Alcohol and Carbs

Simplicity · Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 8:41 am Post subject: Alcohol and Carbs

No this isn't about getting a beer belly. Florida's new law bans gas without ethanol. The Honda 135 runs fine but had carb problems with my 15 yr old Yami 40 on my smaller boat. When they fixed it i was told to avoid the alcohol and it's been running fine. Now no more gas without ethanol. What now?
By the way ,took it out in the Gulf near shore 2 days ago and limited out on Kings in 10 min. Then catch and release plus hooked a big Cobia but lost it. What a blast. They were hitting schools of menhaden.
Also have a 72 Chevy pickup and was told ethanol would mess up the 4 barrel. Any additive that actually works? Alan. Trying to keep it simple.

Casey · Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 9:04 am Post subject:

Alan,

Over the years I've tried a variety of fuel additives, often without demonstrated benefit; it just seemed like the right thing to do (mostly to promote fuel longevity).

When I had a carbureted Honda 90 I used Stabil all the time ... and had the carb's rebuilt three times in 200 hours. Later, a competent outboard mechanic told me that the last stabilizer I should be using in a carbed Honda was Stabil. Supposedly that was the cause of my carb fouling. But who know's for sure?

Here we are, year's later. Most 4-strokes now have EFI (not carbs) and more and more fuel has ethanol. What to do, what to do...?

We know that ethanol is prone to "phase separation" in fuel, and that ingesting the separated water into an EFI engine is a very bad thing.

Casey - cut to the chase.

Since January I have been running "Startron" a Starbrite product in my Honda150 (EFI). I've been watching for any water in the (visible) filter, and so far there is NONE. Frankly, I'm thrilled with the product and have begun using it in the car, and Startron/diesel in the truck.

I don't know that Startron reverses the other effects of ethanol, but my sense is that it addresses the phase separation issue quite well.

Best,
Casey

Matt Gurnsey · Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 12:25 pm Post subject:

We have been having good success with the new Marine Formula StaBil (the blue stuff, not red). I have heard good reports on the Evinrude 2 + 4 as well.

JamesTXSD · Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 2:14 pm Post subject:

Doryman · Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 6:58 pm Post subject:

bmacpiper · Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 11:50 am Post subject:

Hey Alan,
I run a carbed Honda 90. It ran like crap when I got it, and talking to the dealer I learned that my options for rebuild or replacement were all expensive and the new carbs no longer have a mixture screw, even the one with limiter caps. So I decided to get after it myself. I found that the fouling was due to the red resin deposits on the jets.

After the rebuild, the motor has been running great, and I've been using blue stabil. However, I have alsostarted running the fuel out of the motor after each use (I have to flush salt anyway so no big deal), and so far no return of symptoms. Obviously I broke the first rule of troubleshooting and changed two things, so can't say which is working! I also use sea foam at times.

I probably have 50-75 hours on the rebuild; will let you k ow if anything changes.

tx,
bmc

Simplicity · Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 6:27 pm Post subject:

When I flush the engine I'll let it run out of gas. Good idea. thanks.