My lawnmower mechanic warns me not to depend on Stabil for anything longer than
a month, or so. It too will loose it's protective abilities. I don't have any
problems
with my 4 stroke lawnmowers. It could be a factor that the outboards are out
there
in the sun where the gas gets heated up encouraging particulates to form. I
don't
think anyone has done a careful study of this, and the outboard people certainly
don't
want to reveal any defects in their design.

Sherwin D.

Charlie Morgan wrote:

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:25:27 -0500, lid wrote:

Charlie Morgan wrote:
I ALWAYS add Stabil to gas when I fill
up my jerry cans.

I've been hearing about Stabil more and more. I've never needed or
used it until now. I've always just run my carbs dry when I get in. If
small jets are in my future though, guess I'd better stock up. Does
"Stabil" have any competition... any sort of generic stuff, lower
price, that can do the same thing?

Rick

I imagine there are other similar products, but Stabil is very well
known, and it works, so I haven't been tempted to try any others. A
little goes a long way, so I never considered the cost. I put it in
ALL of my small engines, including 2-stroke weed wackers, 4-stroke
lawn mowers, etc.

As far as the frequently repeated suggestion that 4-strokes have more
problems due to "smaller jets"... I would suspect that the jets on a
4.5 HP lawnmower would be a LOT smaller than the jets in a 9.9 HP
Yamaha outboard. I find the "smaller jets" theory to be nonsensical,
and without any basis in fact. Some people just aren't very careful
about keeping particulates and gum out of their fuel tanks. It really
doesn't take much effort.

CWM