Stabil in the mix?

[dodge man]

Good test, it looks like Stabil did the best.

 

[John_Mc]

The Project Farm tests confirmed my own experience: Stabil does a great job at preventing corrosion. It does help a bit in keeping the fuel fresh and able to run an engine, but does not last anywhere near the 2 years they claim with ethanol fuel. I generally never let fuel sit for that long. It does seem to help non-ethanol fuel last significantly longer than untreated.

I used Startron briefly, but stopped using it when a small engine shop showed me pictures of corroded carbs on 4 cycle engines and some corroded bottom ends in 2 cycle engines (chainsaws) he serviced in which the owners regularly used Startron. (Most, but not all of these the owners said they were using ethanol-blended fuel.) I had no idea if other bad habits of the owners in the photos contributed to the problem, but figured why take the chance.

I no longer burn ethanol fuel in any of my small engines except in an emergency, and then I either use it up relatively quickly (less than a month) or drain the tank. Even the non-ethanol fuel I buy gets treated with Stabil. If it gets more than about 5 or 6 weeks old, it no longer gets burned in my 2 cycle engines. More than a couple of months, and it gets put in a vehicle where it will get used up quickly (and is diluted with that vehicle's large tank of fresher fuel).

 

[mrmikey]

Just watched that. Looks like Stabil is the one. Some nasty looking corrosion with the others.

 

[Richard001]

I have a 1999 Dodge 8 passenger van that I don't drive in the winter. It has a 20 gal fuel tank. Every fall, I fill the tank to the top, add Stabil, drive it around a bit and then park it. Starts great next spring. The Stabil does the job.

Richard

 

[WinterDeere]

It's funny how fast a thread can turn on it's head. Three pages of "Stabil is trash", followed by today's rash of post claiming it's the only one that actually works.

Need I remind anyone?

I won't use Stabil in anything. Like you have seen too many failures. Part of the reason is they claim that it protects fuel UP to 2 years, And the reasoning for UP to 2 years is because the unused part of the bottle expires 2 years after opening.

 

[CalG]

It appears...

That Stabil is better than nothing.

Which is what I've been mostly using .

I've got 5 power saws, two weed whackers, and a back pac leaf blower. This thread has made me feel that what I have done so far is just fine. ;-)

I have always made it a habit to put 50:1 mix in the tiller and mower tanks when I put them up for winter.
Rust prevention if nothing more.

 

[LHF2019]

I don't use anything in my fuel. Have several vehicles that do not get ran in the winter. Have lots of small engines that don't get ran much. Have no starting issues. Just another expense I don't need.

 

[RandyT]

It's funny how fast a thread can turn on it's head. Three pages of "Stabil is trash", followed by today's rash of post claiming it's the only one that actually works.

Need I remind anyone?

To each their own. I have personally worked on hundreds of small engine carbs that had what appears to be almost sugar crystals in the fuel bowls, and would say to the customer afterwards that I noticed you were using stabil, and their response was how do you know. Never saw the crystals with other brands of stabilizer. I have also carbs that ran badly and was planning on doing a carb clean and repair ,run perfectly after setting with startron treated fuel overnight.

I personally don't use any stabilizers in my fuel, but may do some experimenting with ethanol shield in the future.

 

[WinterDeere]

To each their own.

I should apologize for picking on your post, as it just randomly happened to be the first I saw when clicking back several pages, and it was just one of many similar posts from many people. I also didn't watch the video. But it's still amusing how the whole flavor of the thread changed so abruptly at page 4.

 

[xyz123]

Red stabil is the one that failed me in Gen carb back when ran on ethanol. Even ran dry as could till ran out. So only stored with E-free now.
I wont ever use red stabil due to this.

I did laugh alittle at testing as it showed that star-tron to not protect worth a crap against corrosion.

My boat mechanic says if going to use stabil use the Marine 360 version like a green or blue version.

I went to K100 from red stabil myself in boat etc. Has never ran better since switching. So something in it cleans the carb I believe too.
That is also suppose to be in the Marine 360 stabil version.

 

[xyz123]

Stabilizer in my OPE with Efree gas is right here in bottle.


Never added any extra BS outside source in OPE. Never a issue but I still say that is because of Efree.

 

[John_Mc]

Stabilizer in my OPE with Efree gas is right here in bottle.


Never added any extra BS outside source in OPE. Never a issue but I still say that is because of Efree.

View attachment 4184776

Most of the name brand mix oils also contain a fuel stabilizer (at least all of the ones I have ever used do). I certainly agree that E0 fuel is he way to go, if you can get it. I have no hard evidence, but I suspect that has a far larger effect on engine and carb longevity than whether someone uses a stabilizer or not. The shelf life of E0 is longer than E10 or E15 gas. I add stabilizer in every 5 gallon can of E0 I buy for my small engines, mainly because I'm never sure how quickly I will use it up. I only mix a gallon at a time of fuel for my 2 cycle engines. Yes, the stabilizer in the mix oil is probably redundant. On the other hand, the only 2 cycle engine I've had fuel/mix-related problem with is the brush saw I lent to a friend who straight-gassed it.

 

[dodge man]

Cause and effect? People often say I used a particular product and my carb clogged up. It may or may not be related to the product. That’s what’s great about Project Farm, he tries to get results in a practical way.

If you look at all of the fuel in his tests it all looks old. My take is non ethanol fuel lasts longer. Stabil helps a little. All fuel gets old with time.

 

[Fields_mj]

I'm not pretending it's anything great, or that it lives up to its marketing hype. But the reality is that any product with a 100% failure rate would not be at the top of the market, in terms of sales, especially after 20+ years on the shelves.

Stabil may be crap, I certainly don't use it anymore. But I have to question your story, just the same. No one is losing "entire fleets of equipment", or having every engine into which they install it fail, without some other undisclosed factors in the mix.

And I have used Stabil in the past, many times in my own portable generators, with no issues. I switched to StarTron several years ago, because it's supposed to be better, but I've honestly never had any issue with either.

To be fair, I'm not exactly sure how many engines my dad lost with Stabil. He was responsible for maintaining roughly 75 acres spreas across 5 different campuses at the time. Most of his equipment was either diesel or 2 stroke. I know he lost the engines on at least 5 snow blowers, but I'm not sure what else. Listening to him rant more about it wasn't going to replace the engines on my atv, Dixie chopper, tillers, or string trimmer so I just let it go.

 

[TMGT]

The only time ive seen issues with Stabil is when its used in excess. My uncle is one of those "more is better people" would overdose equipment on Stabil (or other stabilizers) and then get rid of the equipment after it wouldn't start. I didn't mind as I was usually the recipient of the non functional equipment!

I treat all my gas cans with stabil when bought as I never know whats equipment is going to sit. I also run 90 octane ethanol free.
I have equipment that will sit for a year plus due to seasonal usage and it starts right up when needed, we live in a pretty humid area with pretty drastic season changes.

For my 2 stroke equipment I just use red armor oil and so far haven't had any issues. Even when sitting.



Sent from my SM-S921U using TractorByNet mobile app

 

[RandyT]

Run 91 octane non ethanol in my equipment. Log splitter left setting with 1/4 tank of untreated fuel from November to just last week. and started on the first pull.

 

[Rock Crawler]

Echo Red Armor (red dyed, not the base Echo oil that is blue) and the Stihl HP (orange Bottle, not the cheaper grey bottle) both contain your fuel stabilizer in the oil.

 

[kenmbz]

I use Stabil in my source gas containers (not in Diesel, use Powerservice in those).
My father used Stabil too, so between the two of us, probably using it for about 40+ years with no issues.

I can't get E0 in this area. I buy canned gas for the saws, but use Stabil gas in the snow blower, chipper, hedge trimmer and sometimes in season for the brush cutter, the splitter and in the lawn tractor.
I also use the stabil gas in the generator.
That Genny gets used almost monthly with trees falling around here and starts right up first time. Almost always has a gallon of gas in it.

I run each system after shutting off the gas supply until it dies.

 

[John_Mc]

Echo Red Armor (red dyed, not the base Echo oil that is blue) and the Stihl HP (orange Bottle, not the cheaper grey bottle) both contain your fuel stabilizer in the oil.

Actually, the Stihl orange bottle is the cheaper stuff. They claim the gray bottle is their “high end” 2 cycle oil.

I used the Stihl gray bottle stuff for a while, since it is one of the easiest to find in my area. I stopped using it when I started seeing a lot of reviews panning it on a couple of chainsaw and Forestry websites.

Switched to the Husqvarna XP+ oil (gray bottle). It’s been working well for me for years now. My only complaint is that I wish their larger bottles had a built-in measuring system for measuring 2.6 ounces accurately. I prefer to mix a gallon at a time, but it just seems wasteful to keep buying those individual 2.6 ounce bottles. (I did order one of those “RatioRite” measuring cups, but it’s not very convenient for me.)

 

[mjonesnh]

Actually, the Stihl orange bottle is the cheaper stuff. They claim the gray bottle is their “high end” 2 cycle oil.

Used to use Stihl in gray bottle but started having carbon issues in exhaust plugging up. Switched to Echo Red Armour and problem disappeared. Have used Red Armour for around 6 years now with zero problems.