by Jack Donovan
But i'm with big bill all the way. 95% of our work in the small engine shop is fuel related.there is hardly a engine MFG out there that doesn't tell you to use non Oxy fuel.
I did some checking on fuel requirements for small air cooled motor(s).
Kohler's FAQ site-Check questions #8 and #9:
http://www.kohlerengines.com/maintenance/faqs.htmBriggs and Stratton's FAQs:
http://engines.myfaqcenter.com/Answer.a ... d=fuel&sel ectCats=Other
Here is the infomation that is on Briggs and Stratton's site:
What type of gas is good for my engine?
All 4 stroke cycle spark ignited engines
Fuel must meet these requirements:
Clean, fresh, unleaded gasoline.
A minimum of 87 octane/ 87 AKI (91 RON). High altitude use, see below.
Gasoline with up to 10% ethanol (gasohol) or up to 15% MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), is acceptable.
Stihl (check question#3):
http://www.stihlusa.com/faq.htmlHonda(question #7 in General Infomation:
http://www.hondapowerequipment.com/faq/Lawn-Boy(Look under mowers-General infomation. Nothing found on their site about using-not using ethanol in the fuel-they do have a good recomendation on fuel storage-life of fuel. (They have some infomation on higher than recommended octane fuel):
https://support.lawnboy.com/portal/s...7&PageID=19514Poulan:
http://www.poulanpro.com/node5722.aspx#QA3Tecumseh (look at page 7):
http://www.tecumsehpower.com/CustomerService/BSI.pdfEcho
(Look under Alternative Fuel Usage. They do not want the homeowner to use ethanol....gasohol is ok???? possible double talk????):
http://www.echo-usa.com/faqs.aspHere is some interesting info on gasohol:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_..._fuel_mixturesquote from that site:
Low ethanol blends, from E5 to E25, are also known as gasohol, though internationally the most common use of the term gasohol refers to the E10 blend.
Most small motors manufactures in the above links says E10 is ok to use.
Kohler manual says it is ok to fuel that has up to 10% ethanol since our Cub Cadets have Kohlers in them.
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by Jack Donovan
I was just reading a cub cadet manual the other day from the 60's and it says the same thing as every one says now. When done using , Shut fuel off , Run carb dry , and so on.
The Cub Cadet manual aslo says to use
clean fresh fuel. You be surprise how many don't shut the fuel off. The majority of the problems I see are the ones who don't use fresh gas or use don't shut the fuel off. Then they use snake oil products like sea foam and only make the problem worse. Kohler recomends against using additives like sea foam.
by Jack Donovan
Just about all dealers will tell you to use sea fome The MFG"s won't because there's nothing in it for them.
The only thing dealers around here will tell the small motor owner is to use fresh fuel that is less than a month old and use a fuel stablizer. The dealer/repair shops around here ask how old is the fuel-type of container fuel is stored in and where do you store it when the small motor owner brings a motor in for repair. The dealers that recomends products like sea foam NEED to send their small motor techs back to school.
The teaching manuals I have stress clean fresh gas.
Your wasting your money using 92-93 octane fuel and products like sea foam when your problem is poor fuel storage/handling. Running a motor on 92-93 octane fuel can hurt the performace of that motor too.....