How much alcohol is too much?

[D._Frederick]

In are corner of Oregon from October to March, the gasoline has 10 % alcohol. Anyway, the tank of gasoline in never completely void of alcohol that you are buying at the service station.  My Shindiawa trimmer was not running right, so took it to service shop and they found that the gas that I bought in Sept had 2% alcohol. They had to rebuild the carburator to get the engine to run correctly.

How much alcohol is safe for use in 2 cycle engines?  Would you buy a 55gallon barrel in August to last the winter to be somewhat sure that you are getting a minimum amount of alcohol? Should I run the my 2 cycle engines dry of fuel after being used?

[D._Frederick]

 Can any of you chain saw experts  give me your experience with alcohol in 2 cycle engines?

[Arthur]

Our chainsaw instructor always told us that alcohol and chainsaws done mix very well. :D

[Ianab]

I'm not an expert but I believe the problem with alcohol in the fuel is that it can speed up the decay of the rubber gaskets / diaphrams / widgets in the carby.
This goes along with what you found with your trimmer.
Same problem happens with old cars.
Petrol will dissolve these things by itself over time, but alcohol is a better solvent and speeds the process up.

I think a lot of the newer equipment has been built to cope with the gas that is now available, but how can you tell?  :

Running dry is a good idea if the gear is being stored for any period and it wont hurt with the alc problem as well. As an aside I've found my new lawn mower starts much better if I turn off the fuel tap run the carb dry, then reprime it with fresh gas next time I use it. Dry carb it will start with 1 or 2 pulls, otherwise 2 weeks in the shed and it's a pain to start.

Ian

[OneWithWood]

I melted the cylinder fo my first Stihl 038 Super by inadvertantly using a gas alcohol mix.  The earlier saws (pre-1985) cannot burn the gasohol.  The later saws can handle it, but I still don't use it.

[sawguy21]

Last time I tried alcohol with my chainsaw, I near took my leg off. Not a good idea in the saw or the operator.

[etat]

gotta tell ya sawguy, can't help it.  I was thinking the same thing everytime I read this topic! 8) 8)

[jokers]

Too much is when you can`t hold on to the floor. :D

Russ

[Riles]

How's that saying go?  "An Irishman's not drunk so long as there's one blade of grass to hold him to the face of the earth."

Not that I'm advocating anything...

[weimedog]

From what I THINK I have seen with motorcycles and Outboards....any alcohol is too much. It does attack diaphrams as was mentioned above..and other soft parts.

I toasted a couple of 125's. Trying to figure out what was going on,  realizing I was running an alcohol enhanced fuel. (In Colorado USA..Berthoud to be specific & 2 KX125's top ends and one CR125 bottom end twice in a 7 month period). My 250's and Open bikes survived but I was loosing the 125's. Changed to a different brand fuel.added a fourstroke or two into the mix... then moved to New York..hasn't resurfaced with one of the same 125's (the cr125) my kid ran daily the first two years here. Was it the Alcohol??? I don't have a scientific reason to say it was. All I know is frequency was up...maybe it was incompatibility with Bel-Ray H1-R???


Then I remembered the outboard I toasted on the same fuel with a different brand two stroke oil. Is it co-incidence? Was I having a prolonged series of mechanical brain farts?? or was it alcohol. My pride would certainly like to think its the alcohol..and I truely think it was.

I haven't wasted a two stroke in the same way since.

[StihlDoc]

Generally up to 10% ethanol content will not cause any troubles in machines built during the past 10 years. Carburetor and fuel system components have been changed to handle modern fuels. Only caution is that carb adjusments may have to be slightly richened and suggest that you use up the fuel within 60 days to keep moisture from condensing in the storage vessel.