Ethanol gas

I have been running 92 octane 10% ethanol all summer and I probably have a 80% full tank. I was under the impression less than 10% ethanol was ok. As I prepare for the winter I am wondering what I should do. Due to local wild fires and a bad back I haven't fired her up in about five weeks. I did find a local station where I can get ethanol free gas moving forward. Advice? From reading it sounds like problems arise when the gas sits.

I too use NON ETHANOL gas only. When I put the boat away for the winter I add Sea-foam,Marvel Mystery oil, and stabilizer. I leave whatever gas is in there and mix proportionately. In the spring I hit the key and it will fire right up. My tank is made of aluminum and I have yet to experience a problem. In a former boat the tank was stainless steel and was not run for six seasons. That boat also fired right up. Bottom line.... I don't get too carried away with "Drain or Not".

Walmart had a product called Sta-bil ethanol treatment for use with each fill up. Called it a marine formula. Is this what I want?

Gary S wrote: [QUOTE=snipe] I too use NON ETHANOL gas only QUOTE] Unfortunately alot of us don't have that option

Egon and I only need to drive about 5 miles to get it up north!!

Put some stabilizer in the tank and run the boat. You want some of that mixture to reach the injectors.

Brian,
Run the ethanol but there is no need to go with the high octane. Follow what octane is needed per your engine manual. The stabilizer for storage is needed. The ethanol fuels have a tendency to separate into gas/water layers.

I beleave it does add octane. E-85 is basically street legal race gas, playing with turbo imports we would run a lot bigger injectors to run E85 and get dyno tuned. The barrier on 93 octane is around 500ish hp safely, but E85 will make the same power as C16 race gas.

Since are old boats dont have fiberglass fuel tanks there is no worry. I havent had to rebuild a carb in my boat since Ethonal has been widely used. I prefer it over regular gas, ive tossed the idea around of going to a much bigger carb to run E85 after my rebuild/ mild build

Use fuel stablizer at the end of the season and you will be ok. Boat us magazine said to store a boat with a full tank of gas rather than a half empty tank, i forget the reasons why off the top of my head right now.

74Wind wrote: 79SNbrady wrote: I beleave it does add octane. E-85 is basically street legal race gas, playing with turbo imports we would run a lot bigger injectors to run E85 and get dyno tuned. The barrier on 93 octane is around 500ish hp safely, but E85 will make the same power as C16 race gas. Since are old boats dont have fiberglass fuel tanks there is no worry. I havent had to rebuild a carb in my boat since Ethonal has been widely used. I prefer it over regular gas, ive tossed the idea around of going to a much bigger carb to run E85 after my rebuild/ mild build Use fuel stablizer at the end of the season and you will be ok. Boat us magazine said to store a boat with a full tank of gas rather than a half empty tank, i forget the reasons why off the top of my head right now. I think it's not just the tank to worry about; I recently saw a number of cut cross-sections of replaced badly-degraded fuel lines from fairly new boats (or at least "new" from my perspective), from ethanol use. Amazing degradation, wich I'd taken some photos. Non-ethanol is available at two marinas on Oconee and so I feel quite lucky; I've got enough to worry about with 75 years worth of old boats without having to cope with the downside of "environmentally-friendly" " gas issues.... My favorite Dinosaurs were carnivores, and so are my boats. And so, I feed them a strict corn-free diet...

From what I've read, the main issue is that ethonal gas would cause a release of resin in fiberglass fuel tanks an did major damage to engines.
The performance capabilities of corn gas is awesome, pump gas is very sensitive to spark knock (detonation) were as corn gas is very forgiving and allows gobs of aggressive timing that pump gas only dreams of. When I finally upgrade to a fuel injected 210 sante I'm definitely going to use a aem ems and going to get dyno tuned for corn gas just not sure if I wanna get tuned on e85 or 93 with 10%. The down side to e85 is roughly 20% loss in gas mileage, but e85 is cheaper. I know I'm against the grain of the ethonal fuel debate but I sure do love me some corn power

That Pure Gas list is old, I know the marina on the other end of my lake hasn't had ethanol free gas for a few years.

The problem with E85 and ethanol in general is that it attracts water and that just doesn't burn very well even if all the lines are good and there's nothing in the tank to gum up the system.   I can run E85 in my truck, but i rarely makes financial sense to do so because the MPG drop eats up any savings on the fuel and not to mention all the extra trips to a special station to get it. I've also noticed that there seem to have been quite a few more boats on fire posts this year, and I'm wondering if maybe the ethanol is degrading the fuel lines and may be some of the cause for this.

I does make for cheap race gas, but these aren't the boats to take to the lake if you're looking for a race.

Damn ethanol!

I add Sta-bil marine to every tank and always fill up before I park her for added measure. I've read a few theorys about why to fill tank before storing... the correct is that it reduces the chance of fluctuating temperatures adding condensation to the fuel. I double up sta-bil (1 once to 5 gallons) for last fill before storing.

I have mentioned it before but I have NEVER had a problem with the ethanol gas! Yes, I will run a tank of non a season, have always used a treatment for storage and filled the tank for winter at least 90% full but that's it.

Now that I have mentioned it, watch I'll have nothing but problems next spring!!!

I think ethetol is hard on (old)soft parts. I also think stabil helps preserve soft parts under these conditions. So far I,ve been able to run 100% gasoline in boats, tractors, and bikes.

Bob