My dad puts an additive to his gas in his boat because of the ethanol in today’s fuel. Should I be doing something similar for my 1970?

If yes, what?

What is the Ethanol doing that may cause a future problem?

I drive her almost every weekend and to work at least 3 times a month.

 

Nothing. Many of us having been using it for 20-30 years with no issues. Don't believe all the sky-is-falling hype you've heard.

Tell your dad that if he's going through gas at a decent rate on his boat, he doesn't have to worry about E10 either. It's when they sit with open vents for months that the problems occur.

 

I agree. The ethanol in fuel creates the most problems when it sits.

I use "pure" fuel purchased from my local Stihl store for use in my chainsaws, blowers, and weedeaters. Those are items that I use once every week to once every 2 months and the 1 gallon of mixed fuel can sit around for a long time. It costs more, but after having to rebuild nearly every carburetor in my 'fleet' at one time or another, it is worth the money. Both because of the need for reliability in these tools (chainsaw most of all) as well as the 'grumpy' performance exhibited as the ethanol takes its toll.

I do put an ethanol enzyme additive in my 'stored' fuel. I have a generator that I use to backfeed my house when without power and generally keep 10 to 15 gallons on-hand in addition to the 5 gallons inside the generator. I keep that fuel stablized and ethanol free. Used to be that I had a gas truck to burn off this fuel and turn my stock over now and again. I've since gone to diesel and am not sure where to put it...

Anywho, I may run an ethanol additive in my Corvette if I know she's going to be sitting for a while. Of course, I'm now 12 months into my engine rebuild project, so I'll have to drain the tank and replace. Again...not sure where I'm going to burn off all this darn fuel. Hate to put it in the wife's Volvo...dunno.

So, fresh, less than 2 month old 92 or 93 octane for me. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

I should add that my car sits for 6 months at a time over the winter with 'evil' E10 in it- no problems ever.

Small engines have always had problems when left to sit- E10 or not. This is nothing new and is why Seafoam was invented in the '40s.

Note that Stabil itself has a shelf life once the bottle is opened. A friend stored a snowblower with fresh gas mixed with five year old Stabil- clogged it up solid.

 

The only thing I put in fuel that's not going to be used for a while is butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). This is the active ingredient in fuel preservatives, like Stabil and others. It's listed as a food and petroleum antioxidant and preservative. A teaspoon treats 10 gallons of gas and is very, very cheap and has an indefinite shelf life. It is widely available. I don't fret over the 10-percent ethanol content.

 

http://pure-gas.org/

 

Same here with the six months. No problem with startup. I do use a small bottle of Stabil at the beginning of the storage period.

My problem here is that it won't stop raining!!! (An hour east of Mike W.).

 

So the sky is falling!

 

I have never seen a May and June like this! The rain never stops. Contrast that to the drought last summer. Another thunderstorm just rolled through. I'm driving tomorrow even if I have to put the top up!! Just 229 miles on the odometer in 2013.

 

i had to rebuild my carb,replace all the hoses,replace the primer bulb,and lucky enough i had replaced the fuel tank with polyethylene to get my '73 evenrude 85 hp engine to run properly.ethanol had done it's evil deed.the replacement gaskets,hard to believe they were still available,were slightly oversize to show the green color.never had an issue with this engine before so i know what caused it.this engine is now 40 years old and still running with a friend at the helm. so if you don't think ethanol has some effect on your engine well think again.it is all on youtube so if you want to see pm me.

 

http://www.goldeagle.com/brands/stabil/

 

Gaskets, hoses etc. made since about 1990 are ethanol resistant, prior to that it was hit and miss.

Your '73 boat motor was overdue for new stuff anyway.

 

E10 in my four stroke engines causes no problems. When I run it in a two stroke is when the problems begin. mike...

 

Why not just run an ethanol free premium fuel in your C3 and be done with it?
Its all I run in my 68.
If anything I would be more concerned with not having hardened valve seats in my older motor with todays no lead fuel.

 

I haven't seen any in my area for a very long time. In checking the "Pure Gas" map, it confirms that there is no non-ethanol, non-marina pump within 60 miles of me.

That would be the best fix, though...

 

Despite 35 years of hard experience of NO ONE having problems with non-hardened seats, this myth still lives on.............

 

When E15 replaces E10 at the pump, then we should have no problems in our collector cars...right Mike? How about E30? If E10 does not create problems, then what percentage does?

"EPA approved E15 before vehicle testing was complete, and we now know the fuel may cause significant mechanical problems in millions of cars on the road today," said Harry Ng, API vice president and general counsel.

 

 

We run Star Tron in all of our boats for storage and use. Minimal cost and great advantages. Sta-Bil works but will stain and is very hard to remove. In a vented tank, usually around 50 to100+ gallons you will start to see seperation after about 30 to 45 days. Enough to stall a motor is not filtered off. In more humid environments, ethonal fuel will absorb more water and seperate faster. An easy test. Put some E10 in a mason jar with a lid with numerouse holes on top for venting. Place on a shelf in your garage, Note the apperance and if any seperation occurs. Note, water will be at the bottom, alcohol will be slightly higher and low octane fuel will be on top. If you get no seperation, you will not have a problem in your car. Some gas pumps range from 7% to 15% ethonal, yes max is supposed to 10% but the mixing usually occurs at the station when fuel is delivered. NOT at the refinery. Some do not have a problem, I for one do not have any issues with the vette, I drive it alot, not stored, hence the fuel is always being replaced with fresh usually weekly or byweekly. Al

 

Be careful on this site. People keep posting that there is ethanol free gas here and there because of old stickers on the pumps. I looked at all the stations posted there and then checked the actual web site of the vendor.

ESSO/EXXON - we cannot guaranty ethanol free gas in any of our blends
SHELL was the only one that guarantees no ethanol in their V-power gas.

I only buy v-power gas for all my carb engines and buy crap gas for my daily drivers with fuel injections.

And if you think this doesn't matter, I had 5 carb engines at the cottage out of commission 2 years ago because of it. My sea-do, my 150 merc, my 9.9 merc, my 70 merc and my trimmer...what a bad year. The marine mechanic told me about what it does and showed me the orange spots in the fuel filters. Ever since then I ONLY buy Shell V-Power for my toys.

My 74 only drinks at Shell now, for as long as they guaranty it.

Ken

PS, Ethanol absorbs water, great for daily driver gas tanks, you don't need gas line anti-freeze any more, but imagine a marine tank sitting there all summer long with the vent open...it is a sponge for moisture in the air...it all ended up in my tanks.