High Quality Chainsaw Bars Husqvarna Toys

Sta-bil, PRI-G or Additive Free: Does it Matter?

mh9162013

New OPE Member
Local time
12:55 AM
User ID
13799
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
5
Location
KY
After more than two years, I finally finished my gasoline sample testing, where I compared various fuel samples in terms of their performance and ability to start in a 2-stroke engine.

My results: See attached pic for a summary chart of my data.

To get a better idea of what these results mean and their context, you can read my blog post: https://gadgetsoftheoutdoors.blogspot.com/2020/09/review-ethanol-free-gasoline-and.html

TL;DR: if you're gonna store your gasoline in a sealed container for less than 2 years, Sta-bil and PRI-G seem to perform the same. And if you don't use any additive, don't worry, your fuel is still very usable, although you'll notice some slight under-performance at full throttle.
 

Attachments

  • Gas.png
    Gas.png
    16.1 KB · Views: 28

legdelimber

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
8391
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
562
Reaction score
1,321
Location
N.C.
Country flag
Two years of storage is far beyond what many of us would ever, intentionally, do for a test.

I applaud your patience!

Cold starts would be nice to have, but I can appreciate how that would ad a heck of a lot of time to just that one portion of the test runs.
Then we're getting into the weather changes etc...

Couple more thoughts, but I'll wait to see if anyone else thinks they're worth bringing up.
I hope this thread gets some good feedback.
 

mh9162013

New OPE Member
Local time
12:55 AM
User ID
13799
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
5
Location
KY
Two years of storage is far beyond what many of us would ever, intentionally, do for a test.

I applaud your patience!

Cold starts would be nice to have, but I can appreciate how that would ad a heck of a lot of time to just that one portion of the test runs.
Then we're getting into the weather changes etc...

Couple more thoughts, but I'll wait to see if anyone else thinks they're worth bringing up.
I hope this thread gets some good feedback.

Thank you for the kind words!

Yeah, cold starts would have been nice, but there's no way I had the time to do that. Another issue would have been changing environmental conditions. After waiting a few hours, the ambient temperature, atmospheric pressure and humidity levels would have changed. I avoided this issue by testing all 9 samples in less than 90 minutes.

And yes, I'd love to get some feedback. My results are definitely not what I anticipated and I'm curious to hear what explanations people have for my results.
 

legdelimber

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
8391
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
562
Reaction score
1,321
Location
N.C.
Country flag
Yeah, I caught that rpm difference with ethanol.
Wondered what sort of tune differences you might have noticed. I.E. the "four-Stroking" effect if you percived a difference between non-E pump fuel vs E-blended fuel.
I can remember a slight bit of tuning optimization needed when I found the non-E fuel.

By the way, I'm a staunchly ANTI- ethanol blended fuel guy.
Some folks say they have no troubles with it, but it was costing me far too much in equipment upkeep.

I'll never knowingly put it into any of my OPE again.
whatever they sell as E-fuel, in my area, swells the float needle seats in Briggs carbs, makes fuel lines go stiff, causes diaphragms to stiffen and pucker, etc.
You'd almost think it was cut with a bit of lacquer thinner.
I drive to the next county to get my non-E-fuel now, because it saves me a lot of money on parts cost and aggravation of dealing with malfunctions.
I haven't had to rebuild a single carb since I got away from the local blend crap a few years back.
 
Last edited:

mh9162013

New OPE Member
Local time
12:55 AM
User ID
13799
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
5
Location
KY
I don't like ethanol blended fuel either, but I'll use it. I also try not to store my equipment at the end of the season having used ethanol fuel, but it depends on the equipment. Like my chainsaw and Echo PAS-225, I only store them after running TruFuel through them. That's because I rarely use those tools. They literally get a few hours of run time every few years.

Do you know how much ethanol is actually in your e-blended fuel? I have both blended and non-ethanol fuel available to me, but the sample of ethanol I got for my test was far less than 10%. I estimated it only had about 2.5% to 3.5% ethanol. Maybe that's why I don't have much trouble with it.

But my Stihl BR 600 has used ethanol fuel for 5+ years, and it's working just fine. However, I do store it only after having run the carb dry. Perhaps that makes a difference.
 

legdelimber

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
8391
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
562
Reaction score
1,321
Location
N.C.
Country flag
I've not bought any of the local fuel in a few years.
But the last that I had on hand or have dumped from a neighbors equipment gave varying results to the homemade test.
I just did the simple test by using a water bottle.
About 3/4 inch of water in the bottom. Just a quick estimate of the bottle height to guess at the ten percent "range" and eyeball it.
Mark the line for reference and then finish filling bottle with fuel. Cap it and shake well.
Next day look for rise of separation line/zone.
Ive seen it rise from about 1/4 inch to nearly double in height.
IF memory serves me, the worst one was from someone who had a habit of leaving their stuff out in the weather though.
So the tank contents were probably about saturated and well loaded before I hit it with the water test.

Probably should do a test on the latest I've got here in fuel jugs. Just gotten caught up in other things, so yeah it's been a while since the last water shake test.
 

legdelimber

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
8391
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
562
Reaction score
1,321
Location
N.C.
Country flag
I found a few old images of what the local fuel was doing to my neighbors equipment.
First two pics (carb body) are from one neighbors chainsaw. A Poulan from Lowes.
The other two (blue diaphragm and cover) are from a Troy Bilt trimmer.
Notice that gooey, brown gunk that looks like the fuel filter is breaking down, it's kind of pale yellow green in the trimmer carburetor.
Now look at that gray pasty stuff in the saw carburetor. I've got a dab of it on the tweezer tip.
It dried out into something hard like an oxide or fine gritty ash.
And yes, the saw had a bit of cylinder scuffing visible through the exhaust port.

Of course these are some of the worst messes I found.
I had more photos of other carbs, but deleted most of the milder ones after a while (needed the hard drive space).
I may still have a few of some Briggs & Stratton diaphragm damage. If I run across any, I'll post them too.
 

Attachments

  • chainsaw  IMG_2780 c1b 60p.JPG
    chainsaw IMG_2780 c1b 60p.JPG
    106.3 KB · Views: 20
  • chainsaw IMG_2780 26p.JPG
    chainsaw IMG_2780 26p.JPG
    76 KB · Views: 21
  • trimmer IMG_3679 c c c 40.JPG
    trimmer IMG_3679 c c c 40.JPG
    102.5 KB · Views: 20
  • trimmer IMG_3692 c 1 50.JPG
    trimmer IMG_3692 c 1 50.JPG
    107.7 KB · Views: 18
Last edited:

mh9162013

New OPE Member
Local time
12:55 AM
User ID
13799
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
5
Location
KY
Are those images from carbs that were stored during the off-season with the fuel having been run dry from the carb?

If I store equipment with fuel still in the carb, I've had problems restarting the next season. If they're "dry," I've had no issues (granted, I've only had a very small sample size of basically a backpack blower and a string trimmer).
 

legdelimber

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
8391
Joined
Jan 14, 2019
Messages
562
Reaction score
1,321
Location
N.C.
Country flag
I strongly doubt that either one was put away dry.
As you can likely guess, they were recently fueled when brought to my attention.
Edit: my stuff was run dry, (a fuel cut off in the line even on push mowers) Still had damage every year.

A new carb, fuel lines and fuel filter got the saw going again. That guys buys non-ethanol fuel now.
If memory serves me, the trimmer was discarded and that neighbor just switched to battery powered mower and trimmer.
I've not been involved in much of the neighbors equipment for last few years.
Seems I got a couple of non-ethanol converts going.
But then as this neighborhood gentrifies, many of the newer folks are just going with whichever yard crew will do it for the cheapest and don't even want to be bothered with the OPE now.
The lots are now being divided into smaller sizes than than mine is.
 

MACHINE

Pinnacle OPE Member
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
10069
Joined
Jul 29, 2019
Messages
1,070
Reaction score
4,957
Location
Broken Bow, Oklahoma
Country flag
Stabil and startron

Best combo i ever found

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
 

mh9162013

New OPE Member
Local time
12:55 AM
User ID
13799
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
5
Location
KY
Look at the "Fuel Alcohol Content" box ..................17.3%

Normal for the great commie state I live in !

But where did you get the fuel from? Did the pump say it was supposed to be less than 10%? What did you use to analyze the ethanol percentage?
 

Moparmyway

Its just a saw
GoldMember
Local time
1:55 AM
User ID
21
Joined
Dec 4, 2015
Messages
5,222
Reaction score
27,996
Location
In a meeting
Country flag
But where did you get the fuel from? Did the pump say it was supposed to be less than 10%? What did you use to analyze the ethanol percentage?
Straight outta the pump
All pumps here, except E85 are 10% ethanol ............ allegedly
Geotab module reads everything off the computer, including alcohol content.
 

mh9162013

New OPE Member
Local time
12:55 AM
User ID
13799
Joined
Sep 12, 2020
Messages
10
Reaction score
5
Location
KY
All pumps here, except E85 are 10% ethanol ............ allegedly

If you're getting 17.3% when it should be 10% or lower, those are grounds for legal action, especially if it could cause damage to a "regular" or E10 car engine (which I imagine it would).
 
Top