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| HI...I usually hang out on the cooking, quilting, sewing forums but have a problem with my Weedeater Featherlite GTI15 trimmer. It started giving problems last year and at the beginning of this season, had a tune up done...new fuel line, spark plug, general cleaning. Still wouldn't run properly....hard to start, ran for short time, quit and could not be started. Tried adjusting the carburator myself and only made things worse (I think). Took to a dealer/repair shop to get it back in working order, and the repair guy said it was probably the ethanol in the gas that was causing the problem. He said there is an additive you can put in your gas that will help counteract the problem with ethanol. He would check it out and let me know. I did a google search on ethanol in small engines and find there is a problem with this fuel's shelf life, water attracting properties, etc. Ethanol seemingly causes major problems with boats or so the search revealed.
My question is have any of you found this to be an issue with your grass trimmers, lawn mowers, chainsaws, etc. Or is the repair person setting me up for a huge repair bill? Plus I just want to know. Never gave any thought to the enthanol gas we now buy for our cars. Thanking you in advance for any input. Murphy 62 year old grandmother who does her own yard work!! |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by kompressor (My Page) on Fri, Jul 23, 10 at 8:55
| Your repairman is correct and so is your research. These ethanol fuels are not a problem if they are consumed quickly in the engine. The problem lies with all equipment that has a tendency to get unused for long periods and boats are also one of those items that get put into storage in the off-season. For boat owners, this issue has been horrendous and often expensive. As I understand it, some boat owners have had to pay to have their tanks removed because there was no way to clean the bad fuel out of the tank. This meant cutting up the old tank that had been installed as the boat was being assembled but could not be removed due to the access hatch being too small. On some of the older outdoor power equipment engines, carbureter floats were made from a foam material which performed just fine in pure gasoline but began to swell when in contact with gasoline containing ethanol. This swelling caused the float to jamb against the side of the floatbowl causing engine flooding or fuel starvation. The current thinking is that these ethanol fuels should be consumed within 30 days of purchase to ensure no problems. I'm not aware of any fuel stabilizers available that will guarantee no problems but others are free to comment on this issue. You should purchase small quantities instead of filling a 5 gallon gas can like we used to do. After 30 days, dump whatever is in that gas can into your vehicle and burn it up. Run your outdoor power equipment until the engine uses up all the fuel in the tank when storing the item for winter. You can use a turkey baster to remove the greater amount of fuel from most tanks and squirt that fuel into a gas can. It is unwise to do this procedure indoors or while smoking your pipe, cigar, cigarillo or cigarette. |
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| STA-BIL 22240 Marine Fuel Stabilizer - 32 oz. Product Description STA-BIL 22214 Fuel Stabilizer - 32 Fl oz. Product Description |
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| Yes most gas have ethanol and has to be used in 30 days. I use Marine StaBil ( blue color) and I still would not keep it over 4 months. Supposing good for a year but I won't push it. Water absorbed by ethanol is the major cause of problem. These gas turn bad, turn into gum and block the passage inside of the carb. SeaFoam is very good in cleaning gum out of the carb if you can still start it. Use regularly to keep everything clean. New equipments should have design to use gas with alcohol, the old equipments are a different story. |
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- Posted by murphy_zone7 (My Page) on Sun, Jul 25, 10 at 6:00
| Thank you all for your responses. Kompressor for confirming what I had learned, Loger for the info on stabilizers, and Yungman for the info on storage. I evidently missed the memo, email, letter, news, whatever that came out about the ethanol in gas and the potential problems. :) Lessons learned: 1 -purchase only small amount(1 gal) of gas at a time. Use quickly within 30 days or discard. 2 - get it out of weedeater asap when the weed season ends or when I am not going to use weedeater within 30 days or less. Thank goodness I learned all this with a weedeater not a boat!! Murphy |
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| I personally use fuel with Sta-Bil up to a year without draining any fuel (boat, lawn mowers, blowers, trimmers and chain saws). This is at last 3 years w/o any problems. Plus, I feel many boaters and others have changed their philosophy on storing boats etc.. Such as, leave the fuel in with Sta-Bil, "mainly an additive to counter Ethanol’s moisture and deteriorating effects" and you will have better internal protection, "Off Season". loger |
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| Just below this thread is a long thread on Weedeater's Featherlite trimmers and ethanol that are interesting. loger Ethanol Fuel in small engines a problem??? Featherlite weedeater |
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