Fuel Affects

How much should we be concerned about ethanol fuel. Does it have as much impact on our TM engines as bad as small two stroke engines. What should we do? Ethanol free or treat fuel? Your thoughts. What are you doing about it.

I treat my fuel about every other week.

I see no benefits for ethanol fuel in a vehicle's engine and most mechanics will strongly discourage its usage. Less economy, less power, fuel seperations, etc.

As for smaller engines, my brother is a boat mechanic and has found that the ethanol fuels are creating lots of gummed up fuel systems...leaves a gel-like substance that builds up until it shuts down the motor.

The advice I follow is to avoid ethanol fuels completely, but if you have no choice, use the lowest concentration you can and treat the fuel.

We have a few gas stations here in the town I live in that sell Ethanol Free gas.

Regular has 10%
Mid-grade has 5%
Premium has 0%
I have seen what ethanol can do to small engine
Carbs. It dries out the gaskets on older engines.
My engine guy has shown me how it pits the metal
Inside the carbs it causes water inside the engine.
He says stay away regular gas and use mid-grade
or premium gas

I use premium gas only for all my vehicles and not only they run better, I also get much better gas mileage, I used to fill up 3 - 4 times a week, now I fill up 2 - 3 times a week, that one tank saving a week saves me $ 100 ( $ 3.85 / gal of premium here in california as of this week ), at the end of the year, I'm $ 5000 richer :-)

About a year ago here in Alb NM they made all of the gas suppliers put in 10% ethanol in all of the gas. Before they would only put it in during the winter months to help the environment. Now I have no choice! My 31 hp kohler seem to run a little weak, not much I can do.

Johnnyone wrote:About a year ago here in Alb NM they made all of the gas suppliers put in 10% ethanol in all of the gas. Before they would only put it in during the winter months to help the environment. Now I have no choice! My 31 hp kohler seem to run a little weak, not much I can do.  

There are always options that you can try. The main issue with the ethanol is the water that it attracts, so you could try adding some sea foam or any other fuel dry products to your tank. Then there are special additives just for ethanol fuel when used in small engines...I think Briggs and Stratton was one of the first to develop one.

Your TM engine is vital to your business, I would not hesitate to treat any fuel that is being used containing ethanol. Your vehicle can handle it better (still hate ethanol), but not the small engines.

Try an additive with the next tank and report back on what you discover, we are all in that same boat.

Man, I had no idea the effects were as bad as they are!....Thanks for starting this thread, Ryan!  

I'm going to take all the preventive measures I can against Ethanol fuel, especially because I don't want it to damage the new engine I just bought for my TM!

I found a good article online about the effects it has on small engine, check it out.............

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2009/06/is-fuel-with-an-increased-level-of-ethanol-a-problem-for-small-gas-engines/index.htm

Thanks DC for that link. I just heard that the enviros want to raise the Ethanol 10% to Ethanol 15%. This will just make it worse for all of us who use small engines to make a living!

So true, it would take another $5-$6 worth of treatment for every tank. That would add up very fast.