Got some bad gas 3 days ago.....

[Sidecarflip]

Interestingly from the filling station I always deal with and they are a volume seller too. Filled up 3 gas cans and my car and got home and filled both zero turn lawnmowers (both were just about empty) and now, neither one will idle with a darn and surge constantly. Car seems unaffected by it (it's a flex fuel motor) however but both lawnmowers are. One is a Kawasaki V twin and the other a Kohler V twin and both are acting the same

Wondering if too much corn alcohol, was mixed into the fuel at the fuel rack or or if it's just stale gas. I did add Marine Stabil to each can which is SOP for me anyway. Both engines seem to be running hot too.

Sure am glad I run canned fuel in my saws.

Last year I got some bad ORD as well (water in the fuel) and my supplier had to pump it out of my bulk tank and refill it with good ORD,

 

[Mad Professor]

I got some wet gas last month. Had it in the lawn tractor, took 1 1/2 cans of the good dry gas to stop the surging and stalling.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Hopefully, I can consume all of it and refill with some that will actually perform better. Still think it has way too much corn alcohol in it but I don't have a test bottle, however I will have shortly.

 

[Mad Professor]

Hopefully, I can consume all of it and refill with some that will actually perform better. Still think it has way too much corn alcohol in it but I don't have a test bottle, however I will have shortly.

It's way worse when the corn fuel separates from water content, by then there is much greater phase separation to deal with. The alcohol is 10%, so aqueous phase is going to be at least 15-20%

With pure gas any water separates almost immediately.

 

[cookies]

I'd drain as much fuel as possible then add fresh 10% eth fuel from another source, if your not seeing water droplets settling in the tank corners my bet would be they put E85 in the 87 storage tank at that station. I would call that station so they can test their tank, most stations can test their own fuel for ethanol content in a few minutes.

 

[blades]

was having problems with my diesel truck, really weird high to low idles , or like someone gave a shot of either, sometimes surging when on cruise all intermittent . emptied water trap all new filters and oil change which did nothing. at that point i was thinking ficm going bad as the alternator went south and and one battery was marginal replaced said items no change. then I was thinking maybe i lifted a head but the exhaust didn't show that nor the coolant overflow tank.. Kinda scary as I almost went through the back wall of the garage on one of the either type bursts so i switched to a different make of fuel/station and it seems to have gone away. I had it scanned prior to switching fuel but no codes. Both stations have a lot of heavy truck traffic so not like it was old fuel in station tanks. this wasn't just a quick change as I had been having this for a few weeks running fuel from other station. maybe water in fuel but not enough to trip the sensor.

 

[cookies]

was having problems with my diesel truck, really weird high to low idles , or like someone gave a shot of either, sometimes surging when on cruise all intermittent . emptied water trap all new filters and oil change which did nothing. at that point i was thinking ficm going bad as the alternator went south and and one battery was marginal replaced said items no change. then I was thinking maybe i lifted a head but the exhaust didn't show that nor the coolant overflow tank.. Kinda scary as I almost went through the back wall of the garage on one of the either type bursts so i switched to a different make of fuel/station and it seems to have gone away. I had it scanned prior to switching fuel but no codes. Both stations have a lot of heavy truck traffic so not like it was old fuel in station tanks. this wasn't just a quick change as I had been having this for a few weeks running fuel from other station. maybe water in fuel but not enough to trip the sensor.

At any hint or possibility of diesel having water or moisture I strongly suggest treating for fuel bug, if you ever use portable fuel tanks I highly suggest treating them for fuel bug at every refill. I really hate dealing with bio growth repair issues, jerry cans and bed mounted tanks are always the worst offenders. It only takes a tiny hint of that stuff to have a huge problem and hers what makes it so nasty. Once a little gets in your fuel system it lies dormant until a tiny bit of moisture accumulates then it comes to life producing waste that clogs everything. You can clean the fuel system and change the filters but if you do not kill the fuel bug it just regrows over and over....usually when the equipment sits a few days.

 

[JRM]

Drain some out of the bottom of your tank and let it set for a bit. If there is water it will seperate.

 

[Sidecarflip]

It's way worse when the corn fuel separates from water content, by then there is much greater phase separation to deal with. The alcohol is 10%, so aqueous phase is going to be at least 15-20%

With pure gas any water separates almost immediately.

Why I use Marine Stabil in every can of ethanol. Not the stinky red stuff, the expensive blue stuff that has no smell.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Just glad I switched to canned fuel for the saws. That would really pizz me off.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

So far the place where I buy my gas for my saws hasn't let me down. Of course I mix my own fuel because I have different 2 stroke things. My earth auger is 25:1, wouldn't do well in my chainsaws..

 

[waverunner]

It's way worse when the corn fuel separates from water content, by then there is much greater phase separation to deal with. The alcohol is 10%, so aqueous phase is going to be at least 15-20%

With pure gas any water separates almost immediately.

What's corn fuel,? I Europe the only petrol you can buy isE5 or in. Uk E10, which is basically the amount of Ethanol In the fuel. Causes loads of problems as it absorbed humidity and tends to corrode gaskets,seals and orings in older engines such as bikes and scooters etc.

 

[dboyd351]

Why I use Marine Stabil in every can of ethanol. Not the stinky red stuff, the expensive blue stuff that has no smell.

Adding any stabilizer/fuel treatment will not remove water.

 

[stihltech]

Had a customer yesterday with a saw and a brushcutter that would not run well. As always I grabbed the glass jar to dump out fuel. Customer states "Just bought new non ethanol fuel and that is all I use.
1/8 tank of water.
Replaced with our fuel (89 regular).
Both units run fine.
I am finding just as much water in our local non ethanol as in regular fuel in this area.
How long does it sit in the station tank before sold?

 

[Sidecarflip]

Had a customer yesterday with a saw and a brushcutter that would not run well. As always I grabbed the glass jar to dump out fuel. Customer states "Just bought new non ethanol fuel and that is all I use.
1/8 tank of water.
Replaced with our fuel (89 regular).
Both units run fine.
I am finding just as much water in our local non ethanol as in regular fuel in this area.
How long does it sit in the station tank before sold?

Good question. Competent service station owners have a wooden stick to check the tank level and the bottom half of it is supposed to be coated with a paint that changes color in the presence of water.... obviously not checking. Additionally, where I worked at, their underground fuel tanks had electronic monitoring for both water and fuel level with a readout in the building. If the water exceeded a certain level, they would call an outfit to pump it out.

All bulk underground storage tanks 'sweat' inside, fiberglass less than steel but they all do and have to be monitored. Even the fuel tanks on power equipment sweat inside during temperature changes, bigger the fuel tank the more internal condensation they make.

The only way a fuel tank don't sweat internally is if the ambient temperature is constant with the fuel that is inside.

My 500 gallon above ground diesel storage tank produces condensation which drops to the bottom and why I have a drain valve and I drain off the water regularly.

 

[OM617YOTA]

Hopefully, I can consume all of it and refill with some that will actually perform better. Still think it has way too much corn alcohol in it but I don't have a test bottle, however I will have shortly.

You can use just any bottle. Add one part water, mark a line on the bottle. Add ten parts gas, shake, let it settle out. Once it settles out, the line between water/alcohol and dino juice should be double the amount of water you started with, for E10.

Makes me think I need to start testing the E0 I store for the generator. I only buy from stations with a separate hose per grade, so I'm not getting a hose full of E10 first.

I'd definitely empty the mowers and run the suspect fuel in your car, not risk hurting the mowers over a tank of fuel.

 

[Sidecarflip]

Exactly what I'm doing actually as both my wife's Burb and my Focus RS are flex fuel engines. :Like I said, was surprised in as much as where I filled them is a volume station.

 

[a. palmer jr.]

I got two saws in to work on, neither would run. I checked everything out and they seemed okay but wouldn't run after I rebuilt one carb and bought a new one for the other. Finally I decided to drain the fuel and replace it with my own fuel even though theirs looked okay. The saws both fired right up with my fuel in them but took a few seconds to run right since some of the old fuel was still in them. I'm gonna ask the owner of the saws about the fuel he's using..

 

[Sidecarflip]

Like I said, glad I only run canned fuel in mine. I also have a saw coming in, A big Dolmar that my buddy Dave owns. He told me it won't turn over. I suspect it's the piston and the bore but until I get it and pull the muffler I won't know for sure. I bet parts are gonna be a pizzer and I bet he's been running it on his usual 50-1 mix too. While I don't know for sure, I would imagine that it should be on 25-or 30 to 1 and he's a Stihl oil guy as well so I bet the exhaust is carboned up too. Hoping the bore isn't so bad I have to replace the jug but we will see. also got his bucket linkage from his case Extenda Hoe. He broke the parallel linkage completely in two. That is going to be some serious gas axe work and serious welding once I get it straightened out. People are hard on equipment whether intentional or not. Dave is a pretty careful operator but stuff happens.

Dumped 2 of the 5 gallon cans in my wife's Burb this afternoon. Dumped isn't quite right, more like pumped it in with my HF battery powered transfer pump. Those little pumps work really well but eat D cell batteries so I switched to Li-Ion rechargeable ones. HF sells them for 10 bucks each. In 10 years only had one fail. Just got worn out I guess.

 

[OM617YOTA]

I need to get one of those jiggler fuel siphons. Haven't found a good spout that fits all my NATO Jerry cans, and sick of spilling while I pour.