I’ve spent the last week making various small gas engines run properly.

I started with the “big” generator because I want to use it to run the A/C on the trailer at an upcoming bluegrass festival. Typical problem - ethanol in the gas mucked up the carburetor and it would only run at half choke. The usual fix would be to rebuild the carburetor but in these modern times you can buy a whole new carburetor on Amazon for some $20 and that’s what I did. It fit perfectly and the generator runs like a champ!

Next the chipper. I’m not sure why I moved it here because I don’t have any trees. It’s in the way in the garage and too heavy to schlep down to the basement. Time to sell it but it wouldn’t start. An Amazon carburetor was going to cost some $50 so I tried something new - “Mechanic in a Bottle.” My expectations were low but a bottle didn’t cost much. Worth a try.

Ha! It worked! Kind of a hassle because you have to drain the gas tank but still easier than replacing the carburetor.

Next up is the “small” generator and the “new” snowblower. Neither one will run at less than half choke, even though I put fuel stabilizer in the snow blower. I bought a three pack of Mechanic in a Bottle” and we’ll see how it goes.

Good work! Wish you lived around here....

Snow blowers (at least Toros) are a pain. The only thing that seems to work for us is to run them dry in the spring. Our neighbor buys the ethanol-free gasoline in small cans that you can get at the big box store. Expensive way to go but it seems to work.

We just got rid of Mr wtg's Stihl chain saw that we brought back from Door County. It's had the same gas-oil mix sitting in it for you-don't-want-to-know-how-long. Plus the pull cord locked up. He was going to try to get it running again but we have no use for it here so we gave it to a young neighbor guy a couple of doors down from us. Mike likes to tinker with stuff. He snowblows our driveway in the winter every so often so we figured it was a good tradeoff.

Will have to tell Mr wtg about Mechanic in a Bottle...I don't think he's ever heard of it.

There’s a farm and garden store about ten miles from here with an ethanol-free gas station. Not sure how — maybe it’s on a chunk of Native American land. That’s where I get gas for the small engines and the old motorcycles. It’s about the same price as any other gas station.

I have a 4-stroke Honda trimmer that won’t start. I’m thinking to just stick one of those $20 carbs on it to see if that fixes it.

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
There’s a farm and garden store about ten miles from here with an ethanol-free gas station. Not sure how — maybe it’s on a chunk of Native American land. That’s where I get gas for the small engines and the old motorcycles. It’s about the same price as any other gas station.

Great info! I would never think to check.

Turns out there are lots of stations around that sell ethanol-free gas, mostly at marinas. Makes sense.

Gonna go get me some!

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:

I have a 4-stroke Honda trimmer that won’t start. I’m thinking to just stick one of those $20 carbs on it to see if that fixes it.

Why not try the Mechanic in a Bottle? Draining the gas in a trimmer is easy enough, just flip it over and dump it out. I doubt the gas in it now is much good anyway.

I’ll give it a shot. Where does one buy a Mechanic in a Bottle?

Briggs and Stratton recommends

When I was using small outboards I always closed the gas valve and let the motor run to burn all the gas to keep the carburetor clean.

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:

Snow blowers (at least Toros) are a pain. The only thing that seems to work for us is to run them dry in the spring. Our neighbor buys the ethanol-free gasoline in small cans that you can get at the big box store. Expensive way to go but it seems to work.

My snowblower guy in Massachusetts swore by jet fuel (which has no ethanol in it). Not cheap, but it was effective. I never needed to drain the snowblower's gas in the spring as long as I used that.

quote:

Originally posted by pianojuggler:
I’ll give it a shot. Where does one buy a Mechanic in a Bottle?

Home Depot. Probably auto parts places too.

quote:

Originally posted by CHAS:
Briggs and Stratton recommends

When I was using small outboards I always closed the gas valve and let the motor run to burn all the gas to keep the carburetor clean.

That's what I always do with the old BMWs. I approach from the south and a block and a half away, I close the petcock. By the time I'm in my driveway, there's about ten seconds of gas left in the carbs.

I’ve always done that. Doesn’t seem to do much good. Once ethanol hits the seals everything is toast.

quote:

Originally posted by QuirtEvans:

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:

Snow blowers (at least Toros) are a pain. The only thing that seems to work for us is to run them dry in the spring. Our neighbor buys the ethanol-free gasoline in small cans that you can get at the big box store. Expensive way to go but it seems to work.

My snowblower guy in Massachusetts swore by jet fuel (which has no ethanol in it). Not cheap, but it was effective. I never needed to drain the snowblower's gas in the spring as long as I used that.

Jet fuel is kerosene. Similar to diesel fuel or furnace oil. It doesn't burn much or at all in a gasoline engine -- not high enough compression. Rumor is that you can put out a cigarette by dipping it in jet fuel, but I've never tried that.

One of my former cellmates worked as a pilot for an outfit that maintained bizjets for very rich people. The company had a "policy" that if fuel was drained from an airplane it didn't go back in; the airplane was refueled with fresh fuel. So they always had several barrels of pre-owned jet fuel sitting behind the shop. All of the mechanics drove diesel VW Rabbits.

Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to run on furnace oil which was what most people had close at hand. Gasoline was considered a waste product and usually discarded.


Perhaps your snowblower guy used aviation gasoline ("avgas"). No ethanol. I think it comes in 95 octane and 110 octane. Not cheap, but good stuff.

Yes. AvGas. We ran it in the dirt bikes. Very high octane, no ethanol. Not cheap.

I’m told that the boat gas sold at marinas never has ethanol in it. Also not cheap but easy to find. I doubt I use 5 gallons a year so I don’t care.