Fuel

[Jason 10/D4]

Hi guys I went to our local John Deere dealer yesterday to get some parts and I saw a 5 gallon can with 3 letters on it like sef or something to that efect. I started reading it and it was 5 gallons of 94 octane gas with no ethenol in it as it said ethenol free right on it. I was thinking this would probally eliminate alot of the carb problems we are having in our old tractors at our farm. We usually run 87 octaine will a little higher octaine hurt anything in the old cats or tractors? I forgot to get a price but im going to find out and ill post it here when I find out. Thanks for any input, Jason

[John from Fresno]

Jason,

Do you mean this stuff? SEF = Small Engine Fuels

http://www.seffuels.com/

http://www.vpracingfuels.com/sef-94.html

John

[ol Grump]

We're pretty lucky here in eastern Oregon inasmuch as we can buy non ethanol fuel, not at a service station but at a distributor. I've been using it in my snowmobile, saws, 4 wheeler, weed whip etc. I forgot to drain the tank in the snowmobile last spring but it fired right up this winter. Same thing for the chainsaws, and I'm using the mix from last summer now.

I've gotten in the habit of dumping a couple ounces of marine grade Stabil in the 5 gallon cans I use when I get 'em filled. I'm not sure if that's the "magic snake oil cure" or not. .but why mess with something that works?

[212richard]

The higher octane rating does not mean a corresponding increase in power. It is simply better gasoline that burns slower. The reason they make 110 octane for race cars is they're frequently running 12.5 to 1 compression ( Husqevarna dirt bikes in the '80s were as high as 15 to 1) and 30 degrees or more spark advance. The 87 you're using on the farm is "the bottom of the barrel" although that's not to say it's bad gasoline. It's an affordable fuel designed for low compression engines. Regarding the ethanol thing, I frankly don't get what all the teeth gnashing is about lately. Ethanol has been in gasoline for 20 years or more. I run 87 on the farm also, and I haven't witnessed and valve failures from unleaded gasoline, like they said was going to happen. You may also have noticed, if you have a lot of gasoline engines, that the gas in the lesser-run vehicles doesn't turn to varnish as readily as years past. It gets stale and smelly, of course, but it does take a number of years to start gumming things up. I try to keep something like Sta-Bil in the tanks if I know a machine is going to start sitting around. In my opinion, I believe regular 87 in a Cat is not going to cause problems. Not by the gas, anyway. Possibly that handful of rust in the tank...

[dpendzic]

I use 87 octane with ethanol and stabil in just about all my motors---outboard,lawnmower,quads, motorcycle, snowmobiles and chainsaws in cooler weather. I leave the gas in from one season to the next. I use 93 octane gas in the chainsaws in the hot summer as i used to get vapor lock with 87 octane.
My 1987 115 yamaha has not had the carburators off yet for cleaning.

[dtallon]

The Phillips 66 stations around here have pumps labeled Ethanol free. A couple weeks ago Ethanol-free 87 Oct was about $0.30/gal more than the ethanol added ($4.05 vs. $3.75) I haven't tested it, but it's what I have been using in my Ten and lawn equipment the past couple years with pretty good luck.

Dave

[Catmandu]

Sorry for getting wordy but...

Octane MESG .89mm AIT (deg celcius) 206
Ethanol MESG .94mm AIT (deg celcius) 363

Theoretical power difference of 6% at optimum engine temperatures

My personal car gets 21% more gas milage with Ethanol free gas, and Ethanol free gas is $0.17 more per gallon but the break even point is $4.98 per gallon. I save $0.60 per gallon using ethanol free gas.

Keep in mind that Ethanol absorbs water and it is recommended that it should be flushed from your tank every two weeks.

The energy used to create Ethanol is greater than the energy created by the finished product, ie the us would be better off giving away 20% of the diesel used to create ethanol than to create it in the first place!!!!!

$0.02 worth

CMD

[Jason 10/D4]

Well ithink i just buy some more stabil. That sef is 79 dollars for 5 gallon. Dont think its worth 15 bucks a gallon to me. Thanks for ur input guys, Jason

[hiwide15]

20% less energy produced than it takes to make it , why can't we get it through to government that this is not the best use of our resources, it is time for change in this country again.

[rjh-md]

Jason ,I am using 93 octane gas ,and adding Lucus fuel treatment ,and a couple ozs of 2 cycle oil to the gas in my old internatal tractors ,and it seems to be working out ok .
As for the last comment on why the Government is out of touch with the engery situation .
yuo need to understand that this guy in the white house is a socialist ,and dose not bleieve in our Capitalist system of Government .His main gple ie to bring this country down to a Eurpean style socalist government
Read the book" Obamanation" ,writen before he became president ,and you will see why all this destruction is happening