Fuel stabilizer did not help my generator. After sitting it would miss
and surge until I disassembled the carb and cleaned the main jet with a
wire drill. It would run fine on the old gas with stabilizer after
cleaning the jet. Even if the gas was a year old. Once I started
running the gas out of the carb I stopped having problems. I have not
had to clean the carb or jets for several years now.

Eisboch wrote:
"jamesgangnc" wrote in message
oups.com...

FWIW from my own personal experiences it is less about 2 stroke verses
4 stroke as it is about the design of the carburator(s). I find that
carbs that do not use a float bowl tolerate not running for extended
periods a lot better. Like my chain saw and weed wacker. Conversly I
find that carbs with a float bowl, particularly those that have the jet
orifices in or near the bottom of the float bowl, get gummed up when
the gas in the float bowl evaporates. Like my 4kw generator. I don't
find that stabilizer stops the evaporation of the gas in the float
bowl. I can't say one way or another if the stabilizer does anything
to reduce the deposits left when the gas does evaporate. It seems
unlikely. I can see how stabilizer could keep the extraneous solids in
suspension but not how it could make them evaporate with the gas. It
also seems worse on smaller engines presumably because they have
smaller jets in their carbs. What works best for me on those carbs is
to either run the gas out of the carb when I finish using it or drain
the float bowl.



This subject was debated at length recently in another newsgroup. I did a
little Internet research and found that virtually every small engine
manufacturer or manufacturer of a product that uses small gasoline engines
specifically recommended the use of a fuel stabilizer to be added to fresh
gasoline and run before long term storage and non-use (more than a month).
The manufacturers included Onan, Kohler, Briggs & Stratton, Honda, Kawasaki
and even Harley Davidson. Some specifically mentioned Stab-il ... some
simply mentioned "a fuel stabilizer" and, as usual, HD even sells their own
repackaged and overpriced brand.

Based on that, plus the fact that I've been using it for years and have
never had fuel problems after storage, I'll continue using it. It's cheap
insurance.

Eisboch