Is marvel mystery oil the best carburetor cleaner?

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Sep 12, 2022
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Or did I just get lucky? My 12 year old push mower would not start for the first time this spring. (Always treated with sta-bil) I was able to start it after hitting the carburetor bowl with back end of screwdriver. I mixed fresh gas with b12 chemtool and ran this mixture over the summer every week doing 'touch ups' in my yard. Almost every week it would not start until I tapped carburetor and if it did start on its own it would run rough and stall a couple times during use. I then mixed a fresh tank of gas and marvel oil that was my late father's and just let it idle an hour then it sat for a couple weeks. Now it starts and runs perfect without having to tap carburetor.
 
I'm thinking because it's a very thin oil/ cleaner it was able to work its way into the ethonal residue easier or maybe it just lubricated the float hinge. Either way I'm going to keep using it and see if it keeps me from pulling out tools
 
I’ve used it in my OPE for the last several years as a maintenance treatment and have had no issues. Is it worth it 🤷‍♂️.

Just my $0.02
 
I run a mix STA-BIL and Marvel Mystery Oil and Ethanol free gas and use this MIX in everything small engine and have done this in every tank of gas the last 25 +/- years!

My 27 year old Harley loves it, My 24 year old Snapper Riding mower LOVES it! My 23+ year old no name push mower loves it.

The Sta-Bil keeps the gas fresh and the MMO keep the o-rings and rubber carb parts ( and petcock o-rings ) on my old Harley conditioned and slick as glass!
 
I run a mix STA-BIL and Marvel Mystery Oil and Ethanol free gas and use this MIX in everything small engine and have done this in every tank of gas the last 25 +/- years!

My 27 year old Harley loves it, My 24 year old Snapper Riding mower LOVES it! My 23+ year old no name push mower loves it.

The Sta-Bil keeps the gas fresh and the MMO keep the o-rings and rubber carb parts ( and petcock o-rings ) on my old Harley conditioned and slick as glass!
Are you using it in dosages recommended on the bottles, or worked out your own formulas and mix ratios?
 
I like Seafoam and it has been beneficial in my trimmer and push mower. I’ve had success with using it for rough idle/ difficulty starting/ excessive throttle needed to keep running (even after a tune up on the Stihl trimmer). I would not use it in anything else, personally, but would/will use it again in those engines.
 
I use MMO in my small engine fuel at the recommended dosage with a fuel stabilizer. I run regular E10 pump gas that's sometimes 1 year old and I never have any carburetor troubles with anything. I've been running it pretty consistently for the past 15 years in my fuel 2 and 4 cycle and the couple of times I have had one of my carburetors apart the metal always looks shiny and smooth like it has saturated the metal. I never see anything quite like it taking other people's carburetors apart that has not run it and to me it's worth that at least. I never seem to have any troubles with diaphragm carburetors and the diaphragms getting stiff from E10 either and the combustion chambers are always exceptionally clean as well. Seems to do a decent job as a crankcase cleaner in my experience also. It's cheap and it works pretty well for me. Probably not what I'd call a carburetor cleaner, but a good maintainer.
 
Been guilty of running Hotshots LX4 but I am gonna move over to Schaeffer's 131 SoyUltra. The soy word scares me and my first thought is anti testosterone but I at least want to give it a fair shot. Customer service was very informed and not pushy at all. I remember buying mmo in the day but as a teenager i worked at TLE at Walmart and our service manager explained that its popularity was price driven and he believed the more expensive name brand products were better. Bought my fuel system additive from QT when I filled up back in the day. Good days at, 79 cents a gallon.
 
Been guilty of running Hotshots LX4 but I am gonna move over to Schaeffer's 131 SoyUltra. The soy word scares me and my first thought is anti testosterone but I at least want to give it a fair shot. Customer service was very informed and not pushy at all.
Never fear about your testo.

#131 SoyUltra contains Methyl Soyate, an ester of soybean oil, which is another fuel system cleaning solvent.
 
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I run a mix STA-BIL and Marvel Mystery Oil and Ethanol free gas and use this MIX in everything small engine and have done this in every tank of gas the last 25 +/- years!

My 27 year old Harley loves it, My 24 year old Snapper Riding mower LOVES it! My 23+ year old no name push mower loves it.

The Sta-Bil keeps the gas fresh and the MMO keep the o-rings and rubber carb parts ( and petcock o-rings ) on my old Harley conditioned and slick as glass!
I do the exact same thing.
 
Are you using it in dosages recommended on the bottles, or worked out your own formulas and mix ratios?
I try to target the suggested Sta-Bil mix but I run Sta-Bil in EVERY TANK OF GAS in everything small engine ( Not my cars) and somewhat the Marvel but sometimes I just do a dash of MMO then sometimes the suggested amount but I can be a bit free handed with it. I run the Sta-Bil in every tank or almost as I never know when my bike my sit for a time and my thought is it will keep that gas fresh and can't hurt anything. Same with the MMO. My thought was my new 2023 don't exactly need my mix like my old Harley and it may be a Placebo effect but I could swear something about how my Harley feels, rides, sounds, I can't exactly put words to it but things are just better with my mix in the gas!

I'm using this stuff on engines without cats and even my modern 2023 Harley has a Bassani header so the only thing that may would not like my mix would be a O2 on my 2023 if that? I do notice over the 28 years of running my mix the Marvel can turn the white area of my old 1997 Harley spark plug a light pink color ( see pic ) and yes she runs a bit rich but on that same bike if I do not use some MMO I can feel in only one tank of gas without the MMO my petcock gas turn off starts to get hard to turn on and off, I can feel the o-rings or whatever is in that Pingel Petcock start to stick but is slick as glass with some some MMO in that gas! Even a few ounces helps the "feel of that gas turn off "...

plug.webp
 
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