Fuel stabilisers good or bad?

[Mullatt]

20 minutes ago, noelm said:

 Never do this unless you are going to store it for a long time, don’t need any expert or miracle fix in a can to know that. The lubrication is mixed with the fuel, so that’s not fully correct either.

Just out of interest................4 stroke engines? Whats the opinions on running carbies dry on them? I dont do it on mine, but just curious.

[noelm]

The issue with running them dry (not that many 4 strokes have carbies these days) is…just before they run out of fuel, they run very lean and hot (you know how it revs like crazy as it runs out of fuel) continual running dry will shorten engine life considerably, just like using a prop that is a bit big to “keep the revs down” this is false economy and will kill your engine.

Edited September 19, 2023 by noelm

[dunc333]

again some of the old yammi 2 stroke guys i know did it all the time if not using for 4 weeks or so .i never did it with my old dt suzi or the (asbro) as friends used to call it .was a great donk  but sucked like a call girl and finally sucome to over heating cheers dunc333

[Bryant fish]

Well yes the oil and fuel are mixed so no fuel no oil a bit off topic but how many times do you see people starting their motors out of the water makes me cringe every time.im waiting on a power head rebuild on 1of my outboard motors due to stupid head gasket made with copper rings in it causing the block water jacket to corrode

[XD351]

I used to run mine dry or at least until the engine coughed, these days I don’t bother. Modern fuel and oil doesn’t seem to cause the varnish build up like the old days .
Yep seen the run dry brigade at the ramp plenty of times , still waiting for someone to back their boat down the ramp then arc up the bbq on the back of the boat while it is still on the trailer and cook brekkie on the ramp - give it time it will happen one day 🤣🤣🤣

Edited September 20, 2023 by XD351

[Fab1]

I’ve worked on hundreds of carbs on anything from bikes,boats,garden gear etc and out of all those times probably came across a carby that was gummed up twice.I know for a fact some of them hadn’t run for a decade or more with petrol that was that old in them and ran just by draining bowl and fresh fuel and some new dry rotted fuel lines replaced.

 I can tell you know that those guys that tell you if you leave fuel in a carby for a month,2 months,3 months…the fuel will evaporate and the carby will gum up are full of it.I’ve had fuel in my boats carb for probably a year or more now (I got lazy and didn’t fire it up every month or so) and I just stripped the carb and it was spotless, yes Spotless!!

 The fuel was old that’s it.

 Believe it or not it’s up to you.

Never run any carb dry on anything and if you don’t use it for a period of time fire it up periodically to get things circulating and preferably either A put stabiliser in(Apparently) it helps keep fuel fresh for a year or dump it out every few months into garden gear,etc and renew.

[Bryant fish]

Fab how long are you leaving fuel in the boat just a few months?

[Fab1]

56 minutes ago, Bryant fish said:

Fab how long are you leaving fuel in the boat just a few months?

Yes,I’ll probably use it fairly often now but yes it has been a few months.

[XD351]

My mate had a small savage with a 18hp blue band merc on it that sat in his yard for at least 5 years - it sat there that long the wheels sank into the ground and rotted off ! It was never drained , never started and all he did was flush the tank out and fill with fresh fuel , prime it up , gave it a few pulls on the starter and it fired up and ran like a clock . I must say that little merc was reliable as he never had one problem with it and the only thing bad about it was it was the noisiest outboard i have ever heard - 3/4 throttle and you couldn’t hear yourself think ! 
I started out working in a mower shop  in the mid 80s reconditioning victa mowers and the only ones that had any varnish build up were the very old mowers like 18 specials that had sat under someones house for thirty years and i think the cause was the oil of the day - castor oil . 

[noelm]

Love working on mowers years ago.

[Fab1]

1 hour ago, XD351 said:

My mate had a small savage with a 18hp blue band merc on it that sat in his yard for at least 5 years - it sat there that long the wheels sank into the ground and rotted off ! It was never drained , never started and all he did was flush the tank out and fill with fresh fuel , prime it up , gave it a few pulls on the starter and it fired up and ran like a clock . I must say that little merc was reliable as he never had one problem with it and the only thing bad about it was it was the noisiest outboard i have ever heard - 3/4 throttle and you couldn’t hear yourself think ! 
I started out working in a mower shop  in the mid 80s reconditioning victa mowers and the only ones that had any varnish build up were the very old mowers like 18 specials that had sat under someones house for thirty years and i think the cause was the oil of the day - castor oil . 

I know the motor well as I had a mercury 18hp blue band too.

42 minutes ago, noelm said:

Love working on mowers years ago.

I currently have 23 mowers so you can say I know my way around them.Love the cylinders, victa full crank and twins.

[dunc333]

my mates and I cut our teeth on building the old 2 stroke mower engines and welding them into pushbikes most were my memory 180cc they were great and fast till the cops tod us nooo more boys after a few run ins .we were then informed legally had to be under 22kw to ride on the road my memory im talking 40 years ago  cheers dunc333

[XD351]

I love old outboards too - always wanted a victa jet or British sea gull . I did have a clinton outboard briefly- it was missing the reed block and carby so never got it running . There is a YouTube channel called aussie outboard collector - his collection is amazing! 
Also always wanted a blaxland putt putt motor to play with but it never happened.

[noelm]

Off topic somewhat, but, many years ago I had a go cart with two Victa engines, one going in opposite rotation, I modified the points cam and the intake port to allow one to rotate in the opposite direction. Originally I had one driving each wheel but it wasn’t quite as efficient as the two engines driving a single wheel via sprockets  on the axle. Where I worked for years was also a really big mower repair shop, I actually did factory training at Victa in Milperra many years ago, along with OMC outboard training at Bankstown. Quite a varied lot for a TV repairman….

edit…..when the G4 carby (the plastic one) came out on the Victa I was one of the very few that grasped its operation early on, and ran some local training for others who hated them at first.

Edited September 21, 2023 by noelm

[Fab1]

2 hours ago, noelm said:

Off topic somewhat, but, many years ago I had a go cart with two Victa engines, one going in opposite rotation, I modified the points cam and the intake port to allow one to rotate in the opposite direction. Originally I had one driving each wheel but it wasn’t quite as efficient as the two engines driving a single wheel via sprockets  on the axle. Where I worked for years was also a really big mower repair shop, I actually did factory training at Victa in Milperra many years ago, along with OMC outboard training at Bankstown. Quite a varied lot for a TV repairman….

edit…..when the G4 carby (the plastic one) came out on the Victa I was one of the very few that grasped its operation early on, and ran some local training for others who hated them at first.

I’m doing a G4 carby rebuild tomorrow on father in-laws mower.

[noelm]

Most people hated them, but, once you understand the principal, they are great, and make the mower easy to start. Our shop used to sell lots of complete brand new G3 carbs to people wanting to convert new mowers over to the “old” model, not to mention lots of float needles that fall out and are tiny and get lost in the grass in a second. Make life easy for yourself, get a couple of new O rings, one for the manifold and one for the float cover, even genuine ones are cheap and make fitting so much easier.

Edited September 21, 2023 by noelm

[XD351]

There is an oring between the manifold and cylinder , for the extra two minutes work I always felt it was worth replacing. I also always replaced the cut out plug and boot as well . While the carby is off I always removed the snorkle and sprayed the cable with wd40.but I’m a fastidious person . While you have the carby off suck some vacuum in the decompressor hose with your mouth to check for leaks .

[noelm]

Yep, the O ring on the manifold gets bigger once the carby is off, (no idea why) and usually gets cut/damaged putting it back on.

[JustJames]

On 9/21/2023 at 4:50 PM, Fab1 said:

I currently have 23 mowers

Ermmmmmmmm.....why?

 

This is a fishing forum, for people who have too much fishing stuff, not too much groundskeeping gear.

 

Lawnraider is over there, on the left.

[Bryant fish]

Haha

[slowjigger]

On 9/19/2023 at 5:54 PM, noelm said:

The issue with running them dry (not that many 4 strokes have carbies these days) is…just before they run out of fuel, they run very lean and hot (you know how it revs like crazy as it runs out of fuel) continual running dry will shorten engine life considerably, just like using a prop that is a bit big to “keep the revs down” this is false economy and will kill your engine.

I have been doing it for decades and my motors last 20 years or more. The motor will stop almost instantaneously when it runs out of fuel and there will still be a residual coating of oil on the rings, cylinders etc. Plus it's not under load and at very low revs and doesn't need a lot of lubrication. A few times I didn't do it I noticed hard starting if left for a few months. PS: they just sputter out - haven't noticed any over revving. 

[XD351]

On my 3 cyl yammie it will keep running on the bottom cyl until it finally runs out of fuel , the bottom carby always gets the last of the fuel and the top one runs out first and when this happens the bottom cyl is under load keeping the top cylinders moving . All I used to do was run it until it coughed and then hit the kill switch . I would only do this if it were going to sit for an extended amount of time like a year or so but found that I tended to start the motor every month or so anyway so it was really just a waste of time running it dry . I did this start up to help keep the water pump impeller in good condition and ensure the internals were always lubricated and protected from rust . 

[Fab1]

17 hours ago, JustJames said:

Ermmmmmmmm.....why?

 

This is a fishing forum, for people who have too much fishing stuff, not too much groundskeeping gear.

 

Lawnraider is over there, on the left.

I’m a hoarder🤷🏼‍♂️.Kidding.I restore and sell them or fix them for people mainly.A lot of those mowers I have on a property.At home I have 5 only.

[BaitDropper]

2 hours ago, Fab1 said:

I’m a hoarder🤷🏼‍♂️.Kidding.I restore and sell them or fix them for people mainly.A lot of those mowers I have on a property.At home I have 5 only.

 Ya Gotta have a project or something to tinker with I say while not wetting a line I say....

It keeps you sane...

[Fab1]

50 minutes ago, BaitDropper said:

 Ya Gotta have a project or something to tinker with I say while not wetting a line I say....

It keeps you sane...

Between work and the 💩 I have to keep me busy at home I need a 1000hr day to get it done mate.I never get bored.Sun up to sun down for me mate.