Re: Ethanol free gas for ?58 861?

Tim PloughNman Daley RIP · Nov 17, 2018

The debate over ethanol in gasoline will go on forever but the truth is you do not need to run it in your old Ford tractors. You are right about one thing -farmers would run whatever was available back when. Kerosene, alcohol, white lightnin', et al, were used in a pinch. You are also kidding yourself and wasting your money on 'snake oil' products like STABIL -it doesn't improve anything except maybe clean some gunk. It is mainly mineral spirits and you get the same thing from paint thinner and charcoal lighter fluid. I have yet to see any hard data to confirm this or any other 'additive' improves anything. Since ethanol free gas costs at least a buck more per gallon, another reason to think about where you spend your hard earned $$$. My 8N sat for a year. This past summer I went to start her up, installed my battery that had been on a Battery Tender since I parked it, and it fired right up and ran fine with the full tank of gas that I put in it when parked.

Tim *PloughNman* Daley(MI)

Sean in PA · Nov 17, 2018

I agree mostly, but I do think that Stabil, or any other similarly concocted additive, helps decrease the amount of "varnish" that builds up in a carb if it sits for an extended period with old gas in it. At least that has been my experience. I have a wood chipper with a 8hp Tecumsah engine that I needed to take apart the carb and soak it in carb cleaner if it hadn't been run in more than 6 months. I started using Stabil in it 8 years ago and I haven't had to do that since and it has sat for as long as 2 years between running a couple of times. For the 5 years that I owned it prior to that I had to clean the carb at least once a year.

Eman85 · Nov 17, 2018

Somehow this got split into 2 threads.
With an old tractor I don't think it matters much as they'll run on most anything even old gas that smells like it's gone bad. Small engines are another story. Newer small engines have aluminum carburetors with tiny passages. It takes very little clog them and the only way to truly clean one is with a sonic cleaner. It's to the point where it's easier and cheaper to buy another carburetor if you leave gas in one over the winter. I've used Stabil with pure gas and it seems to help on rarely used small engines. You can run some race or AV gas through them and it will evaporate but leave them clean. Best bet is run the carb dry and drain the tank. Ethanol will draw moisture. As the gas evaporates the ethanol with water is left and makes a mess.

grayrider · Nov 17, 2018

Non-ethanol gas only costs about 35 cents a gallon more where I?m at. That?s all I?ll use in my old gas burner tractors, the ethanol ruins my carbs, gunking them up. Others claim they don?t have problems with it but I certainly do, wonder if my location could be the problem? High humidity here even in winter time, things sweat and rust from so much moisture in the air..

Michaels Dad · Nov 17, 2018

(quoted from post at 10:24:01 11/17/18) Somehow this got split into 2 threads.
With an old tractor I don't think it matters much as they'll run on most anything even old gas that smells like it's gone bad. Small engines are another story. Newer small engines have aluminum carburetors with tiny passages. It takes very little clog them and the only way to truly clean one is with a sonic cleaner. It's to the point where it's easier and cheaper to buy another carburetor if you leave gas in one over the winter. I've used Stabil with pure gas and it seems to help on rarely used small engines. You can run some race or AV gas through them and it will evaporate but leave them clean. Best bet is run the carb dry and drain the tank. Ethanol will draw moisture. As the gas evaporates the ethanol with water is left and makes a mess.

I've been told today's 2 cycle oil contain an additive much like Stabil.

grandpa Love · Nov 18, 2018

We use ethanol blend in our fords
because we use them alot and gas
never has a chance to go bad. In
the cub and MM we use 100% gas
they don't get used as much.

Re: Ethanol free gas for ?58 861?

Tim PloughNman Daley RIP

Well-known Member

Sean in PA

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Eman85

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grayrider

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Michaels Dad

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grandpa Love

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