I agree, the manual sounds like the automated monitoring uses timing.
It’s pretty common for dealer personnel not to be fully up to speed on particular features for brand new cars. This is especially true when those features are making their first appearance in any car. Plug in hybrids are brand new to Chrysler, so you’ll need to watch out when it comes to service, it’s brand new to them, too.
Agreed … which is why I’m prospecting for information more broadly. The definitive explanation is still “out there”.
Put some ethanol blend gas in your leaf blower and let it sit 12 months. Then try to start it. I’m not sure if it’s “varnish” in the carburetor or not, but I do know the ethanol blended gas is not good on small engine carbs if they’re left to sit long periods.
I imagine the fuel “sensor” is a time based calculation, similar to an engine oil life minitor but probably less complex. I know for a fact they cannot (or don’t) monitor oil condition, rather they monitor time, mileage, load on the engine/rpm, etc. on the oil life minder deal. There is no “oil condition sensor”.
They do incorporate sensors to differentiate between E85 and your normal ethanol blend gas (10-15% ethanol) on flex fuel vehicles. So…I’m not sure. Good question.
I use a rake: it’s quieter and I get exercise.
I’ve put ethanol-containing gasoline in my pickup for 30 years.
Try adding a dose of gas treatment to your leaf blower’s tank; 1 ounce will probably do; put the rest in your car’s tank.
Yes, I use ethanol gas in my vehicles also. Apparently you’re using ether to start your truck from your other posts, but that’s beside the point. I do not use it in small engines. Ask a small engine repair guy his opinion on ethanol fuel in carbureted small engines. I use Stabil as well.
Congrats on the rake. I get exercise by running and lifting weights after I’m done using my leaf blower.
Ethanol blended gasolines tend to attack the gaskets in old small engines. Modern engines have gaskets tolerant of the ethanol.
Hydrocarbon is aromatic, and will evaporate from any non-sealed container, leaving “varnish”, but the venting in small engine gas tanks is small enough that it’ll take some time for that to happen to a significant extent. I consider it wise to drain a small engine into a sealed gas can at the end of the season and “run off” the gas in the lines.
Gasoline will, however, go bad as the hydrocarbons begin to bond with the oxygen atoms. I wouldn’t use gasoline over a year old in a small engine unless it had been treated with a stabilizing additive. If you need to get rid of the old gas, I’d recommend mixing it in small amounts with fresh gas. I’d even add a carb cleaner to the mix, in the portions suggested on the additive bottle.
I just now found an interesting link on the subject that you might enjoy.
2 Likes
Interesting read. I also found the pop up “ten most polluted places on earth” interesting!
Ethanol also seems to deteriorate gas lines on older small engines (maybe newer also, I don’t know - switched to ethanol free in my lawn equipment, chain saws, etc and haven’t had to replace fuel lines again). No issues with cars run on ethanol gas as far as I know.
Random Troll had stated there was basically no such thing as “varnish” anymore, which is what I was trying to refute. Gum, varnish, whatever you want to call it will still form in carbs if the gas is left to sit too long. Probably a lot less troublesome in a car or truck than a chainsaw, etc due to the smaller passages in small engines.
I never wrote that. I go months between starting often. When I do, I prime the carb with carburetor cleaner (for the fuel, not the cleaning) so that it starts up immediately instead of taking a minute. If I drove every week I wouldn’t have to.
I kill 2 birds with 1 stone - and preserve my hearing as well as non-pollute.
The manual for my '87 pickup warns me against methanol doing this but not ethanol. Ethanol is used for lots of other purposes without damaging plastic or rubber.
Some hydrocarbons are aromatic, some are aliphatic. ‘Varnish’ is stuff heavy and sticky enough to leave behind residue. Pure ethanol (or octane or heptane) evaporates completely. Gasoline is made by processing crude oil. Making it pure anything is expensive. For people who use their engines often enough (monthly?) it isn’t enough of a problem that they constitute a market for a pure fuel.
Detergents are compounds designed to dissolve varnish that happens to accumulate and keep the contents that would become varnish dissolved so one burns them eventually.
If you pour a gallon of gas in a tub and let it evaporate a thin layer of gunk will be left behind. If you pour an ounce of detergent (‘gas cleaner’ or the like) on it it will dissolve. The stuff that makes varnish is still in gasoline. Every manufacturer puts enough detergent in its gasoline that it doesn’t coat fuel lines, carburetors, gas tanks, anymore. I’ve replaced my fuel pump, rebuilt my carburetor, replaced my fuel filter (not because it needed replacing, just as regular maintenance) and found no sign of varnish. I replaced all the fuel line hoses when I rebuilt the carb but the old ones looked as good as the new ones: no sign of varnish or damage by all the ethanol I’ve put through them.
Ok then. Not sure why fuel lines on my chain saw magically deteriorated or why old carbs often have crystallized gunk in them.
Works for me. I’m going to go bench press my lawn rake. Carry on.