Small engine fuel strategy
 

I've heard it said that "95% of small engine failure to run problems are fuel problems". In my humble experience that's right (the next 4% can be fixed with a quick clean of the points, and everything else fits in the remaining 1%).


My new philosophy when I'm not going to be using an engine (other than my diesel) is to turn the fuel valve off, then run the bowl dry. At "end of season" I'll drain the tank too.


Anyone see any downside to this strategy? I am sure I'd end up spending less time doing this, than in replacing/rebuilding/cleaning fuel systems corrupted by old gasoline sitting for months.


Even with the economic policy of the current regime, gas is cheaper than carburetors.

Either that or run the engines once in a while during off season.

I like to start them up once or twice during the winter and let them run for 20 mins. Also, if you can buy it in your area, go with the non-ethanol fuel.

Non-ethanol strategy here. Not sure what your local climate is but an empty fuel tank can potentially condensate.

That's a good point. I use 100% gas too.

I use 100% gas. Do not drain anything.

I use "Rec 90" (no ethanol). I don't drain or run dry anything.

:ThumbsUp:

Non-ethanol here too.

Most of my smaller engines like lawn mowers , weed whackers etc. I run
dry. Especially 2 cycle stuff. My cubs I try to run occasionally through the
winter. For the most part they sit in the unheated side of the shop. I pull
the batteries. I too think a bit about condensation. Usually don't leave
the metal tanks empty. Run the expensive er gas here, it's worth it.

Ken

Rather than deal with running stuff dry and/or draining tanks, I go the route of running stuff throughout the winter. Granted most of my equipment doesn't ever really go into any sort of storage over winter, other than the push mowers and all the little antique small engines I've managed to collect.

I've been using the 87 octane with 10% ethanol since back whenever it was that we couldn't buy anything else around here. That was sometime in the 1990's, I don't remember for sure. I buy my gas in 5 gallon cans and treat every can with StaBil and Lucas Ethanol Fuel Conditioner. I don't empty the fuel tanks and I don't run the carburetor dry. I use that same gas for all the 4 cycle engines I have; Farmall, Cub Cadets, Lawn Mower, generator, welder, pressure washer, and the old snowblower with a Techumseh engine. The 123 sat without running for over 2 years when I was working a lot of hours and didn't get time to run it, yet when I got back to it, it started right up. Ran rough for a few seconds, but smoothed out.

Never had any problems until I bought a new Cub Cadet snowblower in 2018. Went to start it for it's second winter season and it would not run. So I took back it to the dealer and they said that the ethanol in the gas had ruined the carburetor. I had to buy a new carburetor. Newest thing I have, yet the only one to give trouble. The manual says that it was made to run 10% Ethanol, but it was the only thing that has given me trouble. Even though the manual says it is made for it, the dealer recommended non-ethanol fuel anyway. Yet the 10% Ethanol never gave me any problems in the old equipment.:bigthink:

BTW, it is pointless to run the carburetor "dry". You can never get all the fuel out of the fuel bowl by running it. The engine will quit before the bowl is empty. Unless you have a drain on the fuel bowl, there is always a little bit left in it.

A little bit of fuel ( less than 1 once,) is better than a full bowl that goes skunky.
I run the bowl dry then splash in a couple of oz's of Stabil in the recommended ratio of fuel and then run that dry.
I only do that for my emergency power generator as I have had instances
of carb gumming/white powder, and jet plugging as it sets at times several years between uses,
and a power outage is not the time I want to be fiddling with carb cleaning.
My other equipment that is used yearly or more, I do nothing and have little or no problems.
Just my experience.:bigthink:

I try and keep my gas tanks full year round (depending on the price of gas - that's problematic right now, it seems...) and use non-ethanol when I can get it. I do run the carb dry when I'm done with it for the day, especially when I have to use ethanol gas.

Small Engine Fuel Strategy
 

Non-ethanol gas is not available in my area so that's not an option for me. For maybe the past 15 years, I've treated all of the fuel used in my small engines with Ethanol Shield. I put fuel shut-off valves on almost everything I own and run the carburetor dry after each use. I'm sure that I'm not getting the carburetor bowls completely "dry", but I think it's better to have just a little bit of this swill being sold as gasoline in the carburetor bowl than a lot. I also completely fill the fuel tanks with treated fuel when I put them away at the end of the season which should limit the water absorption by the fuel. I've had few carburetor issues since I began doing this.

Well JB, since we are both in NC, we have similar off-season storage conditions. I run nothing but ethanol free in everything other than passenger vehicles. I do not drain any fuel system or burn carbs dry. I do not put any additives in my fuel. I use 6-700 gallons of gas a year in non passenger vehicle equipment.

Here is a list of equipment I run on the farm, generally with no issues.
6 gas tractors
2 gas combines
2 farm trucks
6 Cub Cadets
2 ATV's
assorted power tools

Some of that equipment sits for months, untouched (one combine gets the battery pulled in August and won't get it put back until May).

I've got a Farmall M that just got fired up 2 weeks ago for the first time since late May, absolutely no issues at all.

I do try to at least once, maybe twice during the winter to crank up everything and let it run 10 minutes or so(at least the stuff that never gets used in the winter). I also try to minimize the amount of fuel in the tank when equipment is parked for the year, that way if it is a bit "stale", adding fresh gas in the spring makes rough running issues due to old gas a non-issue. Never seem to have any carb issues that are noteworthy, I did notice the carb on my F-350 could use rebuilding yesterday, but it seems like its been 15-20 years since it was touched.

Your mileage may vary, this is just what has worked for us for forever. If I just had one lawnmower to contend with, I'd probably just put additive in it and not worry about it, but in my case there are just too many fuel systems to worry about.

Lots of off-road engines here. In N TX so we get some condensation, but not too much in winter, more in spring and summer.

I run all non-eth fuel. I run bowls dry after last run of the day. Keep tank full as possible. For long term storage, after run dry, I spray a quick shot of WD40 while cranking the engine to draw in the WD40 to the cyl, and valves.

My partial list:
Ford 961, 860, 8N tractors
3 Poulan Pro riding mowers
3 Craftsman riding mowers
2 Murrays
2 Husky's
2 old no-names
Cub Cadet Original
Simpson pressure washer
3 Champion dual fuel gens