BigDen Loc: Alberta, Canada

I used ethanol blended gas in my 25' sailboat outboard. I had at least one incident of coasting to the end of the dock as the motor quit and twice I ended up being towed down the lake at haul out as the engine quit part way down the lake.

Finally got smart and used the egular leaded gas. No problems after doing that.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

Any engine that is a two stroke will be very adversely affected, especially chain saws. Think of it as high fructose corn syrup in your tank. Thanks a lot to the corn lobby, they make millions and pass some of it along to the politicians.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

Good advice. Either use it or lose it, to use an old slogan. Running the tank/carb dry is a good idea.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

I'm be amazed if you can find leaded gas. I'll bet that there is no tetraethyl lead in the fuel....

Wenonah Loc: Winona, MN

It would probably have to be airplane or racing fuel. But you can by lead additive at auto supply stores.

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

is a bad idea it dry out all the seals not good fill and add stable.

Jim Bob

Very strange. Most newer mowers are designed to run on up to 10% ethanol. You can purchase TruFuel or similar ethanol-free products for 4 cylinder engines at about $6 per quart or check the internet for gas stations that sell ethanol-free fuel. Ethanol attracts water (hygroscopic) and breaks down to wreak havoc on small engine carburetors as well as fuel lines. There are products which counteract this reaction reasonably well. I use Star Tron. There is a wealth of information on the internet about this topic.

Geegee Loc: Peterborough, Ont.

I have had my share of problems with regular unleaded gas with up to 10% Ethanol in small engines. Ethanol will not affect your car because the computer will adjust the engine to run on Ethanol. If the manufacturer recommends fuel without Ethanol, don't use fuel with Ethanol. My troubles stopped when I started using premium gas without Ethanol. Some brands of premium gas do not have Ethanol. Ask your local filling station if their premium has Ethanol.

GeorgeH Loc: Jonesboro, GA

A lead additive would be extremely dangerous. Check this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetraethyllead#Toxicity During the initial marketing of leaded gasoline there were many deaths attributed to "loony gas," so called because of the neurological effects of exposure to the additive. I'd bet that the additive to which you refer is something to help preserve the valve seats in engines produced before the banning of leaded gas.

jkoar Loc: The Gunks, NY

Don't do it. It is a costly mistake. Ethanol ruins carburetors and even eats into the metal if it sits for a time. It also gels up and clogs. Stuarts sells ethanol free high test. Use it.

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I was talking to my brother yesterday and mentioned this topic. Again, he was a chemical engineer for Gulf Research in his youth, so he knows more than the average person about gas. He confirmed that he still uses no additives in any of his equipment, never drains the gas over the winter, never uses stabilizers in his fuel. His, and my experience covers over 60 years, and all our equipment is still owned, and runs fine.

I left out one piece, a snowblower someone gave my brother. It didn't run and the carburetor and fuel tank was covered with gummy deposit. Turned out, the guy had always used a stabilizer in the gas, and had let the gas evaporate, and the stabilizer had left the gummy crap in the tank. So, if you decide to use stabilizer in your fuel, I recommend not letting it evaporate, and probably don't run out the gas, and probably, if leaving that crap in the engine for long periods, start the engine occasionally to prevent this from happening.

Moreover, while you can do what your want, my (considerable) experience is don't do anything, leave all that up to the refineries. I personally think a whole lot of the fantasy around gas causing problems is from the early days of gas, before refineries knew how to refine gas that would not turn gummy. Alcohol is not good of course, but they also add stuff for that, and modern plastics can handle alcohol with no problem. Personally, I've never had a fuel line fail, rotting away from gas, and as stated in my previous post, we have lots of very old, and some new equipment, and use nothing but 87 octane, regular gas, no problems whatsoever.

passumpsicjim

15% ethanol gas destroyed the fuel lines in my Ryobi 4-stroke weedwacker a few years ago. If you can't find ethanol-free gas locally, try looking in an adjacent state, or online. By the way, the push to ethanol-based fuels is driving up the price of corn, making life more expensive for Mexican families, and increasing illegal immigration. Bad policy, disastrous results.

whitewolfowner

It's bad in every way and makes no sense anywhere. Just another stupid government adjenda, probably to destroy what we own so we have to go out re-buy to replace what they destroyed. Keeps the fat cats wallets full.

Jim Bob

In my experience, most small engine manufacturers with which I am familiar expressly state not to use fuel with more than 10% ethanol content and some specifically emphasize that 15% ethanol will cause damage and void warranties. Was this not the case with your Ryobi?

BigDaddy Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

I think most if not all regular gas has no more than 10% ethanol in the mix, probably due to some sort of asinine government mandate. There seems to be nothing but down sides to doing this, yet our government mandates it. You can bet there are fist fulls of cash poring out of farmers pockets into the thieves in governments pockets to back something so stupid. Even so, this amount of alcohol has had no apparent effect on any of our equipment, old or new, and zero precautions have been taken.