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You know what your talking about. Starting these rumors is just crap right now. 2 cycle motors have been problems for years without any ethanol in the fuel. If you leave ANY fuel in the carb, you get varnish. The oil in gas isn't affected by the ethanol in the fuel, works fine. If you run ANY 2 cycle too lean, you burn it up.

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.

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.

I have similar experience and fully agree with your comments. My old clear fuel filters had lots of black gunk in them, before anyone thought about blending ethanol. Sunlight on untreated fuel is the culprit.

Once I started using fuel stabilizers in the two stroke motorcycles and boat outboards full time the gunk went away, ethanol or not. I have doubled the dose now which is the same idea in the more concentrated "Stabil Marine". Pri-G works also and possibly SeaFoam.

Only nagging concerns I have are certain diaphragms. But I would be very surprised if the "up-to-E10" blends our state currently uses would be deleterious to the diaphragms, especially with part-time contact. No fiberglass fuel tanks or cork floats here to worry about.

I am going to cut out a short section of the oldest fuel line I have and leave it sitting in an ethanol blend all winter just to see what happens (I don't expect much). It is easy to verify you have an ethanol blend with a water absorption test.