The way fuel smells.

[wiley_p]

I have a question, now remember I could be insane, but do any of you think that say 92 octane Chevron with no alcohol or ethanol in it smells different than say gas from AM/PM with a fat load of such. I got my saw hot last Monday and need to put a new piston in it, Didnt like the way the fuel smelled that the other cutter got and didnt find an air leak yet (still havnt checked crank seals) but I am suspicous of the source of fuel.

 

[stihltech]

aroma

I alwys dump it into a glass jar, look for clarity, and smell it for the "paint thinner" smell

Up to the last part, it sounded like a wine tasting. Was that a good vintage?

 

[bwalker]

Alcohols are colorless and oder less in most cases. Other oxygenates like mtbe and etbe do smell differant though. I had a saw shipped to me from cali and I could tell it had mtbe doped fuel the minute I cracked the fuel cap.

 

[Gypo Logger]

I'm glad you started this thread, because last Feb. we all had a get together and there was this Woodsjunkie guy here who was using this different kind of fuel and kicked all our ***** with a 357EHP, but I just about beat him with my 346KD piped when I mixed up our gas cans.
John

 

[heviarti]

you know.. my uncle has been a John Deere mechanic for 40 years, and mentioned that gasoline's smell and features have changed.. lately we have had some trouble with it eating fuel shutoff diaphragms.. so the carb diaphragms are likely next..

 

[rmihalek]

What you want to do with the fuel is to pour a little puddle on a cement surface and hit it with a hammer. If it explodes, it's got nitro in it. If nothing happens, then it's probably just gas with some alky.

 

[WoodTick007]

Smack with Hammer

Bob,

Is that the Stoogies method of checking for nitro content in fuel?

Listed below is the correct size hammer that is used for that % of nitro in gasoline

12lb Sledge = 5-15% Nitro
8lb Sledge = 15-30% Nitro
6lb Sledge = 30-45% Nitro
2lb Sledge = 45-60% Nitro
20ozHammer= 60-75% Nitro
12ozHammer= 75-90% Nitro
Tackhammer= 90-100%Nitro

This method is soundly endorsed by Larry, Moe, and Curley

 

[ehp]

I think i got an easier way to check for nitro and alcohol , if you think you have what we call 120 fuel just put a stock sparkplug in to the saw fire her up and make some cuts, if she comes back to normal idle you have normal gas if she is screaming like hell until she either runs out of fuel or blows up then you know it was real good fuel

 

[rmihalek]

I think it was Ferdinand Porsche who stated that the best race car was one which would fall apart immediately after taking the checkered ( a.k.a chequered) flag. So, with a saw on race fuel, perhaps this could be changed so that the best race saw is one which explodes after making the third cut (and winning the event, of course).

 

[stihltech]

idle

And here I thought I had an idle circuit problem!