Oxygenated vs. nonoxygenated fuel?

[John Mickish]

Just wondering what you guys use for fuel in your boats. If you use the non oxygenated stuff what is your reason and where do you get it?

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It still beats workin'

[Northlander]

I usually run premium in my 115 4 stroke Yamaha about every other tank or so. The guys I know that run unoxygenated are running bigger 2 stroke motors like the 225 yamaha vmax or 225 Evenrude and 225 Mercurys. I believe the reason is its not corn based and higher performance. It doesnt break down as fast and burns cleaner. At least that is what Ive ben told.
Check your motors specs and see what they recomend in your manual.
I would think that if your going to burn the greater part of a tank every time out and arent real worried about higher performance you would be fine with unleaded or premium unleaded. But check your manual or go to the website for your make of motor.

[kslipsinker]

I run the nonoxygenated premium in all of my small engines and boat for one reason. No ethynol. If you run standard pump gas with ethynol, it will begin to break down in about 30 days and begin to gum up your fuel system. That is why boat manufacturers recommend adding fuel stabilizers to boat gas. Too many people don't run enough gas through their boats to keep fresh gas in the tank.

[This message has been edited by kslipsinker (edited 10-01-2004).]

[kpj5br]

What a timely post!

I just wrote my mechanic a check for $394 because of oxygenated gas.

Basic premise as described above. I have a 60 gallon tank on my boat. The alcohol in the oxy fuel absorbes ambient moisture (good old H2O). Then you end up with water in your gas (not good).

Of course my motor has a gas-water extractor, but what happened was that little guy got clogged up (actually filled up with water, there is a little water resevoir on it), and my engine alarm went off.

My mechanic (whom I trust very much), found this culprit.

The price went a little higher than it had to be, because I had him extract all of the water from my tank (they have a system that can do that now), lines, etc. Replace the gas-water extractor, and while he was in the tank put in a new fuel gauge sender, so it did cost more than it had to, but still it would have been over a $100 just for the analysis and extractor.

As stated above, the key is to burn through oxy fuel quickly, and this problem won't happen. I'm looking around for non-alcohol fuel, or I will use a stabilizer from this point forward.

[Angler Don]

some suggested reading. Learn more about ethanol fuel and small engines.
Find out where to get non-oxygenated fuel in the area.
Hope you find it useful and informative !
Don

http://www.msra.com/NonOxygenatedFuel/Non-OxyFuel.htm

http://www.e10unleaded.com/smallengines.htm

[This message has been edited by Angler Don (edited 10-01-2004).]

[knoppers]

watch out, the state plans on increasing the amount of ethynol in gas. I believe its 10 percent now, and will be increased to 20 percent. the land of 10,000 lakes will be the first state to take this jump, go figure. why don't they try california.

[Northlander]

What about 4 strokes? Is unoxygenated ok for my 115 yamaha 4 stroke? Tried the Yamaha site but found nothing and no e-mail adress to ask.

[kslipsinker]

I run my Merc 4 stroke on the nonoxygenated and have never missed a beat in three years. The old Briggs lawnmower is going strong after 12 years.

[This message has been edited by kslipsinker (edited 10-03-2004).]

[icehousebob]

I use non-oxygenated gas in all my small engines. I have several chain saws, a pole saw and a couple of chippers that I use for a small tree service. It is because ethanal gas does deteriorate, but also a chainsaw mechanic told me about another problem. I was having carb problems with a few saws, especially the smaller ones. The mechanic told me that alcohol will evaporate at a lower temp than gasoline. Many saws have the tank near enough to the motor so that the fuel heats up. This pressurizes the tank and ends up giving you good old vapor lock. Switching fuels has cleared up a lot of my small engine carb prolems.

[ChuckN]

Every large outboard motor I have owned was recommended for 87 octane. I tried running that non-oxy 91-92 octane stuff and my motors ran terrible. I always use the mid-range, 89 octane as it seems to run great.

I've never had this fuel break down or go bad in any small engine, boat, etc..

If you are going to store for long periods of time, Stabil has worked wonders for me.

[schr0563]

I switched to running only non-oxygenated fuel in my 40 horse 4 stroke Merc after I needed to spend $450 to get the carburetor rebuilt. Before that I went through a tank of regular fuel about every two weeks but it still got all gummed up. After switching fuels I have not had any problems.

[EBass]

I was told by my Mech to use non-ethenol gas only for my old arse 25H Merc. So far so good!

[Borch]

The nonoxygenated gas is the only gas to put in your 4 stroke yammis in my opinion. The jets varnsih up so easily because they are so small. With the fuel efficiency of these motors most folks just don't burn enough to keep it from vanishing up their jets and carbarators.

Borch

[mudman]

This is stupid!
So the 92 oxtane gas doesn't have oxygen?
just 87?

where do you get non-oxygenated gas?

[Dennis Steele]

I burned up a 25hp Merc on oxygenated fuel.I was told that the gas has a tendancy to run a little lean especially when cold out.This was part of the reason the motor burned up.
My river pro has a 175hp Merc Jet in it and it runs much better on the non-oxy than on any gas of any octane rating.I just wish the non-oxy was carried at more gas stations.

[lumpy]

The gas pump has a label that says non-oxygenated gas and that it is for use in older cars. There used to be a site that listed stations that sell it. It usually is a premium level octane (91-92) but don't confuse premium octane with non-oxygnated because a premium gas may still be oxygenated. You need to check the label on the pump, usually is close to the octane rating label.

[Giant_Jackpot]

Go to the Minnesota Street Rod Association web site and click on non-oxygenated fuel. That will give you a list of Minnesota gas stations that sell the stuff. msra dot com

Oops. Did not see someone posted that site earlier...........

[This message has been edited by Giant_Jackpot (edited 10-06-2004).]

[John Mickish]

When the Gov started talking about that 20% stuff that's when I decided to start this forum. Well I did a little bit more reading about his proposal.

It seams it would only become a reality if ALL the auto manufactures made vehicles that could use it. Fat chance of that happening so I think we are ok with what we have.

Oh, I've come to the conclusion if you fill up every week the standard pump gas should be ok, but if the gas sits for more than a month before being emptied a guy is probably better spend the little extra money. Am I right on this?

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It still beats workin'

[Angler Don]

good points, mnfishing guy. Pretty much sums it up for most of us. In short, consider how quickly you use the fuel, and use what the motor likes best. Some older engines and
2 strokes may benefit from non-oxy fuel, or rejetting the carb/s to richen it up a bit. Most late model engines are designed to perform satisfactorily with 87 pump fuel. Not always the case, so again, give her whatever makes her happy. My 40hp / 4stroke runs fine on 87
octane, I use 1 oz Seafoam per gallon as a maintenance additive. Small engines in cold weather seem to perform better with the non-oxy as it runs richer. I especially like non-oxy in the snowblower. In some cases, ethanol enleanment can be a bad thing. See Dennis Steele's post! 2 stroke + lean = trouble.
Experiment a little, use what works.

[This message has been edited by Angler Don (edited 10-07-2004).]

[End of the Line]

As someone else pointed out, check the recommended fuel from the engine manufacturer. Most engines are designed to run a specific fuel. Using anything else can actually decrease effiency even though it is a better grade of fuel.

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End of the Line Charters
Lake Superior
1-888-U-HOOK-EM
www.minnesotacharterfishing.com

[stmichael]

I use good ol' 87 in everything that I have, I leave them full of fuel, even when not going to use them for months, I get gas and dump in seafoam. never had a problem with outboard, snowblower, lawn mower, auger, weedwacker, chainsaws, and generator. I have been doing this for 7 years, so far.

A firm believer in seafoam

almost forgot: My name is Mike and I approve this message...

I do not know why I put that there, now, I have to go kick my own arse.

[kjgmh]

One think to watch is that different states do different things with there gas. In WI the 87 is non-oxy and the mid and premium are oxy gas. To test if you have oxy gas test is real easy: get a graduated cylinder with 100 even marks. Fill up to say 10 marks with water and then fill up to 100 with gas. Shake up and let sit for 1 hour. The water and alchol mix and you will see that the new water level if there is alchol in the gas, can use the amount of lines it went up to figure out the % in the gas. Try it once, you will be amazed by the various amount that different places will have.