Ethenol laced gas, almost got me

[Farmall Guy]

The title says it all. About 2-3 weeks ago I stopped at the local gas station (same station I've always used) and filled up the 2.5 gallon can mixed 50:1 with premium gas. I didnt notice a sticker on the pump so I figured all was well and since I have always got gas there I didnt bother to ask. The 046 and 066 plus dads 028 and 046 ran through about 2 gallons of that tank, no problems still starting and running just fine.

I filled up the 880 about a week ago out of this can, no problems at first but after about 1/2 a tank she was getting a little doggy and wasnt responding to the throttel as fast as it had before. I've only got 5 tanks of fuel through it so i figured the carb needed to be adjusted now that it has some time on it.

I took it down to the dealer and he tried to adjust the carb and dindt have any luck until he drained the fuel and put some fresh gas in. After that no problems, I'm glad I shut her down before anything got damaged by that crap gas. He was as confused by it as I was when I told him I was running premium with Stihl oil and it wasnt to old. His only explanation was ethenol or somthing goth into the fuel tank, being a new saw he said it was doubtful that somthign got into the tank. I stoped by the gas station on the way home to fill up the truck and sure enough there is now a sticker on the pump 10% Ethenol

I think i'm going to switch over to AV gas, my neighbors owns a small air plane so I'll ask him if he can get me some good gas. All the stations around here now are blended and the 2 that arnt have alot of water in there tanks so I dont buy from them for my truck let alone my saws.

Thanks for listening, just needed to vent a little. The trip wasnt a total loss though, I picked up a box of files and an 8 pin rim for the 880. The 7 pin on a 30" bar is unstopable so the 8 should make for a real good time

 

[jeeptj19992001]

I have been using the 10% in all my saws for the last year and i have not had any problems at all, you guys are all paranoid......

 

[Adam_MA]

From Stihl's FAQ

Will a 10% (E10) blend of ethanol hurt my chain saw, trimmer, or blower?
All STIHL gasoline powered engines are okay for use with up to a 10% (E10) blend of ethanol in gasoline.

 

[GASoline71]

I have been using the 10% in all my saws for the last year and i have not had any problems at all, you guys are all paranoid......

Yup...

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Gary

 

[Motodeficient]

I find it very doubtful that 10% ethanol is going to hurt a stock saw. Here there is 10% ethanol in ALL gas and I don't have any problems. If you are using a quality 2-cycle oil it will have additives in it anyway to make ethanol a mute point...


:spam:

:welcome:

 

[SteveH]

I have had no problems at all with the ethanol/gasoline sold here in Colorado. I believe it's up to 10%. I keep hearing it will cause me trouble, but fingers crossed no sign of it. I have weekly access to avgas but haven't bothered to switch, just run it in the old Beech. I'm not claiming there is zero problem with ethanol; I haven't seen it.

 

[Farmall Guy]

I dont know, like I said all of our other saws are running fine on it, the 880 for what ever reason didnt like it. May have been a fluke but I think I'll try to steer clear of the stuff just the same for the saws. The funny thing is my 066 has been running real well, starts on the 2nd or 3rd pull cold and dosnt miss a beat. With that stuff in the tank I could hardly get the 880 to start, I'm sure it didnt hurt anything but it didnt help its performance any when it was running on it.

 

[GASoline71]

Since it had sat for a couple of weeks before usin' it again... maybe a condensation buildup in the can?? Therefore a little bit of water???

Just a thought...

...and you did shake the container before you dumped it in the saw right?

Gary

 

[HimWill]

I dont know, like I said all of our other saws are running fine on it, the 880 for what ever reason didnt like it. May have been a fluke but I think I'll try to steer clear of the stuff just the same for the saws. The funny thing is my 066 has been running real well, starts on the 2nd or 3rd pull cold and dosnt miss a beat. With that stuff in the tank I could hardly get the 880 to start, I'm sure it didnt hurt anything but it didnt help its performance any when it was running on it.

I'm glad you dodged that bullet,sooner or later all of us will have an "ethanol experience".Most will not be as fortunate as you.We should learn from each others experience.I have gone to the "one gallon at a time" program,use it up in two weeks or dump it in the lawnmower.(The mower never ran better by the way.)

 

[boltonranger]

Well - I'll tell you...

E-10 does swell parts.
This season I brought my 260 in because the (fuel) flip cap was so hard to get on. The problem?
The o-ring had swollen and you needed 5-10 minutes to seat the cap.
Kept sticking the mechanism. 'Bout got a blister trying to work it in; let alone lock it.
O-ring was almost 1/8" bigger than it was supposed to be. The answer from the dealer?
Yeah...it's the ethanol. See it all the time.

Paranoia?
No; just lousy EPA laws making good equipment.. ahem.... suck.

-br

 

[Farmall Guy]

Since it had sat for a couple of weeks before usin' it again... maybe a condensation buildup in the can?? Therefore a little bit of water???

Just a thought...

...and you did shake the container before you dumped it in the saw right?

Gary

That was the only other posability that we could come up with, the 880 is not my go to saw for obvious reasons but I do try to run her every couple weeks if I can. Condensation may have been a factor but I didnt expect it to show up after just 2 weeks.

I always shake the can before dumping it into any of my saws, a little habbit I picked up somewhere quite a while ago. I also give the saw a few shakes before starting it after it sits for a few days. Probably not an issue but I figure it cant hurt and it dosnt cost anything to shake the saw a few times.

 

[skidooman93]

You guys are all paranoid about the ethanol. We have been running it here in MN for years. It is basically the only choice now. There are a few specialized stations that you can buy the none ethanol but very, very, very few. And you can only but it for small engines, collector cars, and things like that. The ethanol gas wont hurt 2 stroke engines as long as you run good clean fuel, and good oil. Actually the ethanol raizes the octane so it will run cooler than standard gas. Just make sure you are mixing 50:1 and you wont have any problems. I bet there was some water or something like that in the gas, not the ethanol that was causing problems.

 

[willsaw4beer]

I be there was some water or something like that in the gas, not the ethanol that was causing problems.

:agree2:

 

[knockbill]

E-10 does swell parts.
This season I brought my 260 in because the (fuel) flip cap was so hard to get on. The problem?
The o-ring had swollen and you needed 5-10 minutes to seat the cap.
Kept sticking the mechanism. 'Bout got a blister trying to work it in; let alone lock it.
O-ring was almost 1/8" bigger than it was supposed to be. The answer from the dealer?
Yeah...it's the ethanol. See it all the time.

Paranoia?
No; just lousy EPA laws making good equipment.. ahem.... suck.

-br

i agree,,, its mostly e-10 around here also, and i find i've been repalcing carb kits in most of teh small engines a heck of lot more often,, the saws, mowers and snowblowers seem to run ok on it,, but the carb diaphrams are dryed out and hard a lot sooner then they used to be,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Farmall Guy]

I seem to recal reading somewhere (proabaly here) that the blended gas attracts water more easily than the old stuff used to. I could be wrong but I seem to remember that from somewhere.


Its definatly posible that it was water contamination and not the ethenol itself, my dealer told me to steer clear of it if I could. Probably a non issue but I think I'll look for the old stuff and keep running stihl oil and premium un blended gas just the same.

 

[KRP]

The problem with alcohol blended gas is that it can attract moisture. This is OK if your engine uses the gas within a short period of time, ie: engines that are used often. If your engine sits for long periods of time, the attracted moisture can cause the gas to become acidic and separates's into some nasty goo, gum, crud, gel, smeck, you name it. Since most of us cannot get away from alcohol blended fuels, when an engine will sit for a while, the best thing to do is either leave the tank completely full with a stabilizer, or empty the tank and carb completely. Gas from the local pump is ment to be used in vehicles that are used often, gas companies blend gas for auto's, not small engines used occasionally.

 

[skidooman93]

The problem with alcohol blended gas is that it can attract moisture. This is OK if your engine uses the gas within a short period of time, ie: engines that are used often. If your engine sits for long periods of time, the attracted moisture can cause the gas to become acidic and separates's into some nasty goo, gum, crud, gel, smeck, you name it. Since most of us cannot get away from alcohol blended fuels, when an engine will sit for a while, the best thing to do is either leave the tank completely full with a stabilizer, or empty the tank and carb completely. Gas from the local pump is ment to be used in vehicles that are used often, gas companies blend gas for auto's, not small engines used occasionally.

:agree2:

 

[outdoortype]

This is kind of a pain, but has been working so far

During the summer months I mix up small amounts usually 24 or 48 oz. About every 60 days I dump out whatever is in the saw and add a very small amount of fresh gas. Start the saw up, let it idle for a few minutes and then rev it up a few times. I record the date so I know when to switch.

 

[Farmall Guy]

The problem with alcohol blended gas is that it can attract moisture. This is OK if your engine uses the gas within a short period of time, ie: engines that are used often. If your engine sits for long periods of time, the attracted moisture can cause the gas to become acidic and separates's into some nasty goo, gum, crud, gel, smeck, you name it. Since most of us cannot get away from alcohol blended fuels, when an engine will sit for a while, the best thing to do is either leave the tank completely full with a stabilizer, or empty the tank and carb completely. Gas from the local pump is ment to be used in vehicles that are used often, gas companies blend gas for auto's, not small engines used occasionally.

That makes sense, I thought I remembered hearing that before. I try to use up my fuel with in a month or so, this was only about 2-3 weeks old so I didnt think there would be an issue. Oh well no harm done and I managed to learn a few things too so all is well.

I dumped the rest of that batch of fuel into my 1959 John Deere crawler, then rinsed the can out a couple times with clean gas and dumped that into the crawler also. Tomarrow I'll go to another station that I was told still has unblended gas (I forgot about them earlier) and fill up there. Its about the same distance from home and the price is about the same so I'll just use them now.

I dont recal the last time the can was rinsed out so it very well could have been a couple different factors all adding up to give me this issue. From now on I think I'll rinse the can out before each fill up to get any dirt or water out of the bottom before dumping good fuel and oil back in. I keep the fuel can in the shop and try my best to keep it clean but rinsing it out isnt going to hurt and theres always a tractor or lawn mower to dump the gas into. They're a little more tolerant when it comes to dirt and water than the saws are.