Years ago I was told not to use automotive oil in garden tractors and lawn mowers but rather oil especially formulated for those devices, such as brands bearing the names "Briggs and Stratton," "Cub Cadet," etc. Now I see that the gasoline at the staion where I deal has 10% ethanol. Is this acceptable for lawn mowers and garden tractors?
For four cycle engines use a good synthetic motor oil, I use Mobil 1
5W-30 in all my power equipment. For two cycle engines use a brand name two cycle oil for the fuel-oil mix.Not really, but you don't really have any other option unless you can travel to one of the few states where you can get alcohol free gasoline. To compensate you should put Sta-Bil in all your power equipment fuel, even if you don't expect to store it that long as the alcoholic fuel doesn't store well for even short periods.
Which were simply rebranded (and therefor probably significantly more expensive) automotive-grade oils...
The only issue would be very old engines that might have some issues w/ o-rings, etc., in fuel system that are not alcohol-resistant. Anything
10 years or newer (and probably closer to 20 in reality) will have no issues w/ 10% blends.
Could that be why my gas golf cart stopped starting after I filled the tank (it is ab old cart)?
Lou
Highly unlikely.
I don't think there's anything to back up the previous poster's assertions.
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Actually, if it is _really_ old, the possibility I raised earlier of alcohol "working" on carb o-rings, gaskets, etc., could be an issue. Just how old is "old"?
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Who the heck told you that? The dealer of the shop that wanted to sell you that four dollar quart of oil?
Both Briggs and Tecumseh recommend the use of standard SAE 30 weight detergent motor oil to be used in their engines. The only exception is Tec, who recommends SAE 10w30 weight detergent motor oil for use in cold temperatures.
Buy SAE 30 weight detergent oil. Change it once a year, when you sharpen your blade. Always use fresh gas, and run it out at the end of the season. Oh, and clean under the deck after each mow, and let it dry.
Jon
Jon Danniken wrote: ...
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Ayup...
_MANY_ years ago (like 50 or so) many small 4-cycle engines did recommend non-detergent oils, but that has been so long ago there are precious few if any still running outside a collector's collection.
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Thanks
1987
Lou
Don't know about the oil but my 3 year old snowblowers manual says not to use gas with alcohol in it. I had not noticed this and left stabilized alcohol containing gas in it and it would not start. I believe repair shop had to replace some seals.
On my 2 cycle Lawnboy, I was using a good brand 2 cycle oil but constantly having to have carburetor cleaned. Now I only use their oil and have not had any problems.
If you believe that special oil is needed, you have a problem.
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I'd think that's on the cusp of probabilities. Possibly could find info from either cart or engine manufacturer if it's a standard-issue B&S or other common engine.
Did you check to make sure you've got spark, first, yet?
You could probably gin up a simple still to separate the gasoline from the alcohol. Alcohol boils at about 180°F and Octane at 260°F.
You'd have better fuel for your machine plus a little something to ease the pain.
Wear safety goggles.
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From B&S FAQ--
All 4 stroke cycle spark ignited engines
Fuel must meet these requirements: * Clean, fresh, unleaded gasoline. * A minimum of 87 octane/ 87 AKI (91 RON). ... * Gasoline with up to 10% ethanol (gasohol) or up to 15% MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), is acceptable.
Except as noted earlier for older engines since ethanol is widespread and in some areas mandated, it would be most surprising if the engine manufacturers weren't building their engines to run on the available fuels. (They aren't variable-fuel systems, though, so E85 is out since they require new carburation, etc..)
While B&S does recommend adding fuel stabilizer to ensure fuel doesn't get stale since most homeowners don't use fuel very rapidly, I'm convinced that's an avoidance policy to attempt to minimize customer complaints rather than a real need. If a little additive can all of a sudden make fuel perfectly fine for 24 months, it would be quite remarkable the fuel itself as manufactured isn't able to last even 10% of that time span.
I've routinely let equipment over-winter w/o any special treatment and never in 40+ years had any issues the following year/spring/summer.
I just took an old B&S on a tiller that hadn't been touched for 10 years and the gas left in that tank was not as some might have one believe, gel nor were there any significant deposits, etc. Dump the contents of the tank and rinse it out, put a little carb cleaner through the jets, a new plug and little thin oil in the cylinder and spin it a few times to lube it up a little. After that it started on about the third or fourth pull and runs just fine, thank you very much... :)
The lore is far overblown from the realities in my estimation and according to my experience.
Its only been broken for two months so I will get around to it sooner or later:-))
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These other ideas always come not too long after the initial response... :(
The following is purely hypothesis; I've no factual basis other than the recollection of an issue from ages gone by...
The other effect I can think of as an outside, remote possibility would be whether an E10 blend could possibly dissolve previous varnish, etc., in an old engine and redeposit it throughout.
I had an incident years ago (like 35 or so, now) where I loaned a mower to a neighbor who refilled it w/ white gas and used it for an hour or so. The white gas did as described above and I ended up scrapping the mower as the resulting film once the engine cooled seemed impervious to any solvent including the white gas.
I'd not think that would happen w/ E10 or there would be thousands of automobiles with serious problems but outside the aforementioned problem w/ the rubber/plastic incompatibilities in the fuel system it's the only thing regarding the ethanol itself I can come up with that would have to do w/ the fuel itself.
Just a thought; as noted I think it highly unlikely...
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For current products. Many of us run products that are a decade or more old.
There is also a difference between "run on" and operate reliably over time with.
I've been storing fairly large quantities of gasoline for 1yr+ for years and I can definitely tell you that Sta-Bil makes a huge difference. I can also tell you that since we started getting alcoholic fuel it's storage ability without Sta-Bil has decreased dramatically over the non-alcoholic fuel without Sta-Bil. I don't yet have a solid determination if Sta-Bil can keep the alcoholic fuel good as long as it can the non-alcoholic fuel.
In 25+ years I've had a number of items with issues in the spring after being stored over winters and in every case it was stored with untreated fuel.
Probably had Sta-Bil or similar added then, since I've seen equipment left a mere two years with nasty sour fuel in the tank.
Not in my estimation nor experience.
PS: An ultrasonic cleaner full of warm Simple Green works wonders for reviving a carb that's gunked up.
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:)
Actually, for small engines 20 years is probably a little early for specific ethanol compatibility; it was pretty standard by then for autos but small engines tended to come along later. I remember the flap roughly that time w/ the first ethanol and most specifically, it seemed, w/ the Chrysler minivans that were all the newest rage at the time had several incompatibilities.
So, I'd say it isn't out of the question it might have had a deleterious effect on the carb being that age. Still, in those it didn't actually keep them from running very often, mostly they had poor mileage from internal leaks/bypasses and perhaps some external leaks as well. The simpler small engine single cylinder might be more prone to just not start, though.
Anyway, start w/ spark and go from there when you do get one of them round tuits to use on this particular project.
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Same here... Over the last 25 years I have never used Stabil and never had any problems with the mower , trimmer , chainsaw , ect being stored over the winter....
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