Stabil and shelf life

[SOCOM42]

Under normal conditions I change my gas stores every year, cans are rotated out on a monthly schedule.

It is ethanol gas with a double dose of Stabil in it.

Yesterday, I found two 5 gallon cans of stored fuel, "hidden" under a machine base.

It was only hidden from view by some junk piled against it, not intentional.

This gas was stored where it was for use in a secondary genset,

for not having to go out in 2 feet of snow to get it.

The gas was treated and stored in June of 2019.

Well today I dumped that 10 gallons into one Jeep and drove with it for 45 miles each way.

Had no problems with it at all, there was a quarter of a tank of fresh gas to start with in the Jeep.

The hectic times for the last two years caused the oversight, too much work and not enough time to do it.

The cans were refilled on the return trip today, the Stabil was added before I left here.

The cans are marked with a flag around the handle made from electrical tape,

either white or yellow with the Stabil amount and the date, one year yellow, alternate year is white.

With a lot of cans, the markers make for easy spotting of due cans.

[BucketBack]

I don't use STABIL, I just rotate the gas out every couple of months.

[Mad Trapper]

100LL for equipment

[rstanek]

I use stabil in my seasonal stuff, motorcycle, lawnmower, snowblower, generators, but in all those I don’t use fuel that contains ethanol…..

[Slippy]

I've used Stabil for years and it seems to work. But, I'm slowly getting rid of my Gasoline Powered Smal Engine Equipment and switching to Electric/Battery Powered Equipment. I use Stabil in my Diesel cans for my tractor and Utility Vehicle.

I usually buy Ethanol Free Gasoline and add Stabil and never had a problem rotating out gasoline for the trucks. I also add SeaFoam periodically.

[shootbrownelk]

I use Stabil or Seafoam gas treatment in my seasonal stuff too. Power washer, lawnmower, rototiller, outboard and UTV , I also use non ethanol fuel in them as well. No problems ever.

[hawgrider]

Stabil is good stuff !

[Broncosfan]

I had problems with Stabil years ago so I don't use it. I use John Deere 2 cycle oil and it has stabilizer already added. From my use its been an awesome product in weed eaters, chainsaws etc. Always starts right up after sitting all winter. I use Seafoam once in a while when I notice a problem or sometimes I just add some especially if something has been used in awhile. With 4 atvs now we rotate gas monthly it seems. Wife is picking up some seafoam today and I plan to start adding to everything including the gas on hand.

[Slippy]

I learned a good lesson about SeaFoam a number of years ago. Our Jeep JK had a CHECK ENGINE light so I took it to NAPA and they ran diagnostics showing a stuck valve of some sort. They mentioned SeaFoam and damn if it didn't work! A few years after that my F150 CHECK ENGINE light came on, hit it with SeaFoam and it went away. I add SeaFoam to the F150 periodically and its still going strong with over 250k miles!

Not saying its the end all fix all, but it seemingly has worked for me in a few instances!

[SOCOM42]

I don't use STABIL, I just rotate the gas out every couple of months.


With the amount of gas stored here, it takes a year to go through all the cans.

Even longer since covid came into effect, plus as I age my travel has been reduced to essential thing only.

I don't use the Stabil directly in the 2 cycle fuel cans which is only for chainsaws.

MT, that 100 LL avgas of what you speak has double the lead that the 80 octane avgas had.

That crap fouled out the plugs in my plane when they dropped out the 80,

had to put in Platinum plugs to clear the problem.

Diligence was required on the fuel mixture, watched the exhaust gas temp gage real close.

Even when full rich was required for takeoff, I would lean it out a tiny bit.

For the most part ethanol free gas is not readily available, the effort to procure it is not worth it.

[hawgrider]

Be careful with the miracle in can....

I have no documented proof but I've heard stories of engine failure after seafoam use. Was it used correctly and caused engine failure? Dont know.

[Broncosfan]

Be careful with the miracle in can....

I have no documented proof but I've heard stories of engine failure after seafoam use. Was it used correctly and caused engine failure? Dont know.

Thanks I've never heard anything bad about it only good things.

[BucketBack]

I used a free can of seaform on my Johnson. My Johnson still works. 25 HP LongShaft of course.

[Broncosfan]

I don't know of a place near me that has ethanol free gas. I know its supposed to say if it does at the pump but I don't rely on that.

[red442joe]

I have made my own ethanol free gas.
Interesting experiment and quite easy.

Joe

[Slippy]

I used a free can of seaform on my Johnson. My Johnson still works. 25 HP LongShaft of course.

Does it burn?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImGxE8fPGe0

[stevekozak]

I have used Stabil and it seems to work fine. I have not had a problem, although I do know a guy who swears it made his gas gum up. I only store ethanol-free gas. Most of the time, I just put some Marvel Mystery Oil in it and call it good. Burns fine two years later. I don't store any longer than that.

[SOCOM42]

Be careful with the miracle in can....

I have no documented proof but I've heard stories of engine failure after seafoam use. Was it used correctly and caused engine failure? Dont know.

I have heard the same rumors over the years,

everyone who claims it is bad to use can never give any details.

I have used it as an additive for about 15 years, engines have always work fine, be it a small or large one.

Heard the same about STP oil additive, if it is still on the market, rumors, never any details.

Hell, I remember when I had to scrape the wax out of the rockers

and rocker covers, oil pans, before HD oil was around.

Come a long way in 65+ years of my life.

The EPA needs a foot up its ass though for a lot of their shit.

[hawgrider]

I have heard the same rumors over the years,

everyone who claims it is bad to use can never give any details.

I have used it as an additive for about 15 years, engines have always work fine, be it a small or large one.

Heard the same about STP oil additive, if it is still on the market, rumors, never any details.

Hell, I remember when I had to scrape the wax out of the rockers

and rocker covers, oil pans, before HD oil was around.

Come a long way in 65+ years of my life.

The EPA needs a foot up its ass though for a lot of their shit.

My Grandfather used STP religiously!

Lucas is another good one.

Marvel mystery oil is the one often referred to as "miracle in a can"

[SOCOM42]

My Grandfather used STP religiously!

Lucas is another good one.

Marvel mystery oil is the one often referred to as "miracle in a can"

I use the Marvel all the time.

When I was a kid, I use to get all my motor oil and grease from a company called Oilzum.

I was lucky enough to get it all for free!!

My cousin a few years older than me was big into drag racing,

the company sponsored him, and he was good friends prior to that with the owners kid.

I was at the factory with cousin one day, the owner invited me to get my oil from him, which I did.

The first time I went there, ready to pay for it, he said no charge then or any other time.

It was a great place to see running, all the mixing and lab equipment.

About six years later or so the kid took over after the father died.

Kid went out to San Fransicko and got his ass killed in some sort of shit.

The company was sold to BP, ended my free stuff.

They had a great history of racing oils for cars and planes.

They worked with the engine companies to make better oils.

I used the STP 30 years ago, just drifted away from it.

[Broncosfan]

All I can say about the Stabil is that I had a brand new generator with a BS vanguard 9 hp way back in the '90's. Power was out when I live in SC went all the way to Atlanta to get the generator. Power was out well over a week from an ice storm. Everyone said use Stabil. So the last tank we added it to the last 5 gallon of gas that went through the generator. Back then ethanol wasn't mixed in everywhere. A few months later I went to start the generator and nothing. Ended up taking it to the local small engine shop. They said the carburetor was gummed up. So that done it for me. I still have the generator. I haven't used it lately. After the Stabil issue all I ever done was turn of the gas and run it until the line runs dry. Left the remaining gas in the tank. When needed I added whatever new gas it needed and it has always started right up. Except when I broke the pull cord. lol

[SOCOM42]

All I can say about the Stabil is that I had a brand new generator with a BS vanguard 9 hp way back in the '90's. Power was out when I live in SC went all the way to Atlanta to get the generator. Power was out well over a week from an ice storm. Everyone said use Stabil. So the last tank we added it to the last 5 gallon of gas that went through the generator. Back then ethanol wasn't mixed in everywhere. A few months later I went to start the generator and nothing. Ended up taking it to the local small engine shop. They said the carburetor was gummed up. So that done it for me. I still have the generator. I haven't used it lately. After the Stabil issue all I ever done was turn of the gas and run it until the line runs dry. Left the remaining gas in the tank. When needed I added whatever new gas it needed and it has always started right up. Except when I broke the pull cord. lol

Never had a problem, like you I run everyone dry, snow blower log splitter,

chain saws, two gas generators, others are Diesel and propane.

Have a Honda tractor, stabilized gas for the winter only.

[Chiefster23]

Concerning lube oil additives like STP and LUCAS, they aren’t necessary anymore. Those things are leftovers from long ago before the introduction of synthetic lube oils. Todays quality synthetics are light-years ahead of yesterday’s HD oils. Just use a good ‘name brand’ synthetic oil and change it as recommended and you’ll be fine. Oh, and use a premium quality oil filter. Those cheapie FRAM filters are junk. I use MOBIL 1 lubes in everything and MOBIL 1 premium oil filters.

For gas I’ve had good luck with STABIL and PRI-G. PRI-G did cause my Honda to throw a ‘check engine code’. I use PRI-D In my diesel fuel storage and furnace oil tank.

[hawgrider]

Noooo I hate overpriced synthetic! Dino oil forever!

Chepo Fram filters huh? Since when?
Fram filters were the filter to use for decades in my era.

[Chiefster23]

Cut a $4 dollar Fram filter and a Mobil 1 oil filter apart. Then come back and we’ll talk. And oil? Suit yourself. I’m just passing along my experiences with 30 years of shipboard experience with various lubes and professional lube oil testing monthly. The Mobil oil rep guaranteed that ANY machinery damage caused by lube oil related failure would be repaired or replaced on their dime. We lost 3 gearboxes due to high operating temps using conventional gear oil. Mobil paid up and said switch to synthetic. We never had another failure.

Another example. I tried to start a lifeboat engine in Russian wintertime. 10w-30 conventional oil. The engine wouldn’t turn over. Heated the engine with heat lamps and changed to synthetic. The engine fired right up!

[hawgrider]

Mobil is a hyped up fad that started in the late 70's

I never fell for it. Waste of money.

People used to come in for a quart of Mobil one and a filter change after 8 to 10,000 miles screw that! I would never treat my engines like that.

We must need a Dino VS Sinful synthetic thread here lol

And 9mm VS .45 ACP thread. Lolololol!

[Chiefster23]

Hey. It’s your $ and your machinery. Buy what you want. Obviously you didn’t read what I said about the gearboxes��

[Chiefster23]

And an FYI……. I’m not saying conventional oil is bad. Modern oil is good stuff. We used it in our generators and main engines. The ship I retired off of went to the scrapyard at 20 years old and the engine sump oil was never changed! Just constantly centrifuged and added new oil as necessary. I’m just saying synthetic is better under severe conditions. Buy what you want. My whole point was, with modern oil you don’t need additives like STP

[Slippy]

Regarding mechanical gizmos I believe a few things;

1.) Science...For example, scientifically, Oil is a better lubricant than Sand.

2.) Mathematics...For example, mathematically every man-made component that makes up a mechanical device has a mathematical probability rate. Lets say that today's modern Internal Combustion Engines have 10 components that each have a probability rate of failure of 1%. That would give each component a probablilty of success ratio of 99%. PRETTY GOOD RIGHT?

So, if each component has only a 1% chance of failure, multiple that by the total number of components and you have a probability rate of success of the sum of components at .8944, or 89.4%. Take the inverse and the failure rate is OVER 10%!.......NOT SO GOOD, RIGHT?!

And that leads us to the final thing...

3.) Luck...Hence luck plays a role in the success or failure of a mechanical gizmo.

:blow:

[Prepared One]

I have found that the threat of extreme violence against my uncooperative whizzbangs will sometimes induce them to perform. OK, mostly not, but it makes me feel better. :bounce:

[BucketBack]

I run Mobil 1 5w30 High Mileage oil and a WIX filter, change it once a year before winter at around 5K on the oil and filter.

[hawgrider]

Mobil one was 6 bucks a qt back in late 70's no thank you please it only makes me sneeze.