Small Engine Questions

[wallyuwl]

Had a couple small engine questions:

1. Do you need to winterize a 2 cycle Stihl blower/vac? If so, how? I haven't had any 2 cycle engines before.

2) I have a new Arien's 4 cycle single stange snowblower (208cc). Does it need to be "summarized" once the season is over? I have never owned a snowblower before.

3) The person at the Arien's dealer said that 4 cycle engines, lawn mowers in particular, don't require oil in the spark plug hole for winterizing to prevent corrosion of the cylinder provided that Star Brite is used in the gas (which I do). He says the fuel additive protects the cylinder. The manual says to add the oil and gently pull the cord a few times. Not sure which is true? I would prefer not to take the plug out unless necessary (largely because when it starts up again in spring oil spits out of the muffler).

4) Thoughts on using Seafoam in addition to Star Brite in small engines?

 

[BrianF]

1. Yes. Empty the tank and run the carb dry. Other option is to empty the tank and run some truefuel in it. That stuff works good.

2. My snowblower gets a decent dose of stabil, shut the fuel off and run the carb dry. Change the oil if it has enough hours.

3. I have never added oil to a cylinder to summerize/winterize an engine and have never run into issues.

4. Save your money. Stabil is more than enough.

 

[dwendt44]

Quote:
Save your money. Stabil is more than enough.

True that. The 2 cycle will leave a very light coat of oil on the cylinder
once the kill switch is engaged. Should be all you need.

 

[dave123]

4stroke for storage keep piston TDC personally I like to dry storage snowblower's. Keep the 2stroke wet.

 

[DemoFly]

All I do is fog the cylinders. The 2 strokes I leave alone.

You might want to grease the snowblower before putting it away.

 

[CT8]

I have a 16 year old husky string trimmer I never winterized and I have never has any problems because of not winterizing it.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: wallyuwl
Had a couple small engine questions:

1. Do you need to winterize a 2 cycle Stihl blower/vac? If so, how? I haven't had any 2 cycle engines before.

2) I have a new Arien's 4 cycle single stange snowblower (208cc). Does it need to be "summarized" once the season is over? I have never owned a snowblower before.

3) The person at the Arien's dealer said that 4 cycle engines, lawn mowers in particular, don't require oil in the spark plug hole for winterizing to prevent corrosion of the cylinder provided that Star Brite is used in the gas (which I do). He says the fuel additive protects the cylinder. The manual says to add the oil and gently pull the cord a few times. Not sure which is true? I would prefer not to take the plug out unless necessary (largely because when it starts up again in spring oil spits out of the muffler).

4) Thoughts on using Seafoam in addition to Star Brite in small engines?
Sells a lot of Star Bright does he?

 

[The_Jeff]

Sta-bil red is useless in my chonda snowblower. Next spring I'm going to put 2-stroke in the gas and run it out of gas.

I've been using the fuel petcock to shut it off, but it catches a "loogie" in the works of that shutoff valve.

 

[vitez]

Agree with not fogging 2 strokes. I do fog my 4-stroke snowblower.

Also agree with thumbs-down on Sta-bil. I've been using Seafoam with good results. The best bar none though is PRI-G. Amazing stuff! It's ridiculously concentrated and truly does bring back old gas from the dead. It's all I'd use but it's not available in Canada.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: wallyuwl

1. Do you need to winterize a 2 cycle Stihl blower/vac? If so, how? I haven't had any 2 cycle engines before.


I have two Stihl blowers that I bought at an auction a couple years ago. The only thing I do is keep them full of mixed fuel with Sta-Bil (the fuel is E10). Both were used in early March and nothing was done to/with since then. Both started on the third or fourth pull and ran just fine in October. Before that they were put away in October of 2015 and not used until March of 2016. In March they started without any issues.

I planned to sell one of them since I really don't need two, but I haven't gotten around to selling one yet.

 

[Rick in PA]

One thing not mentioned is to store the engine with the valves closed. Generally, the engine will stop in compression, with the valves closed. However, I like to gently pull mine through and stop when I feel compression, thereby ensuring the valves are closed.

 

[Duffyjr]

You don't say what type fuel your have access to, E10 or E0. If you only have access to E10 I wouldn't trust it even with Sta-bil. I'd get some of that fancy ture fuel and run it the last couple tanks of the season.

I have access to E0 and I always put Sta-bil in my can year round. When I'm done with the mower or snowblower I just park it. It's worked for me for 25 years, YMMV.

In fact the one year my blower wouldn't start was the year I let myself get talked into draining the gas out of the carb and dumping oil done the spark plug hole, never again will I do this. I ended up having to clean the carb to get it to run.

I had a high vac snapper for 15 years and never a problem with storing it this way. The blower is going into it's 21 year and only the one time did it not start. I have a Toro mower now and store it the same way.

I truly believe E10 is your worst enemy for small engines.

 

[jeepman3071]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Sta-bil red is useless in my chonda snowblower. Next spring I'm going to put 2-stroke in the gas and run it out of gas.

I've been using the fuel petcock to shut it off, but it catches a "loogie" in the works of that shutoff valve.

Sta-bil red is useless for pretty much everything. You want the MARINE Sta-bil. That actually prevents moisture contamination which is common when using ethanol fuels. Since using Marine stabil I haven't had any problems.

 

[old1]

When I can catch a sale on Sta-bil marine, I stock up on it. But when I do use the red, I use double or more of the amount the directions say, and then it seems to work ok.

 

[John_Conrad]

i catch sales on regular stabil at Walmart, target, and kmart from time to time..no set times whey they discount them.

haven't seen marine stabil on sale.

autozone has a BOGO on stabil 360 right now

 

[Duffyjr]

E10 = Marine Sta-bil, Seafoam, Star tron etc..., these all combat the water that ethanol attracts.
E0 = Sta-bil red, not enough moisture gets in to make a difference.

No need to spend the extra if you use E0.