Fuel Life

[Clemsonfor]

I guess I'm lucky cause my non E 87 fuel is only around $3/gallon.

No one is lucky with $3 / gallon gas......

We would be lucky if it got back to $1.88 like it was in the fall of 2020 here

Your correct. I was useing the context of $4 a gallon fuel. Trust me I'm not happy about it. Luckily my commute is only 25 miles one way but that's enough. My wife drives 60 to 70 Miles a day in her Sequoia so we burn some fuel. For me to cut the grass in the yard at my farm property it costs me between $12-14 just in fuel. That's not including the 300 mile round trip to get there!!

[MilGunsmith]

The Stihl dealer here, told me that Stihl was covering any fuel related warranty repairs unless you are using the premixed 50: fuel.

[Dale Finch]

Did you mean WAS NOT covering...?

[MilGunsmith]

Yes, sorry typo. Was not covering any carb/fuel related warranty repairs unless using premixed 50:1, preferably their Tool Fuel

[SamsFarm]

No way would I buy pre mixed fuel!

I do use the stihl 2 stroke oil.

I dont think any of my stihl owners manuals say their warentee is only covered with the use of extremely high priced pre mixed fuel!

If you have any problems look at the written warentee in your Stihl book and call Stihl corporate if you have to!

[Barebones]

The 91 octane in rec fuel is music to my ears when the chainsaws sing. Stihl recommends premium fuels, so why bother with ethanol blends when they jack up the price so much for the higher octane levels?

Rec fuel is still at $4/gallon here, but the ethanol blends are not far behind in cost today. Makes sense to me as insurance that things will work when I need them. Saves me from inventing new swear words, too.

Stihl actually only recommends 89 octane unless they have changed that. But 87 has more power in it cause it combusts easier. When your turning 13,000 RPMs in a 2 stroke you really don't have to worry about detonation. I run 87 non ethanol in all my Stihl saws including my 84cc saw that I will run a 32" bar and have never had an issue. The higher that octane is the less combustible it is. I'm not recommending anyone else do it cause like I said the manuals say 89 (unless they have changed it in the last 10 years or so to a higher octane).

I guess I'm lucky cause my non E 87 fuel is only around $3/gallon.

You had me wondering about my aging memory relative to Stihl recommendations, so I checked the manual that came with my 460 Motorsaw. The date of the purchase was April 2006 for reference. Here it is: "Use regular branded unleaded gasoline with a minimum octane rating of 89 RON. If the octane rating of the regular grade gasoline in your area is lower, use premium unleaded fuel. Fuel with a lower octane rating may result in preignition (causing pinging) which is accompanied by an increase in engine temperature. This, in turn, increases the risk of the piston seizure and damage to the engine."

I'm sticking to the 91 octane rec fuel. And, glad to know I wasn't losing it.

[Clemsonfor]

That just says if you can't get 89 don't go lower. I understand your concern but the oil you add also alters it's ignition point. But we're back to will a two stroke preignight at 14k rpms. I don't believe that's so. I also will not argue with anyone who wants to follow the manual and I won't argue with engineers who design and know more than me. But there also is some...this could happen liability concern.

87 will produce more power, noticeable, probably not, El it hurt your saw, most likely not cause plenty of folks into saw like I am have hundreds of gallons of fuel through them to prove it. If I was milling with my big saw I probably would run premium, but milling is hard as heck on a saw.

We're both right it says 89 octane. You can't get the fuel you want in 89 so you go higher.

[Barebones]

Pretty, much. People can get rec fuel in any octane level they want - as long as it's 91. My goal was to rid my garage of ethanol blends and I've converted everything. 91 octane comes with the deal, and meets warranty criteria. Couldn't be happier since doing it.

No argument intended.

[Don McCombs]

Rec fuel is still at $4/gallon here, but the ethanol blends are not far behind in cost today.

Where do you get it? At a marina?

[Clemsonfor]

Rec fuel is still at $4/gallon here, but the ethanol blends are not far behind in cost today.

Where do you get it? At a marina?

I can buy pure gas at a marina. It usually is about a dollar a gallon more than a gas station and a lot harder to buy gas at a marina than a gas station. I can go to one of about half a dozen stations in the big town around me that's about a town of 30,000. I can get 87 non ethanol in the town closest to me it's about 3500 people in that town. Or I can go to one of the stations down the road out in the country around where I live. Most of them have 91 octane premium and it's around $3.80 right now. The 87 I buy in town is closer to $3.00 right now but it's in the bigger city the 30k population city.

[Pap]

I don't know about all of y'all but I can't afford the 91 octane in all of my stuff.

[Jeff Silvey]

I have repaired or replaced many small carbs. So I got interduce to VP racing fuel. So I started to use with no problems.
I still use seafoam as well. I know a lot of fire departments are going to the pre mix because they were having problems with crews not mixing the oil/gas mix. They were thrashing a 1500.00 to 2500.00 chain saws we use in the fire service. I have always said it starts with the officers then the chauffer then the oldest back stepper to teach these new folks how to mix the fuel & oil.
It all preference in what works for you.
VP Fuel.com

[Pap]

I have heard a lot of good things about VP fuel I have never got any. But I used their 2 cycle oil mix it's good.

[bullmack]

There's an app call "Pure Gas" that will show the location of all places selling non-ethanol gas in the vicinity of a person's location.

[Clemsonfor]

I have repaired or replaced many small carbs. So I got interduce to VP racing fuel. So I started to use with no problems.
I still use seafoam as well. I know a lot of fire departments are going to the pre mix because they were having problems with crews not mixing the oil/gas mix. They were thrashing a 1500.00 to 2500.00 chain saws we use in the fire service. I have always said it starts with the officers then the chauffer then the oldest back stepper to teach these new folks how to mix the fuel & oil.
It all preference in what works for you.
VP Fuel.com

Yea we use it on our department as well. It has stabilizer in it too. Lasts a long time. But then again so does pure gas and quality oil with almost all the big names have a fuel stabilizer on them. I know Stihl and husky oil do. But yes that stuff is much cheaper than a straight gassed saw! But it's expensive I'm thinking $12-16/gallon. I probably burn 5 to 6 gallons of saw gas a year. That would turn out to being a lot of money on two stroke. But I'm the only one who mixes my fuel and I mix all my two strokes to 32:1 and tune them at such rate. I don't use anyone else's fuel ever...I don't trust others.