Featured Interesting postings on other forums re wear and fuel stabilizers

I saw that and was very surprised! I've always used Sta-Bil but am careful to not let the gas in the can get over 6-months old. (And I never leave gas in my small engines when they are stored during the off-seasons.)
A good tip is always get the highest octane gas you can buy for those smaller engines....really makes a difference.

 

Oh wow. Main ingredient hydrotreated petroleum distillates. That was my day job, I hydrotreated petroleum distillates for a career, "Hydro" short for Hydrogen of course. lab and commercial. But I was a "process" person who makes the stuff. not a "products" specialist with focus on additives. I would say the flammability has to do with evaporative losses of C4's, C5's etc. In some of my density tests reported here years ago, I saw 5% evap loss through a regular plastic...special gaso storage cans are treated to reduce that. One of the eco problems with E10 over E0 is that the alcohol tends to cause more evap losses basically it forces hydrocarbons into the vapor space. This was why California was slow to adopt E10 back in the day. Of course the fix was to force oil companies to heavy-up the gaso so adding ethanol was less problematic. Gee I don't know what chemistry is going on with the metal. Normally with fresh gaso you have vapor space filled with C4's C5's etc. and that keeps out O2/water and a fuller vessel would help. Once the C4's C5's are lost I guess air/moisture gets in there. I've gone to Hybrid car and EV mower, so I am about out of the gas can business. But I used to add Stabil to the gaso can.

 

Nice to know that Sta-bil really works! I always put that stuff in my small engine gas cans. My two stroke gas usually goes almost a year, before I could use it all.

 

i put stabil in our snowblower a few years ago. but it hasn't snowed since, and i wonder if it will start.

 

I'd dump out any remaining fuel and put some fresh gas in it. You'll have issues starting it; due to the old gas and what's left in the carburetor; but a few burst of starting fluid should take care of that.

 

High test around here is ethanol free.

 

I’ve got a mostly full bottle of StaBil, must be 2 decades old, not sure what to with it, responsibly. Add a 1/2 cup after each fillup??

 

Lawn tractor?

 

Where to add the occasional 1/2 cups? It’d be the Prius.

 

I've burned miscellaneous stuff in small quantities at a time in the lawn tractor. Mineral spirits comes to mind, if I recall correctly, lol.

 

Yep I'll dump anything left in my 2-gallon gas can into my Tundra every 6-months to ensure it's fresh. I've learned it's a big mistake to let gas sit in tiny engines like my gas weed wacker....end up taking it apart to clean out the varnish from the old gas and oil.

 

Maybe I’ll just pour it onto a tray of kitty litter, a cup or so at a time, let it vaporize. It’s what I do with used brake cleaner spray. I do try to minimize use of such stuff.

 

I rotate my fuel every 6 months so for me the best fuel stabilizer is no stabilizer........
I've never had any problems and my now 20 year old Zero-turn is still running and cutting grass.

MY mileage.
Yours might vary.

 

Donate it to any small engine repair shop or independent equipment rental company. They're a dying breed, but we still have a few mom & pops still operating.

 

There's a guy up our block that'll take most anything; I gave him a can of degreaser, stuff was ancient but I'm sure still effective. Still, if I recall correctly the Stabil says to use within two years, and I may have had it closer to 20 years, lol.

Not sure I want to spoon-feed our garage queen with it, likely going the evap in kitty litter route.

 

we have a yearly hazardous waste pick up

 

We've got a nearby place for motor oil, but they won't take brake fluid. I've dropped it off at dealership before, hey I bought the new stuff from them, and they do a lot of brake jobs. Ditto for used coolant.

 

Fuel stabilizers are primarily because the corn lobby profits off of poisoning our fuel supply with Ethanol, which absorbs water... It's absolutely essential to use ethanol-free gas on small engines like lawnmowers because fuel stabilizers don't work as well as eliminating the original cause of the problem. This website will help you find no-ethanol gas: Pure-gas.org - ethanol-free gasoline in the U.S. and Canada