Additives in fuel?

[OllieC]

Those of you that have in-boards or I/O's (4 stroke) - do you use an additive like Marine Sta-Bil everytime you fill up? Most of the time I will burn through my fuel so I don't really need a stabilizer - The only thing that worries my is ethanol in the gas...

Thanks,
Ollie

 

[dingbat]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Stabiler does nothing to prevent phase seperation. If you burn thru your fuel it buys you nothing.

 

[TyeeMan]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Usually I never totally fill the tank unless I know I'm going to burn it in a week or two. Usually I pump 5 or 10 gallons, try to think how long I'm going to be out.
I'm a fairly regular user of fuel stabilzer, but more importantly I try to fuel up at stations I know have a lot of traffic. The last outing or two of the season I try to run 90 octane non-oxygenated and than I treat that with fuel sabilizer. I believe Star-Tron makes a fuel stabilzer that "fights" phaze seperation. For what it's worth I use all Amsoil fuel treatment products.

 

[Davem3]

Re: Additives in fuel?

i use Non-Ethanol fuel ONLY, but giving that i still use Seafoam in every tank to stop carbon build up, no other reason ............

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Additives in fuel?

I use ethanol free 93 octane. no other additives.

 

[OllieC]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Thanks everyone....kind of what I thought but still wanted to check. It was that Sta-Bil marketing comercial with the guy sitting in the bass boat that wouldn't start that started this thread....

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Additives in fuel?

I start running stabil and seafoam in the fall when I don't know if I"ll be out again or if I will make it through a tank or not. Nothing during the regular season though.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Additives in fuel?

How many types of bread are there in the grocery store? How many brands and kinds of oil are there on WW's shelves????????

You are dealing with the general public, you will get the general public's answer.

So my general public answer is: Do what works for you....period.

Mark

 

[Mason78]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Last year I rented a slip at a local marina and kept the boat in the water. I had a few problems with the engine running rough. Several locals advised that it was condensation building in the tank and recommended a product called "HEET" that removes water from the gas. I used it the rest of the year and had zero problems, it worked great.

This year I trailer the boat and haven't had a need, but that is the only additive I have ever used.

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Additives in fuel?

We used Heet (yellow bottle)back in the day to prevent/cure fuel line freezing in winter in our cars. Haven't had any trouble for decades with fuel line freezing in our winter used engines. It's pretty inexpensive as far as additives go.

 

[Jonvee]

Re: Additives in fuel?

HEET is methanol (alcohol). It absorbs the water in the fuel so it is less likely to freeze. Now we have alcohol in the fuel and are trying to get it out. Hmm.

 

[Another retired guy]

Re: Additives in fuel?

HEET is methanol (alcohol). It absorbs the water in the fuel so it is less likely to freeze. Now we have alcohol in the fuel and are trying to get it out. Hmm.

Good point - plus Mercruiser advise that alcohol related problems are more severe with Methanol!

 

[MJG24]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Pretty much every manual for every gas engine ever made says avoid methonol.

 

[theBrownskull]

Re: Additives in fuel?

I use the Quicksilver "quickstor" in my fuel starting in the fall or if the boat sits for awhile; not always easy to find non-oxygenated fuel. I use the same stuff in my snowmobiles and they are very picky creatures regarding fuel.

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Stabiler does nothing to prevent phase seperation. If you burn thru your fuel it buys you nothing.

What's your source of information sir?

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Additives in fuel?

Pretty much every manual for every gas engine ever made says avoid methonol.

That is wood alcohol. Ethanol is made from grain. Don't really know the difference other than the boo birds say don't drink the wood.......wonder why?

 

[Brewman61]

Re: Additives in fuel?

I've heard it said that methanol is what caused blindness in some improperly made moonshine.
Also, in my Mercruiser Maintenance Manual, around 2003, Mercury lumps methanol in the same group as ethanol, either are (or were) acceptable up to a 10% concentration. Not sure where any gas is sold containing the methanol.
If the standard dose of Heet is one bottle per 10 gallons or so, the concentration adding that amount of Heet can't be much over 1%, so I'm not convinced it would hurt anything. If that were the case, I'd think the company that makes it would go broke paying for all the ruin the product causes.

 

[OllieC]

Re: Additives in fuel?

I made a ding-bat move by leaving half 87 in my tank for a few weeks. Yesterday I took her out and went through about 25 gallons but she ran a little rough. I'm going to put some Sea Foam in the tank and fill her up with Marina gas and hopefully it will smooth things out a little today.