Fuel Stabilizer Experiment

Originally Posted by 104Guy
https://www.goldeagle.com/stabil-test-data/

Has all the legal documentation for corrosion resistance and fuel stability.

That is very helpful, thank you so much for sharing! I still have some doubts on the accuracy of these results though. I kinda doubt that other reputable products such as Star-Tron and Seafoam actually decreased the fuel's stability, a lot of people have reported success with these products. I also have a hard time believing that Seafoam caused so much corrosion on the steel rod, it's basically just diesel fuel, naphtha, and isopropyl alcohol. Neither diesel fuel nor naphtha is corrosive and the minuscule increase in the fuel's alcohol content from the ~10% isopropyl alcohol that Seafoam contains surely didn't cause that much corrosion. I also question why Sta-Bil Marine's results weren't included in the corrosion resistance test since it's supposedly so good at preventing corrosion.

I also question how heating the fuel up to an unrealistically hot 212 degrees affects the results of these tests. I know that higher temps accelerate the degradation of the fuel, but I wonder if such a high temp might favor some products over others. If a product is designed to stabilize fuel up to the maximum temp that the fuel is expected to reach (maybe 140 degrees or so) and its heated to such an unrealistically high temp, maybe the active ingredients in some of the stabilizers broke down from the extreme heat. If so, this test says nothing about the real world performance of these products since the fuel will never get anywhere near that hot in the real world. Another significant factor they left out was whether the fuels were tested in sealed or open containers; this makes a huge difference as well. Judging by the results I presume the fuels were tested in open containers, but who knows.

It would also be nice if they listed which "independent testing lab" did the tests. Was it a reputable lab? Was it a company they created? Who knows. And I know from past experiences to not expect a response from Golden Eagle if I contact them to ask questions, so that's nice.

To be clear I don't dislike Sta-Bil, I think it's a good product. I have used it for years and I have never had a problem with fuel going bad in my equipment during storage and I plan to continue using the product in the future, I just question the accuracy of the results on their website and I don't like that the company is unresponsive to my emails, not good customer service.
 
My new carburetor rebuild kit including ethanol resistant accelerator pump came in the mail today. The carb is still working fine other than a slightly weak accelerator pump and all the gaskets are leaking externally onto the intake manifold.

I store this car every winter with e0 91 octane plus Stabil (usually the marine variant) but I run e10 all summer long when it's my daily driver. It gets plenty of miles on it so a tank lasts a couple weeks at most.

This carb was a yard sale special put on about 3 years ago when the previous carb seemed to plug up. It was rebuilt and ran for 10 years, about halfway through that it had an issue and the needle and seat were all gummed up with white plaque. Replacing just those parts fixed it for probably another 5 years before it failed and was replaced by the current one.

I will post pics of the insides of the carb in the next couple weeks when I pull it apart to install the new gaskets and some different jets/metering rods. I'm very curious to see it myself. My personal opinion is that even with daily use, ethanol causes some corrosion on buildup, but it takes years, compared to something that sits, will plug up within a year or 2, maybe less.

However, I cant prove what caused my issues, or the white buildup. The car has gotten over 100k miles in the past 13 years, stored every winter.

I also just installed the 3rd set of rubber fuel lines between the steel line and the sending unit. They severely crack every 4-5 years like clockwork. This time I caught it just before they got to the point of leaking. Last time I found a puddle underneath.

IMG_20200507_174347.jpg
 
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