Stabil Alternatives for Winterizing Carb and FI

[TexasTea]

Hey guys,

My apologies if this has been discussed ad infinitum, I was just wondering if there are any acceptable alternatives to Stabil for winterizing or long term storage of boats, carb'ed motorcycles and classic cars, and also fuel injected "modern" cars that dont get driven much.

I was curious if there is a one-size fits all product, like stabil, to use for winterizing vehicles with the ethanol fuel whether it be in a motorcycle with a carb, a classic mustang with a carb or a fuel injected crown victoria.

I was talking about this with my dad and I opined that "Fuel injector carb cleaner" might be a good product to use to store the vehicle with, he said that Stabil would work better, and now he believes he wants to switch from Stabil to Seafoam for price. Obviously I'd like to get the most value for my money as well, are these or any others true equal alternatives to stabil that will provide the same protection against the ethanol fuels in carb and FI fuel systems?

Thanks for any insight you all can provide,
Tex

 

[doitmyself]

You will not get any definitive answers here because they don't exist. You will get opinions based on anecdotal evidence.

"I use (insert Stabil, Pri G, Star Tron, SeaFoam, brand x) and it has worked fine all my life."

OR,

"I used (insert Stabil, Pri G, Star Tron,SeaFoam,brand x) and it gummed up my carb and never worked."

- Gas stores worse in the high heat southern states vs. up north.

- Improve your gas management practices, i.e. don't let it sit "too long" even with stabilizers.

- Study this following site. You need to dig around to uncover all the tidbits. It is a self serving site that IMO uses scare tactics about E10, but there is some educational info there:

http://www.fuel-testers.com/is_gas_additive_safe_with_e10_list.html

Regarding fuel stabilizers, about all you can do is collect as much info as possible and toss a coin on which one makes you feel good.

 

[Joel_MD]

I highly recommend you stay away from gasoline that contains alcohol for an engine that is in winter storage, whether it's a car, boat, tractor, etc. Sta-Bil has always worked well for me, but where I currently live it's impossible to find gas that's not blended with alcohol. I'll operate my boat and small engines with regular gas during the season, but to winterize I first run them dry to get rid of any gas/alcohol mixture in the fuel tank. Then I put either 100LL aviation gas mixed with Sta-Bil in the tank to winterize, or the engineered fuel (TruFuel, Briggs & Stratton, etc) that comes in quart cans sold at Lowes/Home Depot for $7/quart. The engineered fuel is already stabilized for storage so you don't need to add Sta-Bil.

There is a website that helps you find E0 (gasoline with no added alcohol) in your area. If you can find some E0, just winterize with that and a little Sta-Bil and you'll be good until the next season.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: TexasTea
Hey guys,

My apologies if this has been discussed ad infinitum, I was just wondering if there are any acceptable alternatives to Stabil for winterizing or long term storage of boats, carb'ed motorcycles and classic cars, and also fuel injected "modern" cars that dont get driven much.

I was curious if there is a one-size fits all product, like stabil, to use for winterizing vehicles with the ethanol fuel whether it be in a motorcycle with a carb, a classic mustang with a carb or a fuel injected crown victoria.

I was talking about this with my dad and I opined that "Fuel injector carb cleaner" might be a good product to use to store the vehicle with, he said that Stabil would work better, and now he believes he wants to switch from Stabil to Seafoam for price. Obviously I'd like to get the most value for my money as well, are these or any others true equal alternatives to stabil that will provide the same protection against the ethanol fuels in carb and FI fuel systems?

Thanks for any insight you all can provide,
Tex


Blue marine Stabil or Startron (also blue).

 

[Merkava_4]

Why look for an alternative to Stabil when Stabil works so well?

 

[Jimzz]

Gas is more stable than it once was so I have not had any problems just filling the tank up for winter and firing up in the summer.

My old 73 Chevy had gas in it that was at least 3 to 5 years old and it ran fine. I topped it off and was good to go.

My old motorcycle had gas that was 3 years old and was bad.

The difference was the Chevy was either covered/garaged and the tank was sealed. The motorcycle was left beside a garage outside and the gas cap leaked.

So fill and seal and 1 year should not be a problem.