STA-BIL questions, or better alternative?

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kkreit01

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I figured I'd post this here -- since it's directly related to OPE. I've always used STA-BIL in my gas for all OPE. I put it in the container as soon as it comes home from the gas station. I use 89 octane Top Tier for OPE. With this last batch (fresh container), my mower didn't run so great. Would putting (slightly) too much STA-BIL in cause this? I also read on my bottle that STA-BIL should be used within 2 years of opening. Mine is probably 5+ years old. Should I trash it (dispose of properly)? Should I dump this 2 gal of gas in my Jeep, and start over? I'm picking up a new/used rider tomorrow, and I don't want to start off with a bad batch of gas. My push mower is a Cub Cadet, with OHV Chonda. It has always run good. It's about 5 years old, and still on original plug. That's another culprit? Oil changes are done religiously.

Is there a better OTC alternative to STA-BIL. My dad uses Seafoam as suggested by his former small engine shop owner. Would this be better?
 
I think Stabil is better than seafoam as it's designed to do one thing and does it well, at least IMO. You don't really say how much bad gas you have, but I'd consider dumping it in a car (especially if you think you overdosed it) and move on.

2 years of opening is news to me. It probably takes me longer than that as well.
 
I'm just going through an extensive carb cleaning on my boat. I always had gas treated with Stabil at the recommended doses, but I'm afraid Stabil is not good enough for the current gas formulations. Not sure if ethanol makes gas less stable though.

I heard good things about seafoam and I will try that from now on.

By the way, I noticed that stale gas is yellow and smells like varnish.

My cars have no (obvious) troubles using it at 50/50 mix with fresh gas.
 
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
I'm just going through an extensive carb cleaning on my boat. I always had gas treated with Stabil at the recommended doses, but I'm afraid Stabil is not good enough for the current gas formulations. Not sure if ethanol makes gas less stable though.

There is Marine Stabil which is stronger and supposedly specifically designed for ethanol-blended fuel:
http://www.goldeagle.com/products/product3CC6.aspx

I've been using it as of late, but in all honesty, I've never had any issues with the regular Stabil either.

My guess is the OP got some bad gas. It happens, even at top tier stations. I would use it up by adding it in small quantities to a nearly full tank of gas in one of your cars/trucks.
 
SeaFoam is diesel fuel,a lubricant,and iso alcohol.Which of the three "stabilizes" the fuel?
 
Am I the only one who finds it ironic that the gasoline "stabilizer" is NOT stable?
 
Regarding the Marine Sta-Bil, I contacted Gold Eagle last year asking if it would be better to use this in my mower's gas due to the ethanol in most gas nowdays and they responded that it was overkill and regular Sta-Bil should be more than enough for my mower's needs.
 
I'm first going to check my plug. It didn't run horrible, just not too smooth either. I have no problems dumping the 2 gal gas in my 24+ gal Jeep tank, and starting fresh. Would I be better off using 91 octane for mowers? The thing I hate around here, is you never know what kind of gas you are getting. The stations do not have to advertise if they use ethanol or not. Some say "may contain up to 10% ethanol". It really irks me! I'd prefer to be like IA: their 89 octane is labeled 10% ethanol, and is cheaper than their 87 octane w/o ethanol. That way, the consumer can chose.

It also has always bothered me that STA-BIL says to "use within 2 years".

Update: here's a FAQ directly from their website:

"Q: What is the shelf life of STA-BIL® Fuel Stabilizer?
A: The shelf life of all STA-BIL® brand products is 2 years after the bottle has been opened, provided it has been tightly capped and stored in a cool, dry place. If the product has not yet been opened, you should use the color of the fluid as an indicator. If the product is still bright red, it is fine to use. If the product has turned to av ery dark red (or brown) color, we recommend purchasing a new bottle. It will not harm anything if you use an old bottle of STA-BIL® brand, it just may not be as effective."

Mine is still red. I'm not too worried about it's shelf life. They just want to to buy more product.
 
FWIW, I just finished my first bottle of Sta-Bil, opened 10 years ago and stored in an unheated/unair-conditioned garage. My power equipment doesn't seem to have any fuel issues, and it, too, is 10+ years old.
 
When left untreated, gasoline, esp. with the presence of moisture, will form what we called "oxidative degradation products", which will cause further decomposition of the fuel, which render it sooty, loss of calorific content, gummy (as in varnish, gum as a form of deposits), etc.

most fuel-stabilisers rely on either "antioxidants" to inhibit the reactions that form sediment; dispersants to suspent sediment particles, and may containts additional addtivies such as hindered phenols, alkylated diphenylamines, phenylenediamines, tertiary amines, or similar.

(**ref: web.anl.gov/PCS/acsfuel/.../Files/43_1_DALLAS_03-98_0001.pdf **)

Stabil is formulated with some of the ingredients mentioned above and it's target market is for fuel-stabilisation primarily.

With the introduction of E10, E15, etc. this original "Red" formulation of stabil no longer being recognised as effective. I've used red before and still have some on my shelf (mainly used in cars, etc. for no more than 3 months max.) Marine Stabil seems to be a better deal for prolong E10 during winter storage months.

I don't believe in other OTC additives that claimed to be "jack of all trades", esp. some mysterious products out there. Another one that doesn't have good, consistent track record to refer to is Pri-G, for the sales pitch on their website seems to be out of this world (claimed to be able to restore otherwise rotten fuel (chemically decomposed already) to fresh fuel state, which I pretty much doubt is.

Up north: most commonly avail fuel stabilisers from carrappy tires are composed primarily of 1-2-4-trimethylbenzene, which I'm fondly aware of (quite effective on Naphtha gas (coleman fuel)).

Q.
 
Originally Posted By: Quest

With the introduction of E10, E15, etc. this original "Red" formulation of stabil no longer being recognised as effective. I've used red before and still have some on my shelf (mainly used in cars, etc. for no more than 3 months max.) Marine Stabil seems to be a better deal for prolong E10 during winter storage months.


Quest, I talked to what seemed like a very knowledgable tech. at Gold Eagle about regular Stabil vs. MarineStabil for E10 gas. His answer:" Both will work fine. If you use a lot of gas, use Marine STA-BIL as it gives more bang for the buck."

He also claimed that no product will prevent phase separation, but they might delay it a bit.

When you compare the dosage rates of the 2 products vs. their ingredient strength, it appears that the stabilizer ingredients work out the same. The Marine formula works out to have more cleaner, which makes no sense to me since ethanol is an excellent cleaner already.

I also like the propaganda that advocates that alcohol based gas additives don't make sense to be added to alcohol blended gas.

Just sharing what I have learned. We really don't have much facts about stabilizers beyond anecdotal evidence. The motor cycle guys seem to hate Stabil with a passion.
 
Originally Posted By: doitmyself
Originally Posted By: Quest

With the introduction of E10, E15, etc. this original "Red" formulation of stabil no longer being recognised as effective. I've used red before and still have some on my shelf (mainly used in cars, etc. for no more than 3 months max.) Marine Stabil seems to be a better deal for prolong E10 during winter storage months.


Quest, I talked to what seemed like a very knowledgable tech. at Gold Eagle about regular Stabil vs. MarineStabil for E10 gas. His answer:" Both will work fine. If you use a lot of gas, use Marine STA-BIL as it gives more bang for the buck."

He also claimed that no product will prevent phase separation, but they might delay it a bit.

When you compare the dosage rates of the 2 products vs. their ingredient strength, it appears that the stabilizer ingredients work out the same. The Marine formula works out to have more cleaner, which makes no sense to me since ethanol is an excellent cleaner already.

I also like the propaganda that advocates that alcohol based gas additives don't make sense to be added to alcohol blended gas.

Just sharing what I have learned. We really don't have much facts about stabilizers beyond anecdotal evidence. The motor cycle guys seem to hate Stabil with a passion.


Cool! Thanks for sharing. I have used/still using (irregularly) 1-2-4 trimethylbenzene based fuel stabiliser on regular E10 gas, and it seems effective so far.

I'm not too concerned with how effective regular Sta-bil red is to me, for typically, our cars (wifey's camry and my fit) goes through gas so quickly (wifey's 55L goes through in 6 days; my 32L goes through in 2 weeks), that frankly, I only add red into the fuel tank when we travel during hot summer months; winter months, not so much.

I also use 1-2-4 trimethylbenzene in Coleman fuel (I'm an avid Coleman collector) to stabilise it for prolonged storage (emergency use, such as power outage, etc.).

I recently started using Marine Sta-bil in mower maintenance (as opposed to regular red), so not sure how well it will work through my winter months. Lase dose of red in my 1 imp. gallon mower can ended up being a bit stale (petro-can, with 4L of gas within , dowsed to the proper 1Gal(US) treatment ratio.

I have, in the past, used B&S fuel treatment with great success; all my mowers, pressure washers, etc. fuel tank and carb are still in great shape. I can see that B&S recently introduced an extremely potent fuel stabiliser in the market, which claims to contains additional metal deactivators to minimise carb corrosion (damage). I would like to get my hands on them.

I don't diss any Sta-bil products so far (I'm still using red every now and then), and phase separation doesn't seem to matter much in my case (I have proper storage w/o humidity trouble). My aim has always been the additional anti-oxidation qualities possibly found in marine-stabil or similar products so as to keep the carb jet clean, and also keep the formed insoluables (as gas decomposes, it does form some kind of solids)in suspension.

Cheers,

Q.

BTW: don't get me started on those claimed "jack of all trades" OTC additives for I'd rather add a small cup of kerosene (I stock them for emergency also) into my gas to get that placebo effect than giving my hard-earned mullah to Turdle wax Co.
 
last time I checked, the Pri-G website has really toned down their marketing claims. Just a few years ago they had a whole section of "white papers" and "research" on just how great their product was. Seemed too good to be true.

Off topic: I have MANY great memories of tent camping and Coleman lanterns and stoves. It was pretty much a must-have status symbol of any real camper. We still have our 30 year old, operating units. Pumping the tanks and burning the lantern wicks to "ash" still fascinates me.
 
Hm, we use stabil red for winterstoring the boat which is 7 months here. Although we seem to have better quality gas here, I use it anyway trying to keep things in order.

I also uses the B&S Fuel Fit in some of the small equipment at the farm and it really seem to work well, including easier starts which is good for grandma.

Reflection on storage of fuel fit (maybe stabil too): Found one of the small pouches with it, maybe two years old, and 2/3 of it was gone! Evaporated though the container plastic! So, maybe that's the issue with storing stabil etc, it just evaprates even if unopened!

(over here, the kerosene pump lanterns and stoves are Primus brand. Just love the hissing sound and heat!)
 
Thanks for your tips everyone. I may check out B&S's Fuel Stabilizer -- as the new rider (picking up today) has a nice B&S engine.

I'll also check puregas.com (hadn't heard of that one). (I'm guessing it's pure-gas.org)
 
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