While I discovered by rebuilding it that my 9-year-old lawnmower carb has no problem with 10% ethanol, I’d be reluctant to use E85. I guess the “warning do not use” symbol on your replacement gas cap confirms my fears.
katidid79–the fuel stabilizer that your landlord left with the mower is to prevent the gasoline from getting gummy when you store the mower for long periods such as over the winter. There are different schools of thought as to storing a lawnmower. Some run the gasoline out of the tank and carburetor. I fill the tank with gasoline that has the sabilizer mixed in before storing the mower, and run the engine briefly to get the mix into the carburetor. I also put in fresh oil, a new air filter. I sharpen the blade and remove and discard the old sparkplug and squirt a couple of tablespoons of oil into the cylinder. I turn the engine over until both the exhaust valve and intake are closed and put in a new spark plug. In the spring, I remove the spark plug, turn the engine over, then replace the plug. The engine has always started right up for me.
I agree Trie, that it is better to store with gas in it. I started to store all my motors I could with ethanol free gas with additives. I don’t have to add oil with the 2stroke I’m milking for another twenty years, but I will hire you to maintain mine when I get too old. You do good work…
I need a two stroke to better mow the side of the mountain I live on.
Dagosa–I did pay the price for not having my mower ready to go in the spring. The previous fall, I had filled the gas tank with fuel and the stabilizer, and had put the oil into the cylinder, but I hadn’t purchased a new air filter or spark plug. On the day in early spring when I decided to get the mower ready, I went to a local farm store to pick up the parts. There was a local animal rescue organization at the store with three puppies. I came back home with not only the spark plug and air filter for the lawn mower, but a puppy as well. That was 3 1/2 years ago. The upkeep on the dog is more than the upkeep on the mower (he is worth it, however).
You need to move into a neighbor like mine where " everyone" but us it seems has dog(s). Guess it’s that country living. There are so many, we just feed them when we are out, make friends and get all the benefits of pets (pets with benefits if you will) without the cost of upkeep. One neighbor’s Akita in particular would guard our home for half a day for a dog biscuit.
I know you found already that the cap meant "no E-85". And honestly, there's no good reason to use it. But...
It seems on cars, the differences between a normal gas (or 10% ethanol) vehicle and flex fuel are
1) Different fuel pump, ethanol is conductive at that concentration and some fuel pump designs assume non-conductive fuel since gasoline is non-conductive. Lawn mowers etc. do not use electric fuel pumps anyway.
2) Get rid of bare aluminum, magnesium, or rubber parts in the fuel system. This is probably the problem with the Briggs and Stratton, rubber seals and perhaps rubber fuel lines.
3) Power. Personally, on the "lawn chef"* I used to use (now I live in a trailer park where a guy drives by on a riding mower...) it had so much extra power, I could have easily had a 35% power loss and still had enough. But, on cars they can flow more fuel to achieve "normal" power, it's also possible to advance the spark timing or increase the engine compression (E85 is high octane fuel.)
To me, this means the modifications to run E85 would be fairly minor.
*This was originally a “Lawn Chief”. But what the heck is a lawn chief? So, when a friend and I decided to paint this 5HP push mower black, I figured “A chef at least chops stuff” so I painted over the “i” and it became a “Lawn Chef”.
@hwertz - you leave out a critical modification - the ability to flow 30% more fuel, otherwise it’ll be running lean, with likely damage.
“One neighbor’s Akita in particular would guard our home for half a day for a dog biscuit”.
dagosa–my rescue dog is a registered dog–a registered Democrat. He is union and there is no way that he would guard a house for half a day for just one dog biscuit.
Maybe you should be concerned about the lack of pollution controls on your lawn mower, since when it is being used, you are standing (or walking) right next to it and breathing its exhaust. Do you feel unusually tired after mowing?
If you get a manual mower, you can cancel your gym membership and save a lot of money. Or you can get that neighborhood kid you can’t stand to mow your lawn.
hoofer–you are right about no pollution controls on lawnmower engines. These engines do have a dirty exhaust. I have a smoke detector in my garage. I can start my cars in the garage (with the garage door open) and the smoke detector doesn’t go off. However, I can start my mower or my rototiller outside the garage and if the wind is from the direction to blow the exhaust into the garage, the smoke detector will go off. Even the 1978 Oldsmobile that I sold last week wouldn’t set off the smoke detector if the wind blew the exhaust back into the garage.
I don’t think catalytic converters would be feasible on a lawnmower engine, nor do I think it would make sense to adapt the engines to run on E-85 fuel. My son did what you suggested. He had been using hand-me-down power mowers and when his most recent mower quit, he bought a non-powered reel mower. He canceled his membership at the YMCA for the summer–he said he was getting his exercise mowing his yard. Back in the early 1950s when I was in elementary school, I and two of my friends had a lawn mowing company. We used a non powered reel mower. We had a rope tied to the front of the mower. Two pushed and one pulled. We got 75 cents for each yard–a quarter apiece.
The biggest recent step was the 2stroke motor use restriction. But you guys are so right. It still doesn’t account for the polution generated by it’s 4 stroke replacement. I selfishly milk my two stroke because of it’s effectiveness on my mountain side lawn. When it kicks the bucket, I will seriously consider the propane powered mowers. I think that is the next step as polution controls on equipment that is so weight sensitive becomes a " weighty" problem.
Sorry, push mowers are out of the question when weight training at my age is getting out of bed it seems.
dagosa-- Two cycle engines are great for mowing on slopes. A 2 stroke motor won’t be oil starved when tilted as may happen with a 4 stroke motor.In the late 1950s when I was in high school, I had a 2 stroke LawnBoy mower. I did a lot of mowing and at the end of the season, it was no problem to install new piston rings (I would break the glaze on the cyliner wall with crocus paper), put a new needle and seat in the carburetor and install new ignition points and condenser in the magneto. My brother still uses 2 stroke LawnBoy mowers because he has to mow on slopes.
I’m with you on non-powered push mowers. If I had to mow with one of these mowers, I would have to round up 2 other geezers and run the mower as I did as a kid.
Tri…I’m torn between looking for a new two stroke, if lawn boy makes them still, spending a lot of money for their professional grade, or getting the cheapest Toro 4stroke and replacing it more often. Just not used to buying a mower more often then twenty years. But then, at my age, the next anything I buy will be a lifetime purchase.
dagosa–I don’t think you can get a lawnmower with a two stroke engine any more. Toro now owns LawnBoy. I have two lawn mowers–one is a Toro I bought in 1988 and the other is a Homelight-Jacobson that I bought in 1991. Both have cast aluminum decks so they don’t rust out. Rustout is the worst problem I used to have with lawnmowers. For this reason, I put a new short block on the Homelight-Jacobson that I used most often. This mower is strictly a mulching mower and does a great job with leaves, so it was worth the effort to install a rebuilt block.
Whatever new mower you buy, put on a gasoline cap that says NO E-85.
2-stroke engines are still available.
They have a very good purpose…If you have to mow a hill a 2-stroke engine or a engine with a pressurized oil system really helps extends the engine life. With a non pressurized oil system on a small 4 stroke engine…tilting the engine can really starve the engine from oil. 2-strokes are nice in that they’ll keep the engine lubed no matter what the angle is.
LawnBoy quit making 2 stroke lawn mowers in 2004. I did check online and there are mowers made by Victa company that do have 2 stroke engines. Not only does the 2 stroke engine have an advantage over the 4 stroke that does not have a pressurized oil system for mowing on slopes, but the 2 stroke engine is lighter. I thought that the LawnBoy mowers made in the 1950s by OMC with the cast aluminum deck and the 2 stroke engines were great mowers. There wasn’t LawnBoy oil in the stores at that time. The manual said to mix a half pint of 30 weight non-detergent oil with each gallon of gasoline.