Lawn Mowers and ethanol

Lawn Mowers and ethanol

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By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago

I bought a lawn mower today. The salesman tried to sell me on an extended warranty by telling me that ethanol is causing small engine failures. I never buy extended warranties but a search of the web indicates that it may be truth. Has anyone found this to be true and if so, what steps do you take to prevent it?

By PWH42 - 13 Years Ago

Charlie...........I have a 21 inch John Deere with a Kawasaki 4.5 horse engine that's 25 years old and has never had anything except ethanol used in it.It still runs perfectly,uses not a drop of oil and has not had a dimes worth of repairs done on it.I also have 6 year old John Deere that has a 25 horse Kohler engine that has 900 hours on it.It also still runs like new and has had no repairs.It's also had nothing except ethanol used in it.

By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago

Are they 2 stroke or 4 stroke?

By slumlord444 - 13 Years Ago

My small engine expert says that all small engine manufacturers are having problems with todays gas. Hard to make them run right. That being said, all mine seem to run ok.

By Glen Henderson - 13 Years Ago

Charlie, I have had problems related to modern gas in both two cycle and four cycle engines. My small engine guy told me about a product called Sea Foam for a gas additive. It seems to help.

By PWH42 - 13 Years Ago

They are both 4 stroke.All of my 2 stroke equipment also works just fine with ethanol.

All this said,I am not a proponent of ethanol.I think this whole ethanol idea is nuts.

By glrbird - 13 Years Ago

I am on my second troybuilt mower with briggs engines, Other things went wrong but never had any problems with starting or running, My pressure washer does give me some problems after it has sat for a while, but nothing pulling the aircleaner off and holding the automatic choke open does not fix, same with the edger, all briggs engines. The weedeater is 2 cycle and no problems after 5 yrs. Most people do not do maintance on their lawn equipment and sometimes that is more of the reason for problems than the gas. No extended warranty for me.

By mctim64 - 13 Years Ago

We had trouble with our 2 cycle leaf blower, the lawn mower man said after a couple of years because of the bad gas it's time to throw them away and get a new one. Our 4 cycle lawn mower seems to keep on going, no problems there. If you're worried about ethanol just run premium.

By The Master Cylinder - 13 Years Ago

Glen Henderson (7/18/2011)

Charlie, I have had problems related to modern gas in both two cycle and four cycle engines. My small engine guy told me about a product called Sea Foam for a gas additive. It seems to help.

Glen, that's interesting, I thought Sea Foam was a product to keep the fuel system clean (clean injectors, remove varnish, etc Wink

and remove moisture, not as a fuel enhancement.

It can also be used in the crankcase to remove sludge and varnish.

Strange name but it seems to work. w00t

By bird55 - 13 Years Ago

I've never tried the Sea foam but I try to use fuel stabilizer since some of the gas sits around for awhile. I also always try to turn off the fuel petcock when I'm done and let the carb run dry. These two things alone have helped all my restarts immensely. I despise is yard work.

By Glen Henderson - 13 Years Ago

The ethanol causes mosture to collect in the tank, also just as it will eat up the old type of needle valves in carbs, it will affect any rubber component in the fuel system. I have a Stile chainsaw that had to have all the rubber lines and carb diaphram replace. The guy at the saw shop told me about the Sea Foam helping to prevent mosture and deterioration of rubber components. He said that he has seen a huge increase in fuel system problems with ethanol.

By charliemccraney - 13 Years Ago

There is a warning on the mower to not use anything more than 10% ethanol. I guess an ethanol test kit will be worth while.

From my research, much of the real bad stuff seems to happen on two cycle engines because the oil is mixed with the gas and apparently does not play well with the ethanol. But across the board, they seem to run hotter and since they are only air cooled, it can cause problems. And also, the issues with the gaskets and hoses in the fuel system. I just don't understand why they don't use gaskets and hoses that are safe with ethanol. It's not like it just became known yesterday that the old materials do not handle it well.

By The Master Cylinder - 13 Years Ago

charliemccraney (7/18/2011)

I just don't understand why they don't use gsaskets and hoses that are safe with ethanol. It's not like it just became known yesterday that the old materials do not handlke it well.

Because that's too logical??

By paul2748 - 13 Years Ago

I got a push motor with a Briggs & Stratton ( 4 cycle) engine and have used nothing but the ethonol blend. 10 years old and no problems with the engine. Chassis is wearing out though.

By yehaabill - 13 Years Ago

Y-Guys: Good a.m. My 2 cents, since my shop works on atv's, dirt bikes 2&4 strokes.

It may have something to do with our humidity down here, but if a bike

or atv "sits" in-active for 6 weeks or more, with gas in the carb, it usually

will not start. We can pull the float bowl and it will be green with "hair"!

growing out of the jets.(I'll get my son to post a few pictures later)

There are several additives that help, but just turning the fuel off and

letting the carb go dry seems to help.

Each year, our tech schools have contests to judge students on their

learning experiences and I'm usually one of the judges for the small engine

section. There are "reps" there from John Deere, Husqvarna, Echo, and others

showing off their new products. This year the John Deere rep and I were

talking about the ethanol problem(as I write this congress has approved a 15%

increase) he told me John Deere had sold more carb's this year than they had

in the past 5 yrs combined!

You may not have a problem if you use the equiptment on a regular basis

but it's a MAJOR problem in my area.

Bill

By Y block Billy - 13 Years Ago

Agree with Yehaa Bill, I have worked on many small engines and I have an 048 stihl chainsaw that I had for 30 years, never had a problem until the ethanol, it started starving for fuel, it would idle fine but when you gave it throttle it wasn't taking it, reached my finger in the tank and pulled the fuel line and it was mush so everytime you pulled the trigger it would collapse the hose. the new hose I ordered came through with stiff rubber rings around it like a ribbed condom.

But for any mowers and small engines you run occasionally, using AVGAS is cheap insurance. I now use it for anything I have sitting around. Little more expensive, but no problems when you need it in a hurry and don't have time to repair things before using them.

Just my 2 cents