The gas..we are using

[Rodney Bullock]

I was taking to a small engine repair man today after he started my chain saw. I must be weak as he pulled the thing one time and it started for him. My concern was did I mix the oil and gas correctly. He has had my generator for about 6 months while he locates a carb for it.

It seems the gas we are using contains 10% ethenol. This additve is slowly destorying rubber in our cars. If you leave yor car in the garage you must use the new Stabul. I say new because we must look at the bottle and it will say for "ethenol" I am very disturbed by this new trend. We have to get ZDDP for our oil and now protect our fuel parts as well. I see a real problem coming down the pike. If these things can hurt the old cars how can new comers deal with it. I have been using a guy to rebuld my carbs and fuel pump to combat this, has anyone seen the inside of a holly carb after it has sat for a couple of months with this gas in it. it looks like it's been in a fire. As for your small engines he told me to allow the machine to run out of gas and put it up that way for the winter months.

[JIPJOBXX]

I also have had problems with my lawn mower and I took it down to be serviced and mechanic asked me what kind of gas I was using? And then he mentioned all the problems he has had to fix because of this corn gas.

[55 Fargo]

I have not had any problems with my lawn mower, tiller, snow blower, weed wacker, chainsaw, dirt bikes, 47 Chrysler, by using ethanol 10% regular gasoline.

My lawn tractotr is acting up, with its' 16.5 hp Honda engine, but I think I need a coil.

Having said all of that, the 2 stroke oil I use has fuel stabilizer in it, my lawn mower, is bullet proof. I do have shut off valves, and keep the carbs dry on the snow blower and tiller, but also use stabil in there.

I have not had problems with the 47, as she is started and run often.

I have 3 dirt bikes, , I am thinking of using premium in all of the small engine stuff, Manitoba has no ehtanol in #1 gas.

As far ZDDP, there are plenty of oils with this additive, I am currently using Shell Rotella T 15W40 1200 PPM of ZDDP, many other heavy dut or Motorcycle oils have plenty of zinc.

A lot of folks use regular motor oil, with the quality of metal, and the low rpm, our engines should be fine.....

[TodFitch]

Last I checked, which was a long time ago because I'm lazy and been paying the "mow, blow and go" guys to come once a week, my lawn mower starts up on the first try. Just plug the extension cord in and squeeze the switch on the handle.

I think the newer ones have large batteries so you don't have to worry about mowing the extension cord.

As for the old Plymouth, I use oil with far more ZDDP in it than the car saw brand new. I get it at the local auto supply. Their cheapest store brand multi-weight. Why spend more?

With respect to gas, I did rebuild the fuel system with modern rubber components. Modern for 10 to 15 years ago that is. So far, knock on wood, no noticeable deterioration of the components yet. Just a little tendency to vapor lock after driving at freeway speeds in 95+F for long periods of time. And I did not drive the car too much last winter, so it went over 7 months on one tank of gas with no drivability issues even without using Stabil.

I think a lot of the hype about needing gas or oil additives is just an attempt to separate a bunch of people from their money.

One item on the list of things people worry about on old cars is the use of radial tires on older wheels. Will split the rim some people say. This was an interesting read on that topic: http://www.dbtires.com/rimstress.html Of course, they are in the business of selling radials so they may be a little biased.

[yourpc48]

Of course, they are in the business of selling radials so they may be a little biased.

Ha Ha Ha. Too Funny!

Im not saying I should but I have been using premium gas and regular old NAPA brand oil (Yes I do buy most of my stuff there). Is it really bad to not have the extra ZDDP?

[Robert Horne]

I bought an ATV that had 2 tanks of gas run through it, and then parked for 3 years. The inside of the carb was brown. I tried several carb cleaners before I could find one that would take off the brown inside the carb. Carquest carb cleaner was the only one that I found that worked good. It still took a couple tanks of gas, before the ATV started running like it should. I have been using Lucas gas treatment with good results on my Goldwing, mowers, etc.

[Young Ed]

I think any carb left for 3 years would have a chance of being gunky. I put stabil in my car and truck for the long winter nap but not in the summer when I'm driving them regularly. The fuel pumps on both are rebuilt with ethanol safe parts and have been fine. When its really hot out I buy the no ethanol gas but the problem with that is around here its only available in premium so I'm paying for extra octane that is a waste for my flatheads.

[Eneto-55]

Just one short note in regard to alcohol in gasoline. We had an alcohol VW in South America, and it was common practice to replace the carb every 5 years or so. The alcohol carb was different in that all surfaces, both inside & out were nickel plated. They claimed that once you got some wear (like in the jets area) the alcohol would eat up the pot metal. When I first got that car, it ran lousy, and no one could make it run smooth. Everyone advised a new carb. Did that - ran great. So how much alcohol is enough to do damage? That I don't know, but as the percentage goes up, so does my worry level. (Down there it's sugarcane alcohol - that wouldn't make a difference, would it?)

Neto

[Don Coatney]

I use no additives in any any of my engines fuel or oil and have not had any problems.

[Mopar Mick]

Over here in Australia we have ethanol 10% but you can still buy 95 RON and 98 RON "super unleaded".

The quality of our petrol is absolute "crap" and varies from week to week.

It's very unreliable.

For my 1940 Chrysler coupe (hemi powered) I intend using "straight gas"

I know you guys call petrol "gas".

The gas I am refering to is L.P.G. (Liquified petroleum gas) 110 octane rating.

Very reliable and still cheap to buy @ 63 cents per litre.

Our petrol over here this week costs $1.35 per litre.

Mick.

[Dan Hiebert]

Just one short note in regard to alcohol in gasoline. We had an alcohol VW in South America, and it was common practice to replace the carb every 5 years or so. The alcohol carb was different in that all surfaces, both inside & out were nickel plated. They claimed that once you got some wear (like in the jets area) the alcohol would eat up the pot metal. When I first got that car, it ran lousy, and no one could make it run smooth. Everyone advised a new carb. Did that - ran great. So how much alcohol is enough to do damage? That I don't know, but as the percentage goes up, so does my worry level. (Down there it's sugarcane alcohol - that wouldn't make a difference, would it?)

Neto

Wouldn't make a difference, ethanol is ethanol. (Which, by the way, is the same alcohol in adult beverages;).) Earlier in this thread someone queried the effect of ethanol on modern systems. Part of my job is seeing to the maintenance and fueling of a sizeable fleet, which means I have to worry about ethanol in gas affecting the service length of our cruisers. Once the oil industry standard went to 10% for basic fuel in many States, (Govt agencies have to buy the cheapest gas available), the auto industry did the same with its fuel systems (don't forget, that's all regulated by Uncle Sam and his 50 nephews). That's only about 5-6 years along, so if you have a car older than that, you'll eventually have problems. Some locations with air pollution problems have been mandating 10% ethanol for much longer. You'll see the "E85" vehicles driving about, those are engineered to use the higher ethanol percentace in E85 gas, but you can't run the E85 gas in other modern vehicles - well, you can, but it will eat the components much quicker. To lengthen this short story, ethanol will affect the fuel systems on our older vehicles (mainly the "rubber" stuff and gaskets). To what extent depends on how much care you take with your fuel system - additives, storage, etc.

[P-12 Tommy]

I use no additives in any any of my engines fuel or oil and have not had any problems.

Me neither

Tom

[Niel Hoback]

I also, am not now and never have put anything in my tanks but gasoline. I have never had any problem related to bad gas. I do run lawn equipment dry in the fall. The only carb cleaner that really works is a workbench, some hand tools and a quart of laquer thinner.

Boy, I think I'm gonna have a bad day. I will try not to post anymore today.

[Rodney Bullock]

Neil, it's ok most of us don't go quietly into the night:) keep posting please.

If you drive your car all the time you are using and replacing gas. you are not going to have a problem. It's when you leave the car for months.

Does anyone know of a station here that has gas that does not have ethonol in it? I was told today that Sunoco 93 does not have it, is this true? The gentleman from down under is very lucky to have such high octane ratings we lost ours long ago.

the guy I talked to said high test gas will not break down as fast if I store a car I will use premium and stablul, if you are having fuel system componets rebuilt use smeone with the rubber that is resistant to ethonol

I went to the street rod nationals and tried to use a friends carb. I found that the outside looked "new" The inside after it started to spew gas from everywhere was just a mess. The gaskets inside where almost disentigrated. This is what prompt my thead please pay attention this gas is not a joke.

[Don Coatney]

Does anyone know of a station here that has gas that does not have ethonol in it?

http://pure-gas.org/

[Niel Hoback]

Thanks, Rodney. In no way was I belittling this thread. I take your post with the utmost sincerity as you know what you are talking about. But, sometimes when I feel a bad day coming on, I just need to shut up. I am taking this oportunity to avoid saying unkind things.

[Rodney Bullock]

That's ok Niel

Don I am shocked that where I live there are no "gas stations" I am very disturbed by this:mad:

[Flatie46]

From what I've read it ends up costing more to put the 10% corn in the gas than it's worth. If this is the case why do it?

I've got a friend that has some late 30's Farmall tractors that set for long periods, I wonder if he's had any problems. They always suprised me how long they could set uncared for and he could fire them up and use 'em any time he wanted.

[RobertKB]

In the province of Alberta, Canada, where I live, almost all stations pump pure gasoline, no ethanol. Of course, Alberta is the land of big oil and what big oil wants, big oil gets. So far, I have had no trouble related to gas in any internal combustion engine I own from single cylinder to six and eight cylinders. Ethanol is probably in our future eventually but I hope some distance away.

[RobertKB]

http://pure-gas.org/

Thanks for posting that, Don.

[Captain Neon]

From what I've read it ends up costing more to put the 10% corn in the gas than it's worth. If this is the case why do it?

Very simple. The more senior Congressmen happen to be from corn states when these laws were enacted. Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska. Grassley and Ramstad immediately come to mind. At the time, E-10 was being promoted as a sort of magic bullet for economic and environmental recovery. ADM also makes a lot of very large political contributions via their employees as well as bundled PAC contributions.

They still promote it as a route to economic recovery, but an other frequent bit of propaganda has been that ethanol is a tool against terrorism. Please be aware, I ain't buying the propaganda.

I worked in an ethanol plant for about 6 weeks in '99 when I was between jobs. Were it not for the very generous government subsidies, ethanol manufacture would be limited to the Ozarks and Appalachians by true experts that have been honing their craft since there even was a United States of America.

We are veering into politics, but I felt Flatie46 deserved an answer.

[Plymouthy Adams]

the Ozark and Applalachain boys only continued their craft from the old country...I thought I read something a bit back about dropping the alcohol from the mix..

[Don Coatney]

Don I am shocked that where I live there are no "gas stations" I am very disturbed by this:mad:

Guess you need to move to Tennessee.

[Captain Neon]

Guess you need to move to Tennessee.

In Tennesse and Arkansas, a valuable commodity like ethanol is not wasted burning in an internal combustion engine.

[oldodge41]

A new ethanol plant (corn)was built in Clearfield, Pa near where I live over the last couple years. Was touted as an economic God send. Been open maybe a year at most and the company, Bionol, has filed for bankruptcy. The plant has been in what they call "Hot Idle" mode for months. I understand that means it is still ready to produce but not producing due to no sales. The original plan had a contract with Getty Oil to purchase all the ethanol they could produce but Getty defaulted. All of this info is according to the last couple days of local news. Apparently the whole ethanol deal is not a lucrative as predicted. The main thing I notice with the ethanol in gas is that my mpg suffers in my daily drivers. Not a lot but a mpg or two in each adds up quick over time. I do use Stabil for storage over the winter in the old cars and lawn equipment. No issues so far.