Seasonal Small Engine Fuel Applications

[Jackson_Slugger]

I'm currently taking care of my parents lawn and sometimes blow snow in the winter, though they have a plow guy. Last fall the Toro SS blower had quite a bit of water contamination in it so after getting it back we went to 90-octane ethanol free stuff referred to as "Recreational Gas" here in NY. But it's pricey and not sure if it is considered Top Tier for additives or not.

Not worried about the gas in the 2 mowers, I was thinking of using regular 87 TT gas until maybe August-September then switching back to the Rec Gas for the snowblower. Does anyone else do this? Incidentally I ran the snowblower until it was empty this year so I didn't have to worry about using Stabil or dry gas and probably will do the same with the mowers, though they both started just fine ...

 

[DriveHard]

I run premium E-free recreational premium with 1 ounce TCW3 per ~3 gallons in all my 4 stroke small engines. All start wonderfully, even after storage.

 

[kschachn]

If you have quite a bit of water contamination in your fuel tank I would also suggest you inspect the cap and other parts of the fuel system. My old snow thrower sits all summer long and I don’t always drain the fuel out after winter. I live in an EPA nonattainment area so all we have here is E10 and I’ve never seen water in the fuel tank, ever. I don’t use a fuel stabilizer either.

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

If you have quite a bit of water contamination in your fuel tank I would also suggest you inspect the cap and other parts of the fuel system. My old snow thrower sits all summer long and I don’t always drain the fuel out after winter. I live in an EPA nonattainment area so all we have here is E10 and I’ve never seen water in the fuel tank, ever. I don’t use a fuel stabilizer either.

I will. This came from my father's small engine guy who normally does good work. I can say the blower hasn't run that much since we bought it and the gas was probably very old and sat multiple seasons, we couldn't get it started after throwing in dry gas and some Berrymans, so off it went to him and ran fine after for the maybe 3-4 hours we used it in total.

Both the Toro and Cub Cadet mowers get the same gas but are used mostly weekly May-Nov and both started on the first or second pull...

 

[spasm3]

i run regular e-10 in my mowers until the last tank of the season. Then i refill with non ethanol, and stabil and tcw-3 at 640:1

 

[fsdork]

i run regular e-10 in my mowers until the last tank of the season. Then i refill with non ethanol, and stabil and tcw-3 at 640:1

I think this is a good idea if you go through a significant amount of fuel over the course of the season. I have a small lawn, so the premium I pay for a gallon or two of alkylate fuel per year is worth not having to concern myself with timing the end of season changeover.

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

I probably will anyways, maybe the 90 Octane helps a bit with power and pays for itself a bit not being cut with methanol. The concern I guess is that Recreational Fuel and even 93 Octane fuels sit in the tanks longer and are not purchased as often as 87. I would prefer any 90 Rec fuel be a winter gas mix but that could take until late November or even December...

 

[bobdoo]

The tank should be drained, and the engine run (on choke) until the carb is empty, at the end of the season.

 

[Duffyjr]

Running until the carb is empty, wouldn't that still leave some residue, if using E10 I wouldn't take the chance. I would rather have the carb full with some sta-bil.

 

[kschachn]

I probably will anyways, maybe the 90 Octane helps a bit with power and pays for itself a bit not being cut with methanol. The concern I guess is that Recreational Fuel and even 93 Octane fuels sit in the tanks longer and are not purchased as often as 87. I would prefer any 90 Rec fuel be a winter gas mix but that could take until late November or even December...

I’m not sure if you just made a typo, but I don’t believe methanol is used as an oxygenate in any fuel these days.

 

[Jackson_Slugger]

I’m not sure if you just made a typo, but I don’t believe methanol is used as an oxygenate in any fuel these days.

It isn't and it's a typo. Maybe methanol is used in me....

 

[Warlord]

I’ve always used e0 but this year due to cost (burned 60 bucks in gas today mowing a customers ranch) I’m running e10. I‘ll probably either switch to e0 for the last couple tanks on my equipment or drain the tanks and carbs. I have no interest in dealing with a half bowl of ethanol goo in the carbs in spring.