Lawnmowers run much better with 87 Octane than 92. High Octane gas is only an advantage in engines designed for it. On your other point... I don't think you can buy ethanol free 87 Octane gasoline in the U.S.
I'm not from Canuckistan, in Nevadatuckey I use 87 octane.
YMMV
Like I said, if you read my posting, the higher octane is not the reason to use it - but I have NEVER noticed an engine running more poorly on 93 octane than on 87 - and I've owned a lot of cars that specified regular gas that DID run better on premium - some so much better that the increased fuel economy more than paid the difference in cost - back in the day when premium was only $0.05 a gallon more than the low octane stuff.
And if that 87 octane in your lawn mower is 5 - 10% ethanol and has sat for a week in 90% humidity, the ethanol free 93 will run a WHOLE LOT better.
I had a few gallons of old av-gas (100LL - about 3 times as much lead as the old Sunoco 260) removed from a friend's plane when he did his annual - and the Briggs 5 horse on my old lawn mower just loved it. So did my chain-saw. I would not use it on a regular basis because the lead could cause issues - but the higher octane and lower vapour pressure didn't hurt the performance of either one at all.
We should protect them anyhow.
Why rely on lame excuses?
Running them once a month would work but I'll never do that and many people won't.
ABSolutlely. It's worked great for me. I used to make sure the last two fills had stabil, because some gas from the next to last fill up mixes with the gas from the last fill-up and who knows what makes it into the tube to the carburertor bowl or other carburetor parts. But I never know when lawnmower season will end so now I just use it all the time.
I don't think that matters.
That certainly doesn't matter.
The only reason to use high octane is if an engine is knocking and lawnmowers are not high enough compression to knock with low octane gas, and in addition, I've read that knocking due to low octane doesn't hurt the engine.
Is your lawnmower knocking? (It sounds something like knocking on a door) If not, you have no use for either higher octane gas or lead substitute. If you think it is, what engine do you have, brand, size, compression ratio?
They probably say to drain the gas and then run it until the engine stops. I think they should mention Stabil too. I can't help but think that is better, because, tell me folks, when the engine stops, there is still more tahn half a bowl of gas left in the carburetor bowl, right?
After all, with a full carburetor bowl, the gas level in the bowl and the related venturi tube, or whatever it's called, is just below ovverflowing and a little bit of vacuum sucks it up, but if it drops even less than a quarter inch, the engine won't run.
There are probably similar problems, I mean issues, with non-bowl carburetors.
Or do they say to disassemble the bowl and drain that too? I don't think so.
I did meet a long haul driver who told me his family mini van ran poorly on 93 octane. Chevy Astro, I want to say. The dealership guys suggested he go back to 87, which worked much better.
My Dad used to run 93 octane in the old lawn mower (Tecumseh, from 20 years or so ago) and it always worked fine. Don't remember if he ran it dry.
Two strokes have a reed valve, instead of the kind found in four strokes. The four stroke valves, I'm not sure what they are called.
The better high-grade gasolines have cleaners already mixed in. Avoid gasoline additives, Sta-Bil-treated gas is good. Keep the area around the gas cap clean. Replace filters each year.
You can and it would typically be at an independent station. But the government increased the subsidies earlier this year so it wholesales for less than the good stuff. I know of a local owner who has two stations that each do 14,000+ gallons of fuel sales/day. He doesn't like the idea of ethanol. But the government increased the amount of money they pull out of our pockets to subsidize it so now it is artificially cheaper than quality gasoline. The big box places immediately jumped on it and lowered their prices. He can't afford to not do it so he is converting both plazas to ethanol blend. Typical big box race to the bottom.
High Octane fuel, burns slower than low octane and when used in a typical low compression lawnmower engine will cause excessive carbon buildup. That is a FACT.
Actually, it is quite damaging. It causes excessive carbon buildup which requires an expensive engine tear down to fix. It may even lead to cylinder scoring and broken rings, inaddition to valve damage.
For someone who claims to be a professional mechanic, you sure don't know much about engines. You are pretty good at making up your own fantasies about them.
Using 92 Octane gasoline in small engines where 87 Octane is specified WILL cause problems. That is a FACT. You don't seem to understand the difference between low and high Octane gasoline.
Where can you buy gasoline without ethanol? That was a "smart fix" to contaminate our gasoline and raise the price of corn.
I'm surprised no one has suugested RTFM. Most manuals I've read these days say to drain/run the engine dry prior to storage. I do that with my snow blower. With my mower, I just add Sta-Bil to the last two gallons of gas that I buy. That way it will be in the mower whenever the last cut happens to be and I store it that way.
My reasoning with the mower is that it's stored for a shorter perioed, about 4 months vs 9 for the snowblower. I've also only used regular gas, no additives. I agree with the advice that a higher octane isn't going to harm the engine and that if you can find alcohol free gas, that would be good, but I don;t know where you would find it here in the USA.
I've never bothered with my lawnmower, but my motorcycle carburetor has a nipple on the bottom of the bowl and a screw for draining. I do it every winter.
So I use regular gas (ideally without ethanol), with no lead substitute.
High octane and lead substitute are simply a waste. (I don't use Premium in my cars.) I use fuel stabilizer if I'm going to leave the tank with gas in it for a few weeks without running the engine.
That's easy. Thanks!
That's all a crock. If you use gasoline equipment every year there should be no problem. I never have gas or starting problems ever. It takes more than a year for gas to go bad and gum things up. I even start and warm up things in off season to keep them good.
Higher Octane = higher ignition temperature. It is called for to prevent 'knocking' in high-compression engines. Unless you have a high-performance, high-compression engine (such as a race care or Lamborghini), higher Octane ratings mean higher prices and nothing else.
A high-octane fuel does not contain more energy than a lower-octane competitor, it only burns slower. For small engines (lawnmowers, leaf-blowers, marital aids), a slow-burning (i.e., 90+ Octane) fuel is not the fuel of choice.
For your car, on your next empty, put in five gallons of 87 Octane. If the engine doesn't knock at higher speeds or when accelerating, you can thereafter save $2.00 or more each fill-up.
Tetraethyl lead was added more to increase the octane rating of gasoline than protection of the engine parts.
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