttle, you WILL burn a piston. Plastic fuel lines do get stiff and crack, period. It's built in obsolescence.
Other brands of gas don’t totally destroy carbs bur Arco does.
On small oe stationary engines if they are going to sit for more than a couple of weeks, drain the gas out of them.
ARCO also gets much poorer milage than other brands.
Just last week a guy had 2 motorcycles stored at a friends house for about a month and he couldn’t get them to start.
We drained the gas out of them, put in fresh gas and they started right up.
Buy another one; and another, etc.! WTF!
Good for the economy, huh?
Henry Ford would sh1t his pants seeing the bs that goes on now.
There was a time when American made products were made for their excellence, long lasting, and ability of owners to maintain the product themselves.
No more! The idea is for repeat sales and high repeat cost service. And w/BigBro sticking his nose into the affairs of we the people, now wonder everything from A-Z is screwed up.
Keep voting and supporting those Kings and sub-kings, folks!
Semper Fidelis
Dick Gaines
~~~~~
“But hey, lets shovel more corn and plant waste into our tanks.”
Humans don’t digest corn why would anyone think that an engine would?
Neither do trout, it plugs up their poop shoot and they die!
Thanks. I sold Lawnboy mowers and consumer John Deere too.
“I don’t know if E10 would hurt a fuel line”
Me either, but the only real problems I recall were from wood alcohol/methanol. I hold ethanol `suspect’ but there are enough other good reasons to not use corn for fuel.
By the way, I’ve used Stabil brand when I stored an engine for a while with fuel in the tank and it seemed to work, but like you, for long-term storage—suck the gas out with a siphon (for the snowblower) then run the engine until it quits.
If it didn’t start, first thing I’d do is pull the plug and make sure it’s not `bridged’ with carbon. (Actually, first step is see if it has fuel!) Next, check `spark’ by holding the plug (carefully, by the rubber wire) in a shady spot and pull the cord to see if a spark jumps from the terminal. Usually the problem is fuel, esp. with solid state ignitions. I don’t miss condensors and points, esp., at all! I expect you know these things. They might be helpful to others & younger freepers.
Also one of the biggest problem with high performance outboards is a low grade of gasoline. What burns fine in a car can destroy an outboard motor. I have an Evinrude 115 in my shop right now with 3 burnt piston, looks like somebody took a hammer and chissel to the top of the piston, but, in this instance it appears to be old gas in the tank that has lost its octane.
Personally I drive a 1965 Chevy PU with almost 1,400,000 miles on it.
The last engine rebuild/swap I put a late TBI 350/400R trans, threw away the computer trash and TBI, put my old 2 barrel and point ignition on it and even though with 2 cross boxes and 2 side boxes filled with tools it weighs 5,000# empty I get 15 mpg with the crap gas we have here in So. Calif.
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