perhaps a friend with a boat would pick up 5 gallons for you?
of course you may live in the desert for all I know…
are the new small engines compatible with ethanol?
are the new small engines compatible with ethanol?
I have a 20yo and 14yo mower, along with a 8yo and almost 25yo snow blower that have been running with 10% ethanol for a very long time. No problems what-so-ever.
My brother-in-law inherited my father-in-law’s 25yo snow-blower. They both live in upstate NY where Ethanol has been around for over 2 decades. All that’s ever been done to that blower is PM (oil changes, spark-plug, belts, grease)…that’s it. And that blower gets a lot of use (far more then mine does in NH).
if ethanol has been around for two decades there, perhaps the materials in the engines were made to be compatible with it there too?
the hundred or so people that I have heard talk about ethanol causing problems with their small engines and older cars can t all be crazy. many of them were master mechanics of one kind or another.
I have seen my rubber fuel lines melt (dissolve) in my 75 ford.
I have actually only heard here anyone say that it does NOT effect these things in the older engines
@wesw … 10% ethanol is no problem but greater amounts can be. We had a gasoline dealer who released a large amount of gasoline in our area with up to 25% ethanol about 2 years ago. Small engines paid the price and the dealer repaid thousands of claims for the damage that was caused. I lost a new weedeater and an older push lawnmower. My riding mower survived because I had about 1/2 a tank of non-ethanol gas from the past season. I would still run non-ethanol gas but the last dealer had stopped selling it the year before in our area.
if ethanol has been around for two decades there, perhaps the materials in the engines were made to be compatible with it there too?
Oxygenates have been mandated in many states since the 80’s. NY being one of them. MTBE and Ethanol have been used, but NY was one of the first states to ban the use of MTBE. I remember when Ethanol was introduced to some gases in the early 80’s in upstate NY.
it took many years to eat up my carb and fuel lines in the ford. much of the time it was sitting for long periods with ethanol in the lines and tank.
if you store your small equipment properly and drain the bowl and such I can see it not causing problems. few people do that.
completely un related, I strongly dislike gas powered weed eaters. the power is nice, but they never seem to work right and my shoulder joint is very painful these days.
I have a small black and decker 18V cordless one that I love. in fact the whole B&D orange and black 18V cordless line is great.
lets see…, I now have two cordless drills , a sawzall , small circular saw, two flashlights, a hedge trimmer, a small vacuum, the weed eater and 4 chargers and 6 batteries for this system.
they are light, cheap, especially at yardsales and the pawnshop, and the the cordless drills and flashlights are strong , durable and last forever on one battery.
the saws and hedge trimmer and weedeater use up the battery fairly quickly, but I have so many that it works out.
after many years of hard use the electric motor on the weedeater is finally burning up, they still sell them new and I m gonna get another, unless the pawnshop has one.
when I used a cordless drill professionally, I liked Milwaukee, but I can t afford them now. the B&D is just as good durability wise I think, . not as powerful tho as the old 24V Milwaukee I had.
I know the lithium batteries are better, but it does not make sense to switch for me as i have so many good tools with the old style batteries
Oh, I have plenty of boats. I live on a lake. But local Marinas are tied to local gas stations and my coastal trips are too infrequent. To be blunt, I have been lazy in my search. I’m more often interested in driving a 100 miles to get the best home made sauerkraut at Morse’s Sauerkraut nearer the coast. If my gps only included “real gasoline” outlets…
wesw, the liIon batteries can be used along with the NiMH, they are interchangeable, but you need a charger for the LiIon. The LiIon charger will charge both LiIon and NiMH but charging a LiIon on an older NiMH charger could start a fire.
Ryobi has come out with a 40v LiIon system that will make you throw away those gas powered tools. I have a chainsaw, pole saw and weedeater from the 40v system and I will never go back to 2 cycle. B&D is working on a 36v system but I don’t know anyone who has tried one yet.
hmmm. I ll have to look into that
Used oil recycling works but only if you get the raw material for free or very nearly free…
Recently, I saw a Quickie-Lube place getting bulk motor oil delivered by a 1200 gallon tanker truck! The oil was being dropped into an underground storage tank ! They must have several different tanks for different grades of oil… I suspect the used oil was collected and hauled away using the same process…So these places have moved beyond 55 gallon drums or even the 250 gallon Totes I have seen some places use…The oil-change industry would benefit GREATLY if some sort of “Universal” motor oil was adopted by the automotive industry…Shelf-space could be GREATLY reduced… 0w-20 grade is probably the first step in that direction…
My lifelong skepticism keeps me from accepting the sales pitch for any product and today synthetic oils and organic foods are at the top of my list of questionable items. The legal definition of those products were written by the firms marketing them so guess whose best interest was being looked after. Could the generic labeled dollar store synthetic be a poorer lubricant than the conventional oils sold under the major oil labels?
I found this AmSoil comparison of various brands and if the numbers are correct there are some big overlapping in the pour points of various viscosities.
http://mcgeerf.tripod.com/americansyntheticoil/id17.html
And isn’t the low pour point one of the most important qualities of synthetic oils?
If the quick lube chains go to strictly bulk oils will what will customers really be getting?
I understand synthetic oils hold up better to thermal and shear stresses than conventional. They also dissipate heat better. I have wondered myself about store brand synthetics. Are they as good as some other product or not? I figure they are just another brand of oil made by someone else put in a plain bottle that isn’t advertised and sold at a lower price but don’t know.
5W30 used to be considered somewhat of a universal oil. It could be run in cars that called for 10W30. We now have so many 0W grades that this isn’t the case anymore. I wonder about 0W30 or 0W40 being a universal grade.
As for the ethanol, I run lots of small equipment and have never had a problem. A fuel line did rot out on a chainsaw but that was an easy fix. My local dealer told me to mix the oil 40:1 instead of 50:1 as specified. He says people that do that have a lot less of an issue so that is what I do. It also enables him to sell more oil. I also have found that storing my equipment FULL to the brim with gas and no air space has worked quite well. It may take a few extra pulls to start but it fires right up the next season.
We have off road diesel in my state and it is dyed red or something to detect illegal usage. I assume the same with gasoline. Just use one can and make sure you never put any of that in your car.
Yes the new small engines are OK for oxy fuel but the problem is there are no carb adjustments on the new ones and the holes in the jets are very teeny tiny. Almost need a microscope to see them so they get clogged very easily.
@dagosa If you are on a lake, maybe you can install a small gas tank yourself and have a local bulk dealer delivery non-oxy fuel? With the tractor and so on, you should have enough demand for a hundred gallon tank or so.
I’ll bet the quick lube place getting 1200 gallons at a time is putting 5w-30 dino in everything (including second hand euro-cars) when nobody is looking unless the customer requests synthetic.
“putting 5w-30 dino in everything (including second hand euro-cars) when nobody is looking unless the customer requests synthetic.”
I’ve told this story before here…
A guy came to work here after being at a local multi-line dealer for 5 years. He looked around and saw we stocked 7 different motor oils. I said the dealer he worked at must have a pretty good stock with all the different makes they had.
He told me the service manager was getting some kind of kickback from the local supplier and they had barrels of 10W30 that went into everything that came into the oil change lane. Brand new Pontiac for first oil change, Cadillac that specified Mobil 1 5W30, Euro that specified 502.00 oils, whatever.
One day an old man came in with his 1974 Pontiac and asked for an oil change with Pennzoil 10W40. “Sure, we’ll send out for that and have your car ready in an hour.” When it was done the man asked to see the empty bottles. The guy on the lube rack nervously answered “Umm, they’re in the garbage already.” So the man asked the service writer about it, who went into the shop and came back saying “Wouldn’t you know it the garbage truck was here just 10 minutes ago and emptied the dumpster.”
The man finally got a hold of the service manager who refunded his money.
Good thought. But, my neighbor stored propane tanks in his shed, well away from the nearest house. In a violent thunderstorm, which we get occasionally, lightning hit it and shook the entire side of the mountain where we live. Scary ! It happened five years ago and there are still scarred trees and a hole in the woods to remind everyone. I will pass on a large gasoline storage tank…but thanks.
Rod Knox …I am also a skeptic and do not believe all the hype written about synthetic oil. I know it’s probably a better oil than dino oil but not by much. I stay away from “store brand” oils like DG (Dollar General) and won’t even use it in my lawnmowers. I might use it to lube my garden tools if I had some laying around but that’s about it. Why take a chance when great brands like Castrol are out there for very little money?
Recently, I saw a Quickie-Lube place getting bulk motor oil delivered by a 1200 gallon tanker truck! The oil was being dropped into an underground storage tank ! They must have several different tanks for different grades of oil.. I suspect the used oil was collected and hauled away using the same process.
Most of the quick-lube places around here heat their buildings with waste oil heaters.