ethanol blend gas in two strokes

A boat mechanic told me he is seeing boat motors junked because of gasohol. what are you guys seeing out there? I own a lot of high dollar two stroke equipment, and I am worried.

The mechanic is not looking far enough to locate the real reason for engine failure. Lean fuel mixture due to excess water in fuel, old systems that are getting cleaned out with the ethanol blended fuel plugging a filter, etc, etc.
Ask any boat owner in Minnesota where we have used blended fuels for a couple decades without any probems.

DJ,
Ethanol has been around 25+years, And for every year there are 1000 stories about how it wrecked this or that. If anything it is better for a two cycle than the leaded gas was. Check the owners manual/makers of your equipment.

I read a report some years ago about a study done on this, and they claimed the ethanol gas with oil mix actually lubricated better than regular gas. I use it in my old 1958 model outboard and have had no problems, but I don't put many hours on it either.

I still have mixed feelings about E10 fuel. I once had a Fiat roadster that originally required premium gasoline. It refused to run on regular 87 octane. When premium started getting scarce, I tried E10 and it ran just as good on E10 as on premium.

On the flip side, I have an '85 Chevy pickup that basically won't run on E10 in hot weather. Just spits and sputters.

Exactly, our area recently hosted APBRA Nationals, those high performance outboards were using METHANOL(way worse than ethanol) and synthetic oils, all the things that are supposedly bad for a 2 cycle. See all kinds of pleasure boats that get no winterizing and plenty of complaints in the spring. Just like maintaing our old tractors, if you do what needs done they may last longer than we do.

We can't run anything but 10% or higher here, been that way for years. No problems here...

I think he's full of it.

Donovan from Wisconsin

I use 89 octane in the spring and fall in my 2-cycle equipment.
In the heat of summer, I find that 93 octane makes 'em run better.

I had to rebuild the carbs on my chain saw, weed wacker, and backback blower last fall. Every one of them would work for 5 minutes, and then cut out. I found alot of good information in the web. Here"s a good exerpt from one artical:

As E10 sits, the ethanol and gasoline start to separate. Ethanol goes to the bottom of the tank. If there’’s water there, or if water vapor gets in through the vent, the ethanol absorbs it. Before long, you’’ve got a clump of watery ethanol at the bottom of the tank, where the fuel pickup is. When you crank up the motor, the crud is sucked into the carburetor or injectors and plugs things up. The next thing you hear is pop, pop, splutter, sigh . . .

That’’s not all. Ethanol is a solvent, so when it gets into older fuel systems it can clean out the gunk and varnish that’’s accumulated over the years and send it upstream to clog tiny fuel delivery apertures as well. It also breaks down rubber gaskets and can turn old fiberglass tanks to mush.

According to Noyes, who deals with E10 problems every day, the most important preventive steps for outboard owners to take are:

Install a water/fuel separating filter between the fuel tank and the engine if one isn’’t already in place, and spend the extra dollar or two to get a 10-micron cartridge for the filter, rather than the traditional 30-micron cartridge. The finer cartridge does a better job of removing water and impurities, he said.

Add the manufacturer’’s recommended amount of fuel stabilizer to every tank when you fill up, unless you’’re going to burn up the tank within a week or so. The two most popular stabilizers are Star Tron and Sta-Bil, both of which Noyes said help keep ethanol from separating, and as a result keep water that gets absorbed in the fuel from accumulating in troublesome concentrations at the bottom of the tank. (And yes, fuel stabilizers are expensive).
““But you must put the stabilizer in when you fuel up,”” he said. ““It doesn’’t do any good to do it afterwards.””

Noyes said engines most severely affected by E10 appear to be two-stroke, fuel-injected outboards, followed by two-stroke, carbureted outboards. Inboard-outboard engines rank third on his hit list, followed by four-stroke outboards and finally by inboards.

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Ethanol, the fuel additive that grounded boaters this summer, is now clogging leaf blowers, lawn mowers and chainsaws.
Dan Donahue, owner of Four Seasons Power Equipment in Whitman, says he is swamped by the business the line-clogging gasoline has brought.
““We"re seeing 50 to 100 a month,”” he said. ““Before it was 20.””

Ethanol-laced gasoline may interfere with operation of a small engine, paralyze it completely or create hazards, according to small-engine mechanics.

Fuel lines that were made even a few years ago were not designed stand up to the alcohol content in today"s fuels,”” said Don Stewart, of Stewart"s Power Equipment in Holbrook. ““They actually deteriorate and they can cause a hazard if the fuel leaks.”” That is especially true if the equipment is left indoors, he added.
E-10 is a mixture of 90 percent gasoline and 10-percent ethanol, an alcohol distilled from corn and grains. The additive replaced the oxygenate methyl tertiary butyl ether (MBTE), a suspected carcinogen found in drinking water supplies in cities nationwide. Oxygenates raise the oxygen content of gasoline.

Mandated by the Federal Policy Act of 2005, ethanol first appeared in local gas stations earlier this year.
It"s something that people have to learn to live with, Stewart said.

That will prevent future problems, but, for some, the damage has already been done.
Chuck Beckford, of Franklin Small Engine in Brockton, said small two-cycle engines found in leaf blowers and other small engines tend to be most affected. Since small garden equipment is typically stored in moist areas, the moisture gets into the gas and spreads throughout the engine. At the least, the gas has to be replaced and the tank and engine cleaned. Often, the damage requires a new carburetor, a job that may cost $100 or more, according to mechanics.
Beckford recommends that the fuel tanks —— that on small engines are vented —— be sealed and suggests a plastic bag held securely with an elastic band will keep the moisture out.
Beckford also recommends using fresh fuel and emptying a tank if the equipment is not being used a regular basis.


Hey, I feel for you all. We had the same kind of mandate in Minnesota years ago. In fact, the co-op where I buy my gas has sold only ethanol blended gasoline for about fifteen years.
One thing to keep in mind with this change is you will probably have to change your fuel filter after a while (this is good maintenance for your engine anyway) but after the gunk gets cleaned out of your fuel system, it should be ok.
The worst is the small engines. It was frustrating with my mower and garder tiller, each needed a carb kit after a season of working them, but again, after the initial clean up it has been fine (I"ve had the tiller since before ethanol ... it has been fine since the initial cleanup.) But then again, several other small engines have had no problems what-so-ever. I believe the last industry to get on board is the marine engine manufacturers, so that may be a big part of your concern. Resorts (think 10,000 lakes) used to have a supply of non-blended gas for outboard boat motors, but that has not been needed for the last few years.

What's the mechanic's reasoning that ethanol is to blame? In my experience, 2-stroke outboards do a pretty good job of self-destructing even with good gas.

Given a choice of ethanol-free gas and an ethanol blend, I would opt for the straight gas. The problem is that it isn't an option anymore: almost all gasoline has some ethanol in it.

All the gas here in Ohio contains 10% ethanol for years now ? No problems to report. Just run good oil in your mix.