Ethanol fuel problems in small engines

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!!
In this video I show you what happens to small engines when they sit with ethanol fuel in them (e10/e15). Ethanol absorbs water and this will make the machine hard to start, surge, run lean, or not start at all. I hope this video will help people understand what ethanol does to your engine and why its a problem for ANY engine that is going to sit for any period of time with fuel in the tank and carburetor. Go to 7:30 if you just want to see the phase separation experiment.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• ethanol
• fuel
• Kohler
• engines
• Tecumseh
• tank
• rust
• dried
• up
• lines
• stalls
• off
• choke
• briggs
• and
• stratton
• corroded
• carburetor
• gas
• start
• cold
• small
• enignes
• starting
• phase
• separation
• Gasoline
• Engine
• Cars

[robgoedeker]

A very prominant small engine repair shop in Beaver County, PA told me that 90% of engine repair business lately has been from folks using GETGO fuel. GETGO is the gas station of Giant Eagle grocery stores. Please be careful using regular gas from GETGO in your small engines. I was using 87 octane from GETGO in all my machines and had to have 3 of them repaired because of fuel problems with GETGO gas.

[workensmart]

@robgoedeker This problem is more or less from any gas station using 10~15% ethanol in there fuel. With today's fuel if you know your not going to use the machine for a month or more you have to suck out all the gas from the fuel tank and then run the engine until it stalls out and then keep trying to start it until it no longer fires. Ethanol blended gasoline only has a shelf life of 30 days before it turns into wasted product.

[getdrunk19902]

I used to have a mini crotch rocket with a chain saw engine that was very high compression so I ran ethanol in it and never had a prob. I added a extra gas valve to the gas line so I could shut off the ethanol and then run a small amount of gas threw it b4 I shut the engine down to flush out the ethanol from the carb. But when you run ethanol you engine will run lean/really hot which could wreck it because with ethanol you need to have almost double the size jets so more can flow into the engine

[workensmart]

@getdrunk19902 you need to double the size of your jets because ethanol does not burn as efficiently as gasoline. Ethanol has 25~30% less energy when compared to gasoline. Also you were smart to flush the ethanol out of the fuel system. Most people just leave there old gas (e10) in there mower or line trimmer for months and that's when it rots everything away. They think its like the old days when you could leave gas in your mower and not have to worry about your gas going bad in a month.

[rockinar]

You bafoon. The reason they dont run well after it sits is because they are not designed for E85.

[workensmart]

@rockinar The video pertains to E15 not E85 you moron. All small engines have warning label's that tell people not to run E85. OPE products wouldn't run at all with e85. They would overheat.

[getdrunk19902]

I had another engine that I tried ethanol and the main jet needed to be so big that I almost had to run no main jet at all.

[Mr6535]

@workensmar ya lol man i know we was getting then in faster then we can get them out lol

[workensmart]

@Mr6535 Me to lol. You should see all the snow throwers I fixed this year. I must have rebuilt about 200 carburetors this year just on snow throwers lol. Not as bad as last year. I must have cleaned and rebuilt probably 400 small 2 and 4 cycle hand held units and almost as many lawn mowers and tractors. At least we don't have any dead times these days.

[Mr6535]

@workensmart ya that wouldnt end well lol im a mechanic too ya we are makes shit loads lol but when its your own shit torn up it pisses you off bad lol all summer i replaced carbrater on chainsaws and weedeater fucked up by ethanol