Fillin my stuff with 87 E10 blue Stabilized 9/24 and stored in a pressurized can. 4stroke mowers get a glug of MMO and a dash of Berrymans, '88 Toro 20611 started on 3rd pull. Craftsman sitdown is running on last summer' last fill.
Best additive to prevent fuel gumming up the carb?
- Thread starter hardcore302
- Start date
This is exactly what I do, but I mix the TCW3 1oz/gallon of gas. I had to rebuild the carb on the push mower back to back years, so I started doing this about 11 or 12 years ago and since then I haven’t had an issue with any of the carbs on any of our OPE.
Worst case you can make it. Depending on how much you use that is.+1, but REC fuel is getting harder to find near me.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
I used the same Sta-Bil-"red" in all of my boats. Eventually , also in the gas tanks of any cars that I would cover and sit up in storage during our cold/rainy months. Salted roads no issue here , but those cold , damp , rainy weather spells can cause some troubles. Once I was taught and knew better , I always stored anything with "Sta-Bil-red" + full fuel tank to prevent any moisture build up.
Lesson learned - The very first time , around 1982, I pulled battery and set up a 72 Chevelle for a few months to do some body work in spare time after work. I failed to fill the tank or ad any fuel stabilizer. Upon pulling that one out of the garage and cranking it up some 12-14 months later, it was obvious the tank had condensation. Looked like I had steam coming out the dual exhausts. Even with several guys saying "Ha ha ha, don't worry about it. Man just run that tank thru the engine" and "then go do an oil change and refill with some fresh." Work-a-haulic me , worrier too, I ended up dropping the tank and emptying it out. Not easy at all without a home/shop lift. God bless all friends who are gifted with the tools! I have always been lucky to meet and make friends with guys about ten years older than me at work or off the jobs who were so good at mechanical work they were darned near artist IMHO and great teachers to anyone who wanted to learn.
After a few moisture issues and with the start of the 10% ethanol I started to pay close attention to what I used or how I stored my toys.
I ended up doing your practice for well over 25+ yrs and not one time did I have any other "bad gas" issues. I was near the end of my boating days when they really started pushing 10% ethanol everyplace they could. They do have many products available these days for folks to ad to their fuel with ethanol to prevent issues. Many of the aftermarket American Muscle Car part suppliers now offer "ethanol kits" for carbureted engines. Some of them come with a new types of fuel lines as well as several newer gaskets and diaphragms for some of the minor issues that many were having troubles with such as - plugged or swollen fuel lines, gasket leaks etc.... I am not sure why but those things are either not as much trouble as in beginning of ethanol use or ????? folks not talking as much about it? Or maybe they too learning the benefits of using fuel stabilizers such as "Sta-Bil?"
Empty the tank, put truefuel in the tank, run that out until the engine stops, blast the intake side of the carb with WD40 and be sure to get it on every small hole near the intake so you get the very small hole for the bowl breather, and spray a lot around the center tube and pin valve that raises up with throttle increase.
You can pull the rope to start it again to circulate the WD40 some. It is combustible and it might run for a brief time.
You can pull the rope to start it again to circulate the WD40 some. It is combustible and it might run for a brief time.
WD-40? Ewe.
All fuel here has the same percentage of ethanol.
WD40 evaporates away but leaves behind a thin film that prevents corrosion. It's actually very good stuff.
Many mistake WD40 for an oil. IT'S NOT AN OIL.
Sta-bil for me.
WD-40 doesn’t combust particularly well.
That’s my go to as well, plus I add 1oz of TCW3 to 5 gallons of gas (640:1) in all of my gas cans. The side by sides, push mower, generators and pressure washer all get Blue marine stabil and TCW3 treated gas at every fill up. I just retired my 12 year old Generac ix2000 due to an inverter failure, it has always been used and stored full of fuel with treated E10 fuel in it (never drained the carb), the (untouched) engine and carb outlived the electronics. We have E0 available here as of recently but it’s more than twice as high as regular E10 pump gas and I haven’t had any ethanol related issues since I started using the blue stabil and TCW3 mixture.
I also use the Marine Stabil with my 50:1 Echo Red Armor mix and the chainsaws and blower also sit year round with (E10) fuel in them. No issues there either. My Husqvarna 455 Rancher is 16 years old, carb hasn’t been off so far.
91 Octane 100% gas with the recommended ratio of Sta-bil (Blue). Many seasons with this and no problems, even when I was gone for extended periods (Deployment) and don't really do anything special at the end of the season.
Conversely, my father passed last year. He had a nice Honda less than 2 yrs old. Believe he only used cheap gas from the grocery store (10% ethanol)... It sat most of those 2 years, unused. I checked it out last week, all the gas had evaporated and what was left was a thick brown sticky substance. Would not start even with a generous amounts of carb cleaner, seafood and ether. I had to take it apart and really scrub the carb and fuel line. Gaskets are brittle toast... Waiting on a gasket kit to come in to see if it can be saved.
Conversely, my father passed last year. He had a nice Honda less than 2 yrs old. Believe he only used cheap gas from the grocery store (10% ethanol)... It sat most of those 2 years, unused. I checked it out last week, all the gas had evaporated and what was left was a thick brown sticky substance. Would not start even with a generous amounts of carb cleaner, seafood and ether. I had to take it apart and really scrub the carb and fuel line. Gaskets are brittle toast... Waiting on a gasket kit to come in to see if it can be saved.
The best product to prevent gummed up carbs is E0 premium gasoline in a machine that is started and ran every six weeks. The E0 is more important than running it every six weeks, though. Both my mowers sat all winter with E0 and fired right up and ran great this spring.
You don't say Honda what? Civic or lawnmower? It is under "Lawn mower and small engines" so probably not a Honda Civic.
Sorry. Basic Honda lawnmowers. Dad and I had the same model purchased about the same time from the local Honda OPE dealer.
Point was having it sit idle with cheap 10% ethanol gas for 2 years may have killed it. We will see when carb gasket kit comes in.
We can get E0 now in DE. So my gas can for OPE only gets E0 and blue Marine Stabil.
In Sussex County DE (southern) we need to handle snow on drive once every few years. And probably same for power outage needing a generator, once every few years.
So snowblowers and generators need to be run to empty. Maybe dump in a cup of 50:1 premix and again run until empty. If really anal drain fuel bowl.
