Subaru 6 HP trouble starting(Mechanic in a bottle)

[henni]

One of our Ridgid washers with a Subaru engine has been sitting in warehouse for a few months and even after emptying carb bowl and old fuel, simply refused to start.

Put one half table spoon of Mechanic in a bottle into the empty fuel tank, filled with fresh fuel and tried starting with choke on. After sitting a few minutes, started, ran for 10 seconds and quit. Tried again in a few minutes and this time it ran for 2 minutes and died. The moment I would turn off choke it died. Let it sit for 30 minutes and tried again. Now it started running normal.

Lesson learned. Engines like to run. Not sit idle in warehouse.

 

[justalubetech]

If you have a station that sells it nearby, buy ethanol-free fuel for it ... ethanol and small engine carburetors do not get along

 

[Propflux01]

+1. The fact that it ran after a 30 minute "soak" is the tell-tale sign of old ethanol gas

 

[Merkava_4]

Get you a bottle of Sta-Bil from Lowes. Mix in 1 ounce per 2.5 gallons.

 

[JustinH]

Mechanic in a bottle is similar to sta-bil.

I am using it for winterizing a briggs small engine.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: jsfalls
If you have a station that sells it nearby, buy ethanol-free fuel for it ... ethanol and small engine carburetors do not get along


Interesting. I've been using E10 in all 7 of my small engines and 4 vintage carbureted tractor engines for 30+ years without a single fuel related issue. When should I expect it to "not get along" with all those carburetors?

Originally Posted By: Propflux01
+1. The fact that it ran after a 30 minute "soak" is the tell-tale sign of old ethanol gas


So ethanol free gas won't go stale and cause issues if left to sit for months at a time?
The issues he described are tell-tale of any stale fuel that has plugged jets in a carburetor. Since the original poster never mentioned the type of fuel that was in the engine at the time, you're doing nothing more than jumping to conclusions.

 

[boraticus]

Maybe in year round warm climates and poor handling/storage conditions, the E10 fuel has enough time to deteriorate?

I too leave E10 fuel for 5 to 6 months or more in plastic storage containers, usually over winter and yet to have a bad gas experience.

I have this 40 year old rototiller that gets used for about an hour a year in the spring. It has the steel fuel tank that I've cleaned maybe twice in that time. I change the oil every five years or so.

After use in the spring, I just wash it off, roll it away and leave it. The following year, I pull it out and the residual fuel in the tank definitely has that bad gas smell. All I do is add fresh gas, pull the choke, pull the rope once and it's running. Forty years folks.... No problems.

I agree that there is far too much hysteria and paranoia about E10 fuel.

If it was as bad as some people say, (insert fuel additive advocates here) we'd have carmageddon all over the highways and streets of North America.

Common sense tells me that the E10 hysteria is nothing more than a fuel additive sales campaign. And by the comments of many participants here, it's working!

 

[henni]

Normally this engine nor any others with regular fuel don't give any troubles and yes it had regular fuel without any stabilizer, likely gummed up jets a bit. This was similar to some honda inverter generators which refused to run until I soaked them for an hour with some M-i-B mixed in with new fuel.

Since I had to drain the fuel, took the time to swap out the CAT pump oil and the machine had only about 10 hours of use but the existing CAT oil was nasty dark. The replacement CAT iso-68 oil is blue in color, quite different than what came out.

 

[fxrider]

ethonal is no good for small engines. never use it.

 

[Propflux01]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
So ethanol free gas won't go stale and cause issues if left to sit for months at a time?
The issues he described are tell-tale of any stale fuel that has plugged jets in a carburetor. Since the original poster never mentioned the type of fuel that was in the engine at the time, you're doing nothing more than jumping to conclusions.



I based this on my personal experience with equipment that has sat for a few months with non-ethanol gas, and the same equipment that has again sat with ethanol gas in it. Perhaps jumping to conclusion? Maybe.... nevertheless, most of the nations gas is the ethanol blend and this is where my assumptions came in.

That being said, yes, you can use the 10% ethanol in engines without apparent issues.... IF you use the gas and not allow it to sit. It has been proven by many that the ethanol can affect certain fuel parts and cause issues especially during the "off season" when the equipment is not being utilized for several months.