What additives in gasoline ruin the rubber parts?

[Fordiesel69]

I found a youtube video from Steves Small Engine Saloon, titled "The ugly Truth Why Gas Station Fuel Is Bad For Small Engines"

He claims that not only is ethanol to blame, but that the benzene, and olefins plus other alphabet soup words cause degradation of the fuel pump diaphrams. He also mentions it in the walbro spring diaphram video as well.

So I was looking for clarification, by me purchasing E0 ethanol free fuel of any brand, am I eliminating all of these issues? Or is there still bad chemicals in there? I have refreshed my carburetors and fuel systems overall so I have no timeline to compare, but I fully switched to E0 starting in 2014.

It is unfortunate, all of our brands sell 90 octane in ethanol free, nothing higher unless you get a pail of race fuel, or low lead at the airport which they dont want to deal with the public.

 

[b_b]

i just run stabilizer and don't have to touch nothing. all my equipment started in few pulls after sitting up for months with mixed gas and stabilizer in them.

 

[Rand]

is he sponsored by motomix?

 

[Ride_Red]

I haven't had any problems with pump gas. As long as I do my part to winterize my equipment, they always start in the spring.

I've had the clear type fuel line harden up on two-cycle weed trimmers, but other than that, 15 or more years out of a rubber fuel line on mowers, motorcycles and outboard motors is decent life.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Alcohol is different than petrochem. 30 years ago some hoses and plastics couldn't handle the alcohol portion - it likely softened it. I would have to imagine most of those parts have degraded away. Anything built in the last 30 years I imagine is fine.

Most don't want ethanol in small engines because it absorbs water, and in a small engine with a carb that may sit a while, that is bad. I only use E0 in my small engines, but only for that reason.

 

[dadto2]

So the benzene and other alphabet soup words are the actual components of gasoline. In other words, the guy wants you to believe that your small engine isn't designed for gasoline and you need to buy his can of magic unicorn tears.

 

[Nukeman7]

I like a lot of information in most of Steve's OPE videos; however, he is way out of perspective on this one concerning the use of canned alkylate fuels. In theory, the canned fuels like Stihl's Motomix will be more stable in OPE when placed in LONG TERM storage such as 2-3 years. However, E-0 fuel will not degrade significantly in OPE that is seasonally stored for 3-6 months. Therefore, it is a waste of money to use Motomix year round or for storage through the winter. As for the benzene and olefin content, those are just normal components of refining gasoline...from E-0 to E-85. Steve's argument is akin to saying that your laundry will come out cleaner and more pure if you fill the washing machine with distilled water instead of tap water. While it may be theoretically true, it is impractical and cost prohibitive.

Think back 45 years ago when non-ethanol gas was the norm at the gas station pump. Did any of the fuel lines, carburetor diaphragms and rubber gaskets degrade quickly due to benzene or olefins? Of course not! The problems only started when ethanol was introduced in "gasahol" in the 1980's.

 

[Boomer]

Benzene and toluene and some other aromatic organics are used to increase octane rating. This became more prevalent after lead was removed in the 1970's. 93 octane will have more of these than 87 octane. It is the duty of the rubber parts supplier to use the proper rubber (ie nitrile rubber or other fuel resistant rubbers) to make resistant parts. If your rubber parts are disintegrating with gasoline, you have cheap parts, maybe sourced from China. EPDM rubber, for example, is very easily swollen and even disintegrated by petroleum products like gasoline and lubricating oils. However, it is frequently used to make colling system hoses and belts for engines.

 

[Nessism1]

I think the oxygenated fuels are worst on rubber. Even Viton doesn't like that stuff (Viton B grade is more resistant than A grade).

For a garage gasoline can, I think regular E10 with stabilizer is okay, but I'd try to fill up before the "summer blend" comes out.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The last OPE engine I dealt with was an old Briggs flathead lawn mower. There were no problems using E10 from the pump.

I notice the cans pictured in the video say 50:1 for two strokes. That makes a difference. One of the top comments mentions people not knowing how to mix fuel properly, which again, only needs to be done with a 2-stroke (the correct gas to oil ratio, such as 50:1 on the cans in the video). There is no mixing with a 4-stroke. Possibly, people are either not using oil in the 2-strokes, or just not using the correct amount of oil for the amount of gas.

And of course, many others saying that the ethanol is the only real problem.

90 octane is sufficient. As long as it's E0, even 87 is fine.

Another option is diesel. There are small diesel engines available on Amazon end eBay, so they might be a good option as long as you're not in California

 

[JohnnyG]

Nope!
The problem with his theory is that non-ethanol fuel, or even canned fuel, contains all of the other chemicals that he blames for the degredation.
Yet, many that use the non-eth fuel won't have these issues.

 

[kschachn]

Meh. I’ve lived in an EPA nonattainment area for decades, and all we’ve had is oxygenated fuel since the 1990s. Most of that time it’s been EtOH that’s added to the fuel. I own some old OPE including a 33 year-old Toro lawnmower and I’ve never really had any sort of issue with the gasoline. By no means have I seen these supposed horrific issues they people often report. And I don’t always drain the fuel during the off season.

Not that I really want to run this fuel but it’s a nearly half hour drive out of the county to buy E0 and so far I just don’t see the reason.

I also wonder why some people have this problem. Shouldn’t the OPE manufacturers have stepped up their game by now? Many large metropolitan areas have reformulated gasoline mandates, is everyone suffering because the manufacturer is using improper materials for these markets?

 

[Fordiesel69]

Meh. I’ve lived in an EPA nonattainment area for decades, and all we’ve had is oxygenated fuel since the 1990s. Most of that time it’s been EtOH that’s added to the fuel. I own some old OPE including a 33 year-old Toro lawnmower and I’ve never really had any sort of issue with the gasoline. By no means have I seen these supposed horrific issues they people often report. And I don’t always drain the fuel during the off season.

Not that I really want to run this fuel but it’s a nearly half hour drive out of the county to buy E0 and so far I just don’t see the reason.

I also wonder why some people have this problem. Shouldn’t the OPE manufacturers have stepped up their game by now? Many large metropolitan areas have reformulated gasoline mandates, is everyone suffering because the manufacturer is using improper materials for these markets?

It would appear that husqvarna is using the blue plastic fuel pump diaphrams and spiral spring type metering diaphrams on the new mark II chainsaws to combat this issue. But all the clone engines still grown white corrosion and fuzz during storage.

I have also had failures with only techumseh carburetors even when using E0.

 

[Ride_Red]

It would appear that husqvarna is using the blue plastic fuel pump diaphrams and spiral spring type metering diaphrams on the new mark II chainsaws to combat this issue. But all the clone engines still grown white corrosion and fuzz during storage.

I have also had failures with only techumseh carburetors even when using E0.

I use fuel stabilizer and add 1oz of TCW3 2-cycle oil to a 5 gallon can of pump gas. I use this year round in my OPE engines and generator. Drain the gas tank and run the carburetors dry before storage and it leaves a thin oil film on everything to prevent corrosion and drying out of hoses and gaskets.

You can use a higher concentration oil mix if you like, but so far 1oz oil : 5 gal gasoline (1:640) seems to work fine for me. Lately, I've been using up a can of 40:1 TruFuel left over from when I had a gas weed trimmer. I'll drain the tank, pour a 1/2 cup of that 40:1 TruFuel in the tank and run the engine until dry.