Gas treatment

What is the best gas treatment for gas these days with
ethanol in it . I have been running B 12 chemtool for years
but that must not be working anymore. I have a trail wagon
run about like tractor supply sells . It is about a year old have
been running it in there since new and now it will not run so I
took it to get it worked on and they told me bad gas
everything was plugged up.

First, I don't think there is a magic bullet for Ethanol contaminated gasoline. The ethanol seems to soften the rubber parts, warp or swell the plastic parts and to top it off, it draws moisture out of the atmosphere which causes corosion of all the metal fuel system parts.

The best stuff we have seen in the shop where I work is Startron, but even some customers who run it (at least they say they do) still have fuel/carb. problems.

I got my boss to use startron in his equipment. Chain saws,weed eaters and mowers. He is happy with it says it works great. I use it also with good results. Also Sefoam works well.

Man I am getting tired of misinformed ethanol stories.

No. 1 we have been using ethanol in the midwest with few problems for 40 years. Why? Cause our fuel systems are clean.

Ethanol will clean up your fuel system and once you get it clean your problems will go away like they have in the midwest.

I have been burning ethanol since 1973. Started burning it in a 1971 Ford Torino. Changed the fuel filter twice and that is the only fuel related issue I have had in 40 years and countless engines. Maybe 50 engines.Tractors and lawn mowers included. I did have one issue with a fuel line on a weedeater about 25 years ago.

Ethanol does not pull moisture out of the air. It pulls water out of contaminated fuel tanks. It does not come in cact with air long enough to suck it out of the air.

Once you guys to the east, south and west get your fuel supplies cleaned up, your problems will be cleaned up as well.

Gary

IaGary Well said!!!!!!!!!!! Gerald

I hear ya Gary. I like the guys who hate ethanol and think SeaFoam, whose main ingredient is isopropyl alcohol, is the best stuff going.

Your right on Gary. Generator sat for over a year with 10% in it and it started on the first pull and never missed a beat when I took it to work. Have run nothing but E-10 since new 12 years ago. Same results with every other thing that I own that burns gas.

Keep throwing your money away as it provides jobs for those making the product and those who use it end up getting things fixed because using additives. Weve been using the gasahol for more yrs than i can just remember without any problems maybe in your states they dont know how to mix.

How in the world does ethanol draw moisture out of the air? The fuel is in a sealed tank with a vent. Yes, moisture laden air comes in the tank through the vent as the temp cools or as fuel is consumed but 'evil ethanol' doesn't magically 'suck' the moisture down into the gasoline/alcohol in the tank. Think it over, how can ethanol suck moisture into gasoline? The alcohol in ethanol does emulsify the water condensation that runs down the inside of the tank and blends it in with the fuel so it can be burned through the engine. Without alcohol in the fuel the water settles to the bottom of the tank and we do know what kind of problems that causes, or maybe the ethanol haters just ignore the rust flakes.

When I go to fire up a tractor that's been sitting for a year with ethanol in the tank (yes, the tank should have been drained!) there is no condensed water in the tank or the sediment bowl. There is no gum or goo in the carb or anywhere else for that matter. Does the gas smell different after a year, yes, gasoline goes bad. The alcohol in the gasoline does not go bad.

I used to store my 10% ethanol in a 500 gal tank that I had used for years, back when all of the tractors and the combine were gas. Through the years, as I changed to diesel, I just wasn't using ehough gas to justify that big tank, as I was only having it half filled every 9 months or so. We all know a partially filled tank will condense a lot of water on the inside, so I decided to start using a 200 gal overhead tank on stilts and use gravity flow to fill the tractors instead of using the electric pump I had on the 500 gal tank. So when it came time to retire the big tank I pumped it out until the pump wouldn't draw the fuel out anymore, and then I removed the plug in the bottom to let the rest of the fuel in the bottom of the tank out. Thinking there would be water in it I was just going to let it fly. When I unscrewed the plug, out came CLEAN WATER FREE fuel. I put the plug back in, got a pan to catch it along with a couple of pails so I could keep the stuff. I got 10 gallons of CLEAN ethanol fuel out and about a quart of rusty looking stuff right at the end. I strained it and poured the fuel in a gas tractor and it never sputtered or acted sick during the time it burned up the fuel. This is the fuel out of the very bottom of a tank that hasn't been drained for many years. There was NO water, ZERO, and this tank hadn't been completely drained for YEARS.

I remember the pre-ethanol days when we would have to pull the bottom plug to let the water out of the bottom of this same tank after enough water condensed and settled to the bottom to be sucked up by the pump, giving us sediment bowls full of water and crappy running tractors. This is when we filled the tank at least three times a year. During the past 30 years that I've used ethanol I only had water in a sediment bowl once and that was because I put gas in a pail that had water in the bottom of it. Then I poured the contents in the tractor tank. I have only had ethanol related fuel system problems two times. It was the accelerator pump diaphragms in a 1976 Plymouth with a 318, and an old carbureted Ford Ranger. Those are the only two problems I've had out of the umteen many vehicles and engines I've used it in. I ran a 73 Satellite for 297000 miles on mostly ethanol and the carb gave no problems, same with the 79 Dodge 360. In fact, I could advance the timing in the dodge a bit because of the increased octane, and it DID get slightly better mileage. Yes, I keep records. The accelerator pump problems only happend on the 76 Plymouth. Rant over!!!Jim

In things that get regular use and smei regular use, or seasonal, I never had any real problems, well in 2010 my MTD gold snowblower had a carb issue, but resolved itself, without disassembly.

I have one string trimmer that the fuel lines all cracked.

My Stihl MS390 saw eventually fractured its fuel line meaning many little cracks and eventually failed.

My '94 ford ranger which as been sitting over the years, the fuel pump distintegrated at the pick up, well whatever the material is, it turned to a nasty tar like goop, that got the tank dropped and flushed, new fuel pump, fresh fuel treated with startron.

My '96 F150, sat since '03 though run in the yard over the years fuel pump has done the same thing, won't get to that until it cools off again.

Now some of these things have sat a long time, I would attribute age and lack of use, I don't have a clue what the deal with gasoline is over long periods of time, just know its not good.

I have cleaned a lot of carburetors and installed rebuild kits over the years some of mine mostly other peoples stuff, but most of my small engine equipment did seem to have little trouble with the ethanol gas, just what has sat a long time, gasoline must eventually go bad, unless treated and or fresh gasoline is added and you use whatever it is a little more often.