Log On Today - Fish On Tomorrow! ™
(603) 731-1804 / (603) 344-8698
I stole this idea from the Lake Champlain forum, but it is a good one. Can we set up a sticky and anyone who knows of a stations or marina that sells ethanol free gas could post to it. Might be a bit late this year but we could have a pretty good list ready for next year. If it saves one outboard it will be worth it.
Throbbin Rods
Hey Bill, I'm pretty sure they did this at the beginning of the season, and If memory serves me correctly, there is not one single marina on winni that does not have ethanol in their gas any more. I personally haven't had any problems, (probably cause we put a bit of stabil marine in our tank every time we fill up?) but I do know of one person up here that fishes with us with his boat, that lost the top end of his big 115 older evinrude. Was it because of the ethanol? Mechanic wasn't 100% sure, but figured it had something to do with it. Unfortunatly it ended up costing him over $1000 to fix it. Take Care God Bless LOL Dave
At Squam, all marinas have Ethanol in their gas. Also all local stations have Ethanol in their gas.
Louis
I haven't found anywhere without ethanol now. I was told by my mechanic to run as much as possible out of the tank in the fall before winter storage.
I had an issue with my fuel injector clogging 3 years ago on my 2 year old Merc 40 and brought it to my dealer (Greenes Marine in Hooksett). They dropped everything to help me and fortunately had a spare part on hand...anyhow he told me the issue happens when you mix ethenol with the old MBTE gas which caused a toothpaste like build up in the injectors. He said that only happens when you mix the two.
At that time, he said the state was implementing state wide switch over from MBTE to ethenol from south to north and at that time Winni was "on the conversion line" so he had many boats with tanks full of ethenol that then filled at Winni with MBTE and he had a long line of these specific issues. Since then I imagine the entire state is now converted.
I think the big problem now with ethanol is it acts as a GREAT solvent and breaks loose particals that then drop down deeper into your fuel system until eventually you have this issue...though I haven't had any problem with ethanol since and am careful not to put MBTE gas in the tank.
ive been running the ethynol for a while now, since mass turned over a couple years back. run that tank dry, i only put a days needs in the tank this time of year and keep a separate tank just in case. also dont forget to pull the gas line off the motor while running to empty the carbs if you dont fog, i never fog at the years end and have never had an issue in the spring when i do this with any gas. so far my only prob with the ethynol is a split gas line that softened up, but that line was origional on my 92 merc so cant really blame the ethynol.
What size engine are you talking,I'm guessing it's an outboard? Not fogging? do you spray any oil in the plug holes?
92 115 merc 2 stroke, and an 99 6 horse evinrude 4 stroke. im bad with maintanaince in the fall, ive never fogged an engine except for the first year when i bought the merc in 92. ive never changed lower end oil in the fall either, always come spring. never have used any stabilizer product either. done everything wrong but no problems yet. i used to have water problems in the gas come spring so i found no gas in the tank worked better for me. maybe ive just been lucky but its always worked for me
You don't check your lower unit for water in the oil,NOTHING? Do leave this boat in the freezing weather? You're one lucky fella.
nothing, some winters i didnt even cover it, just shoveled it out on occasion. LOL
I heard that EVERY place has it now and the state is moving towards 20% instead of 10%
west alton marina carries valvtect gas. Not sure exactly what it is but it is suppose to be a better type of fuel than etanol
Don't know of any without ethanol anymore nor would I target it since most places have it. Better to be consistent and not mix. I mixed last year (not on purpose) and it took a couple of tanks to clear up. Motor ran awful. If you don't buy your gas at the same exact place all of the time, you run that risk.
15% is being talked about but would be very very bad for us with outboards (and other motors). Ethanol is a self made / man made issue within itself.
I have been buying / using kayaks lately. They don't seem to have any issues with ethanol (so far).
It is my understanding That valvetec is only an additive just like starttron or stabil,you can buy it at any West Marine. I think it still has ethanol in it. Jump in here Gus and give us the real story.