Bye Bye 540xp

[NC Cutter]

Nobody should be running ethanol gas and really there's no need to.
Pure-Gas.org

 

[LittleLebowski]

Nobody should be running ethanol gas and really there's no need to.
Pure-Gas.org

Whatever, I checked and I'm not driving over an hour to get it.

 

[LegDeLimber]

How much time (and aggravation) are ya spending on fooling with vapor locked equipment?

 

[LittleLebowski]

How much time (and aggravation) are ya spending on fooling with vapor locked equipment?

Cumulative, about a minute, maybe a minute thirty seconds. I just waited a few seconds and retried, my little Dolmar didn't make it a huge issue.

 

[NC Cutter]

Where are you in VA specifically? I just looked at the map and there are only a couple areas you could live that would require a longer drive to get pure gas and they all look to be well short of an hour one way. VA is almost covered up in good gas stations. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Either which way, it's your equipment and your choice. I spent enough years watching my father ruin power equipment with ethanol that I'll buy the expensive premixed cans if I'm in a place where there is no pure gas conveniently located.

 

[LittleLebowski]

Where are you in VA specifically? I just looked at the map and there are only a couple areas you could live that would require a longer drive to get pure gas and they all look to be well short of an hour one way. VA is almost covered up in good gas stations. Maybe I'm missing something here.

Either which way, it's your equipment and your choice. I spent enough years watching my father ruin power equipment with ethanol that I'll buy the expensive premixed cans if I'm in a place where there is no pure gas conveniently located.

I'm in Nokesville.

There's already been a couple of very knowledgeable guys on here chiming in about the myth of ethanol. I'll just not leave my stuff sitting for a long while with gas in them and continue to use higher octane gas.

 

[Chris-PA]

Ethanol in fuel is dumb for a variety of reasons, but the only fuel system damage I've seen in years was from my dad storing fuel in inappropriate plastic containers. It left a white residue all through the carb, and glued the check valve shut. I could not disolve the stuff.

Before that it was fuel lines and a purge buld on my Echo string trimmer, but that was years before ethanol in fuel.

 

[NC Cutter]

I've seen the tests. I've watched petroleum engineers discuss ethanol's effects on engines. I've seen the damage first hand in equipment owned by friends and family.

There is absolutely no question ethanol damages engine components. This isn't tinfoil nuttery stuff, but proven fact. If you don't want to believe me, well that's like cool man.

 

[LittleLebowski]

I've seen the tests. I've watched petroleum engineers discuss ethanol's effects on engines. I've seen the damage first hand in equipment owned by friends and family.

There is absolutely no question ethanol damages engine components. This isn't tinfoil nuttery stuff, but proven fact. If you don't want to believe me, well that's like cool man.

Well, if you want to finance me buying the good premix, I'll provide a PayPal address

 

[jr27236]

Absolutely no stations near me and the one guy who sells e free (I believe pre mix) is $25 a gallon. I'm gonna get a $6 rebuild kit before I pay that. And if there is a day when this fuel kills (which I Doubt) my machines, the money I saved not paying $25/gal will pay for my new machine 10 times over. Cutter...What are they charging for that e -free by you? And the way stations were in the past about dumping 87 in the higher tanks and and selling it as such, how do you know your "truly" getting e-free. I'm sure the station is paying a higher premium for it.

 

[NC Cutter]

I haven't bought it for two weeks, but it was $3.59 then. I actually have three stations within 15 minutes drive. I know many guys are stuck without one so close. To them I'd say try to make it work. Maybe pick up a gallon or two when you head that direction.

 

[NC Cutter]

Finance you lol. You're the dude living in the Richey Rich district.

I got my Stihl string trimmer off a guy in Raleigh that had just moved from close to where you live. Dude had a large collection of impeccably maintained Stihl stuff. Not sure what he did for a living, but I'm guessing he was way over gunned for whatever he was facing up there. He claimed his yard here was smaller and just couldn't justify a fleet of high end, pro OPE. If I had more in the bank on that particular day, I would have raided his garage.

 

[jr27236]

Finance you lol. You're the dude living in the Richey Rich district.

I got my Stihl string trimmer off a guy in Raleigh that had just moved from close to where you live. Dude had a large collection of impeccably maintained Stihl stuff. Not sure what he did for a living, but I'm guessing he was way over gunned for whatever he was facing up there. He claimed his yard here was smaller and just couldn't justify a fleet of high end, pro ***. If I had more in the bank on that particular day, I would have raided his garage.

Keep his name and number for a rainy day when cash is good. Guys like that sometimes throw high quality stuff on the curb, because to them it's "just a saw" taking up room for his new golf clubs

 

[GeorgiaVol]

Ethanol fuels have been discussed numerous times. I am beginning to think it is a temperature thing. My ethanol free stuff last longer and doesn't have the same detrimental effects on my equipment as ethanol fuels. May have something to do with the high temps I see every year. After a season my mix ethanol fuel goes from the blueish green to a muddy brown if it is stored. Stuff is aweful after a season. Gums everything up if left in a piece of equipment. Maybe it just breaks down faster in 100 plus degree heat. I'm just glad I have stations around that sell ethanol free gas. Just got some yesterday for 2.79 a gallon. Regular was 2.19. So it was worth the price by far.

 

[7sleeper]

I've seen the tests. I've watched petroleum engineers discuss ethanol's effects on engines. I've seen the damage first hand in equipment owned by friends and family.

There is absolutely no question ethanol damages engine components. This isn't tinfoil nuttery stuff, but proven fact. If you don't want to believe me, well that's like cool man.

Of course we are all aware that there are problems with ethanol in modern high pressure injection engines. There is absolutely nothing to neglect about the facts. BUT I believe we should not leave out the clear fact that it has been known by the engine industry since almost two decades that ethanol would be introduced! And did they react accordingly? I believe we all know the answer to that...

More important I believe we should not exclude the facts that we are speaking about the most primitive engine design out there! Hardly anthing has changed since decades! We still have mixed fuel running threw a carb to be ignited by a spark plug. That the rubber parts are deteriorating is without a doubt clear. BUT who is to fault? As mentioned above this ethanol development has been known since almost two decades...

7

 

[GeorgiaVol]

When in doubt, blame Obama.

 

[LittleLebowski]

When in doubt, blame Obama.

Works for me.

 

[LegDeLimber]

I see jr27236 s point.
When MTBE fuels were phased out in my area, I went with that plan for a few years.

After about 5 seasons, I looked at the damaged equipment and lost time of repairing it plus just the aggravation of poor running when using it.
I saw that the math (parts costs), alone, was shifting Heavily in favor of going for the 50 mile round trip (3 trips a season).

of course after finding the Puregas.org site and a closer fuel station,
the area distributor stopped supplying E-free fuel to ALL of the stations in my area.

Nearest E-free, now, is about 35miles round trip.
It's just a little off the way to to a family members home, so that makes the trip a bit less of an annoyance at least.
.................
I've got some ugly pictures from the latest ethanol damaged carburetor.
But I still need to catch up with the owner of the saw and ask him about things like fuel storage and some history of the saw.
IF I can get some details of the history(s) then I'll post a thread for it.

 

[RYNOMAGNUM]

I have a 540xp , same problem. I will sell it cheap.

 

[Sean80]

I bought a 201tc and have been running it the last 4 months without a single issue. Starts first pull every time. The way these saws should.

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