Ethanol Treatments

Looking for input from the experts on this sight regarding the use of ethanol treatments for our bikes. Sta-bil has an ethanol treatment and a marine grade ethanol treatment and I'm looking for the pros and cons of using these treatments to counter act the negative effests of ethenol fuels on our motors.

 

From what I've read, the alcohol has it's own reactions to the various "gasoline" molecules, and the additive package. The alcohol increases the overall octane rating, that gives the refineries the ability to pass along more of the "crappy" molecules. The light elements in gasoline evaporate off, and some of the rest begin to change and degrade with heat and time. The alcohol also attracts water - right out of the air, every day, the tank airspace fills with light vapor, then at night the airspace draws in atmospheric (moist) air. XJ carbs can gum up in 4 months.

I don't know how they do it, but Sta-Bil extends the "safe" window up to a year

 

Very timely post... I recently started researching ethanol due to some fuel related experience I had with 3 outboard motors. Long story short, these three motors ran fine last year and had been put away with stabil in the carbs before winter. They started just fine but ran like crap with new fuel after a few hours. Here's the problem with a ventilated fuel tank (outboard boat motors & XJ's) and ethanol; when the tank isn't full and it draws air in through the vent, the ethanol causes condensation to collect and since it is heavier than the fuel it eventually collects in the bottom of the tank. The fuel inlet then draws the separated water directly into the carbs...bad news! Not to mention that within a short order of time (a couple days to weeks) the ethanol separates from the gas (phase separation) which lowers the octane. Net result... engine runs like crap and an added benefit, rubber fuel lines breakdown. Talk to anybody that is doing small engine repairs and ask them how busy they are right now. I started using Startron and have had excellent results with it. Yesterday I drove about 200 miles with 86 octane and Startron into a 20 mile an hour headwind driving 75-80 mph and had great throttle response not to mention it idled like a sewing machine. YRMV

 

Thanks for the info. I haven't found any info teling me that using the sta-bil will do anything worse than the ethanol is going to do. I figured if anyone would be looking into this the XJers would.

 

I think using the marine grade Stabil would be better for ethanol since that is its intended purpose however, regular Stabil is probably better than nothing at all. I like Startron because it is more concentrated (.28 oz for 4.5 gal gas) and lasts up to 2 years.

 

I bought some stabil last month to reduce the effects of the
ethanol.
She ran very smoothly under load but the tack needle went from
dead still at idle to a tiny bounce. Kind of irritating since the tuning is spot on.
Since running on plain fuel she's back to steady.
But at $8.00 a bottle it's hard to justify it to the wife for my bike
but not for her 3/4 ton van lol.
But when the economy gets better ( and my paycheck) then I'll
prob use it more often.

 

I am interested in the Startron. I would like some more info/oppinions please.

 

I have had sooooo many problems with trucks, small engines, chain saws, my xj550 and such that I do not put it into any of my small engines, boats, chain saws, and trucks. The bottom line is that if it is going to be sitting for any amount of time you are going to have problems. Ethanol fuel does not store period! It's corosive to aluminum fuel tanks (they just found out) and destroys rubber and plastics, and that's beyond it's inability to maintain it's octane rating beyond 90 days. They don't mix the ethanol with the fuel until it is actually loaded on the truck for the simple reason that it will not store and seperates.
I found a couple of gas stations in my area that still sell the non-ethanol blended fuel. You can go to www.pure-gas.org and punch in your zip code to fing your own. No extra additives, you can use the regular stabil if you like, and it doesn't attract moisture. With a station in my neighborhood the solution was simple. Good luck!

 

Check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeCyFxoWPpo