Don’t leave gas in your power equipment. Please.

Well, we’re into the “hurry up offense” season where I’m getting power equipment in from guys who were supposed to get something done this summer and now the wife is REALLY on their case. It has to get done or stuff has to get sold before winter or there’s going to be some frosty domestic relations.

This week a poor pressure washer was dragged into my shop by a hapless owner who was under the gun because he was supposed to get the deck washed this summer and now he was under the gun because the LW was planning a fall party/bonfire. So he drags the poor pressure washer out and of course, it won’t run… And did I mention he’s in a hurry? Because he certainly mentioned it about 20 times. His neck must really be on the block.

He told me he “just used the thing last year or so”, which translated means he just used it 4-5 years ago. Then he put it in the back of the shed with the gas tank half full and even though the machine has a fuel shutoff valve on it, he wasn’t smart enough to twist his knob a quarter turn. This was a pretty nice unit, 6 HP Honda engine, looks like it had barely been used.

So I foolishly told him I’d have a look. Ug. The carb in this thing is as bad as any I’ve ever seen. Just look at the carnage in the pictures. The gas tank also had a yellow goo in it, so that had to be flushed. Everything inside the carb is varnished and gummed up, it was a complete cluster$#@!

And all this engine work was a leap of faith because if he didn’t winterize the engine, what are the chances he winterized the pump? No real way to tell if the pump is shot until I can run the machine.

So this is your fall PSA. Guys, please don’t be this guy. It’s fall, so as you put your power equipment away for the winter…

1. If it’s small 2-stroke stuff like trimmers, blowers, etc, pour the gas back into the gas can. Then start the unit and run it until it quits.

2. Larger machines like mowers, generators, etc. If it has a fuel shutoff valve, USE IT. Shut off the gas and again, run the machine until it quits running to get all the gas out of the carb.

BTW, if it doesn’t have a fuel shutoff valve, ADD ONE. This is a really simple addition and can be done on the vast majority of small engines. I buy fuel shutoff valves by the dozen and add one to every engine that doesn’t have one.

3. Non-ox gas and Stabil really do save engine’s lives. If there’s gas in the tank, fill it up and add Stabil.

4. Pumps and pressure washers must be winterized! You have been warned if your pressure washer has water in the pump. freezing will crack the pump housing and that is almost never worth the cost of repairing.

5. If you won’t be using a machine for an extended period of time (a full year or more), it needs to be specially prepped for long-term storage.

The story does have a happy ending of sorts. After marinating the carb overnight in the parts washer, I managed to clean it up enough to actually get the engine to start and run, but it took a second cleaning to get it to run properly. A real testament to how simple Honda engines are. And unbelievably the pump wasn’t cracked.

So pressure washer guy will be out of the dog house and hopefully, he’ll remember to turn off the fuel shutoff and run the engine dry so this thing works when he needs it again in 3 years.

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I’ve went with the “nothing but non oxy fuel” strategy forever and am sure to run equipment at least once every couple weeks, year round even when it’s out of season. This strategy hasn’t failed me. I just have tons of different battery tender ends on machines and rotate accordingly with the 2 actual chargers.

My mower “winterizing” is changing the oil and cleaning the deck and greasing it…same thing I do once a month (We put on a lot of miles and mow down over 2.5 acres + some culvert areas) Every time I go plow I open the door and start the mowers for just as long as the plow truck warms.

I use ethanol free premium in my seasonal engines too. Since they were brand new. My mower, snow blower, and outboard are all modern 4 stroke engines.

I run the mower out of gas every fall. Completely dry.

Snow blower is a little tougher to run it dry. If there’s still gas in it, I run it every so often in the off season too. Just ran it today for a little bit in fact.

Ethanol is bad news if the engine just sits there for extended periods of time. We’ve all heard of stories about the carberator getting clogged up because of it.

I only run 91 ethanol free is everything I own expect my truck. Never have a carb issue. I have a friend that runs a small engine shop on the side. He could make a living cleaning dirty carbs so some people can still use crappy fuel to keep him open. Lol

Great advice Grouse. I made the mistake of not emptying the pump on a pressure washer once – that’s a mistake I’ll never make again.

What’s your thoughts on filling the fuel to the brim with premium and stabilizer and then draining the carburetor bowl if it has a drain screw ? I assume this is just as good as running it dry or better ? I did this to my blower this spring . Generator I run every 2-3 months

Why is it every small engine shop/repairman that I know says to use non ethanol fuel. They all recommend non oxy fuel in small engines and outboards.
But yet all the manufacturers say you can use 10% ethanol with no problems. WTF gives?????

MX1825 wrote:

Why is it every small engine shop/repairman that I know says to use non ethanol fuel. They all recommend non oxy fuel in small engines and outboards.
But yet all the manufacturers say you can use 10% ethanol with no problems. WTF gives?????

The manufacturers don’t say to leave that gas in the machine for long periods. It will burn 87 pump gas just fine, but 87 pump gas doesn’t store

Good advice Grouse! That is a pretty nasty looking carb. I always get a little satisfaction when I can get a nasty one cleaned up and it starts on the first or second pull. I have turned into the neighborhood small engine guy and try to educate people on exactly the points you brought up.

For those that still run small 2 stroke outboards, I always pull the gas line when I get to the landing and let the motor completely run out of gas and die on its own. Then you know there is no more fuel in the system.

I only run non-oxy in all my small engines and boat. I put marine stabil in the tank right at the gas station because I never know how long that gas is going to be sitting and might as well treat it right away.

isu22andy wrote:

What’s your thoughts on filling the fuel to the brim with premium and stabilizer and then draining the carburetor bowl if it has a drain screw ? I assume this is just as good as running it dry or better ? I did this to my blower this spring . Generator I run every 2-3 months

Do you have a shutoff valve in the system? As long as you shut off the fuel supply then this would work. If you do not have a shutoff valve the carb will just keep filling with gas until the whole tank has emptied.

I think flipping the gas shutoff valve and letting it run out of gas and then opening the drain screw to make sure it totally empty would be the best.

dhpricco wrote:

I only run non-oxy in all my small engines and boat. I put marine stabil in the tank right at the gas station because I never know how long that gas is going to be sitting and might as well treat it right away.

Its my understanding that you don’t need to treat ethanol-free gasoline with a fuel stabilizer. The whole point of using that type of gas on a seasonal engine is in case it sits for a while, no?

Nonoxy for everything but cars.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>dhpricco wrote:</div>
I only run non-oxy in all my small engines and boat. I put marine stabil in the tank right at the gas station because I never know how long that gas is going to be sitting and might as well treat it right away.

Its my understanding that you don’t need to treat ethanol-free gasoline with a fuel stabilizer. The whole point of using that type of gas on a seasonal engine is in case it sits for a while, no?

Pretty sure you need to treat non-oxy for long term storage. It lasts longer than gas with alcohol but breaks down none the less.

I’ve switched over to using TruFuel – Premixed Fuel & Oil on small motors for weed whip, leaf blower, chain saw and ice auger. Not burning through tons of gas for these and have no short term storage issues.

-J.

What’s a carburetor? And gas?
Signed,
Electric Guy

Ive seen some problems when you run them completely dry though because the seals can dry up. I just make sure I have fresh gas in them and run non-oxy in anything.

suzuki wrote:

Pretty sure you need to treat non-oxy for long term storage.

What would you consider “long term” storage? None of my engines sit longer than 6 months not being used.

Maybe Grouse can help with this part.

MX1825 wrote:

Why is it every small engine shop/repairman that I know says to use non ethanol fuel. They all recommend non oxy fuel in small engines and outboards.
But yet all the manufacturers say you can use 10% ethanol with no problems. WTF gives?????

As bearcat says it’s not a matter of what you can use in the engine. It’s a matter of what stores well. Non-oxygenated fuel will store much longer and remain usable than fuel with ethanol.

Jon Jordan wrote:

I’ve switched over to using TruFuel –

Me too! That stuff isnt cheap, but I have never had issues and you can take a can with you and have it bounce around on a snowmobile and it wont leak like a gas can surely would.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
Pretty sure you need to treat non-oxy for long term storage.

What would you consider “long term” storage? None of my engines sit longer than 6 months not being used.

Now here’s where we have to differentiate fuel sitting in the tanks versus an engine that has fuel left in the carburetor.

Even with oxygenated fuel I rarely see a problem with it being left in the tank for 6 months or less. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, I just don’t see a lot of problems with that length of storage.

But if you don’t drain the carburetor and or turn off the fuel and run the engine dry then any fuel left in the carburetor can dry up and gum up the carburetor.

The other thing to really watch out for is to use up your fuel. I see so many guys that are constantly topping up a fuel tank with a quarter of a tank or less emptied from it. You’re constantly putting new gas on top of bad gas and then new gas on top of bad gas and pretty soon the whole tank is bad. Whenever possible burn your gasoline down as low as possible and then fill up completely with fresh fuel.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Ive seen some problems when you run them completely dry though because the seals can dry up. I just make sure I have fresh gas in them and run non-oxy in anything.

There was, in the past, a lot of truth to this. Back when most gaskets and some seals were made of cork or paper, you didn’t want them to dry up or they could shrink and start to leak. The principle is the same as a wooden barrel, if the barrel is ever allowed to dry out, the staves shrink and it leaks.

Modern seals are synthetic and they don’t “dry out” from lack of fuel contact. They break down because of the constant exposure to fuel and the additives in fuel. This fuel contact eventually breaks down the plastics and rubber that the seals are made of. Keeping a bad seal wet with fuel doesn’t fix it, it’s still bad from exposure to fuel and needs to be replaced.

CaptainMusky wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jon Jordan wrote:</div>
I’ve switched over to using TruFuel –

Me too! That stuff isnt cheap, but I have never had issues and you can take a can with you and have it bounce around on a snowmobile and it wont leak like a gas can surely would.

The thing that I notice with canned fuels is because of their different compositions, some machines lack power when run on these fuels. This is very noticeable in chainsaws, the canned fuels really can sap the power of some saws. I’ve had several saws that the owners noticed the lack of power and upon dumping the canned fuel and adding real gasoline, the problem instantly went away.

Sometimes I can tune a carb to run better on canned fuel, but then there’s no going back to real gasoline without retuning. But many carbs these days are not adjustable, so there’s no fix if the motor doesn’t like the canned gas.

I totally agree, these canned fuels have good storage characteristics. Weather or not they will out last non-ox fuel with Stabil would be a test I’d like to see, but they do store very well. In fact, just a few weeks ago, a leaf blower came to me and it had been sitting 3+ years with canned fuel in the tank. The owner, wisely, didn’t even want to try to start it, she wanted me to go through it and get rid of the old fuel.

I couldn’t resist. It fired right up. It didn’t run great or idle well, but it still ran on 3 year old canned fuel. After a good clean and carb tune with the pink fuel, she really roared.

BC and FG
I understand the storage versus running regular 87 fuel. I use only 100% fuel in everything non automotive.
My problem is manufacturing companies know that the majority of these small engines have extended periods of storage. Yet I’ve never seen where any of them recommend a different fuel for storage. I guarantee you if you buy a piece of equipment and have issues with it running properly and go to the dealer it won’t be covered under warranty 99% of the time. It will be blamed on the gas and gas is not covered under the factory warranty.
To me the manufacturer should just recommend non ethanol fuel. It would solve almost all issues.
JMO

Project Farm has a video on this. His content is great for anyone that is unfamiliar with him.

Interesting Grouse. I havent noticed anything like that in my chainsaw or leaf blower and I have been using TruFuel for 5 years probably.

MX1825 wrote:

My problem is manufacturing companies know that the majority of these small engines have extended periods of storage. Yet I’ve never seen where any of them recommend a different fuel for storage.

Some manufacturers recommend adding storage additives. I know Stihl recommends the use of their own brand of oil which contains fuel stabilizer and so does Echo. Others recommend draining the fuel tank for long term storage.

CaptainMusky wrote:

Interesting Grouse. I havent noticed anything like that in my chainsaw or leaf blower and I have been using TruFuel for 5 years probably.

The key word is some. I’ve seen many that see to run fine on the canned fuel. I don’t know why some struggle. IMO the storage advantages outweigh any performance issues for the homeowner user.

In my personnel opinion I believe people that actually do maintenance on their equipment is the biggest reason some don`t have problems with their gas powered equipment not the fuel they are using. Every piece of equipment on my farm runs 10% my 2000 Optimax has never seen anything but 10% at roughly 1600 hours. Some equipment sits for 8 months with out being used and starts right up provided the batteries are good.

Blaming 10% is easy for just plain poor maintenance, I remember years ago before 10% how gummy and varnished carbs would get. Much of the bad rap 10% got was from fuel systems that could not handle the alcohol and cleaning all the garbage out of fuel systems. Plus now the additive packages have gotten better in fuels to help. Just my two cents

2 questions for Grouse: 1. Shade tree mechanic told me the best thing you can do for engines that take straight gas is to run some 50:1 gas that you might have around for your outboard, running a bit will not foul your plugs and will lightly coat cylinder walls before storage. True?
Your separate tanks you have for various motors should be filled up at the end of the year. True?
Thanks FG

The one I’ve struggled with the most is my small generator. I really only have it on hand for emergency power outages and in fact have not even ever used it purposefully. For the past few years, I keep the tank topped off and simply run it for 15-30 min every few months so then it’s ready to go. It has a bowl drain line, but I don’t think it has a fuel shutoff valve.

Use Trufuel in my auger with no issues of power. Since changing over to this 6 or more years ago my auger runs better and such a better way to store and travel with.