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

Rick,

Stabil is good for stored or little used fuel, but it is no substitute
for draining or at least running a carburetor dry. Stabil was real good
at keeping the tetraethyl lead in gasoline from oxidizing and forming
the nasty varnish that used to be such a headache.

If you really need to store a carbureted engine when you can not drain
the float bowl, get the engine warm and pop the fuel line into some very
light oil (Marvel is good) and let it suck that in. When the engine
chokes to a smoking halt, all the internals of the carburetor are filled
with oil and will not be damaged by moisture or varnished at all.

Worked for us for years. I just restarted a SB chevy based marine
engine that we had not run for seven seasons and the only tough part was
finding my rod to run the oil pump so we could prime the lube system.

Matt Colie
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Pathological Sailor

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

Matt Colie wrote:
Stabil is good for stored or little used fuel, but it is no substitute
for draining or at least running a carburetor dry.

That's what I'm thinkin'. I'll just be more diligent than I've needed
to be past. I think I must have left gas in the bowl last time
because I thought I'd be using the boat again in the next few days.
That turned into a couple of weeks and there I am.

Rick