JAG
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 09:47 AM |
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E10 Petrol problem
So this last weekend my Petrol engined Lawnmower started to cut-out.
It happened after 2-5 minutes of running and would restart immediately but ONLY if you gave the carburettor priming Bulb a couple of pumps.
Clearly a fuel problem so I removed the carburettor and took the fuel bowl apart.
The Float and Needle Valve all seemed fine BUT there was a Yellow/White jelly-like substance sitting in the fuel bowl. Some was blocking the main jet
as well. Hence the problems with it running and cutting out.
I cleaned it out and the Lawnmower restarted and ran for 30+ minutes without any issue.
While I was mowing the lawn I was musing on where the Yellow/White jelly-like stuff had come from.
It finally dawned on me. It's a Chinese made engine from 2005'ish so the fuel pipe is probably not compatible with modern E10 petrol!
I had some off-cuts of E10 compatible fuel pipe lying about because I'd recently replaced the fuel pipes on the Locost for this very reason.
Swapped the fuel pipe on the Lawnmower - now we wait  
Justin
Who is this super hero? Sarge? ...No.
Rosemary, the telephone operator? ...No.
Penry, the mild-mannered janitor? ...Could be!
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nick205
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 10:39 AM |
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Interesting to read.
My sister runs a garden machinery business. A growing number of their service calls and workshop repairs are pretty much what you describe. Pre E10
engine mowers and ride on mowers that have years left in them, but with fuel systems that get gummed up with sludgey/gooey fuel (particularly when
they've been sat idle for a few weeks/months).
[Edited on 31/8/23 by nick205]
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 10:58 AM |
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I'm not sure what the jelly would be if it was E10 - water in E10 separates the ethanol out into an immiscible pair of fluids. Are we thinking
that if it sits around with low water concentration it forms a half-way jelly? OR are we thinking the ethanol is dissolving your tank? Technically
you're not meant to leave fuel in a tank for more than a few months anyway, but the simple answer would be to just buy premium instead of cheapo
because it's E5 - E5 that we've been using for about 2 decades.
[Edited on 30/8/2023 by coyoteboy]
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 11:53 AM |
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When storing your mower etc it's good practice to turn the fuel off and let it run dry so there's no fuel in the carb to go bad and to drain
the fuel tank over the winter as mold and such things like to live in it. Not sure what the slimy stuff was though, seen lots of nasty's in fuel.
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nick205
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 12:05 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
When storing your mower etc it's good practice to turn the fuel off and let it run dry so there's no fuel in the carb to go bad and to drain
the fuel tank over the winter as mold and such things like to live in it. Not sure what the slimy stuff was though, seen lots of nasty's in fuel.
Certainly "it's good practice to turn the fuel off and let it run dry so there's no fuel in the carb to go bad and to drain the fuel
tank over the winter", but very very few people do that (even if they know it's good practice). Mower in the shed when the grass stops
growing and then they get it back out in the spring and expect it just to start/run.
Maybe there's something to be said for electric mowers
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adithorp
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 05:17 PM |
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I thought the general advice for carb'ed garden equipment was to run them on super as that's still E5.
AIUI E10 will affect any diaphragms and gaskets in the carb as well as hoses but also doesn't atomise as well from the jets.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 06:27 PM |
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Ethanol has a lower boiling point than petrol, not sure why it would vapourise worse?
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adithorp
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 06:56 PM |
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Just something I read but could be mis-remembering. I don't have anything that'd be affected so never looked any further into it.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 07:00 PM |
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Now I'm curious!
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Simon
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| posted on 30/8/23 at 10:00 PM |
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You might find this interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ge2PZIX1oM
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nick205
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| posted on 31/8/23 at 09:43 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Simon
You might find this interesting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ge2PZIX1oM
Interesting (for E10), BUT as he quite rightly highlights - it can vary by location, season, supplier and so on!
Curious now about E5 and what the variation in that might be.
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gremlin1234
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| posted on 31/8/23 at 12:38 PM |
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I would have said: get esso synergy+, but unfortunately they are stopping that being ethanol free.
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craig1410
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| posted on 31/8/23 at 05:21 PM |
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For our garden machinery, I buy super unleaded in a large steel jerry can and immediately add a fuel stabiliser. This fuel is used for our mower, leaf
blower and generator. I also use this fuel along with 2-stroke oil for our strimmer. So far so good.
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coyoteboy
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| posted on 4/9/23 at 09:31 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
For our garden machinery, I buy super unleaded in a large steel jerry can and immediately add a fuel stabiliser. This fuel is used for our mower, leaf
blower and generator. I also use this fuel along with 2-stroke oil for our strimmer. So far so good.
I wonder what the negatives of it are, that means it's not in all fuel. Unless it's just cost for the average car driver that isn't
needed.
I just run mine dry, it solves the problem, but fuel stab won't help if ethanol IS actually causing damage rather than just degrading itself.
E10 has been in use across Europe for a LONG time now, I've spoken to a lot of my European friends here and none of them have heard of any
problems with it. It seems odd that our continental brethren have no issues but the UK falls apart. Of course you can search forums and find some
cases of people moaning it's a problem, but you can also count the number of people with common sense and an ability to accurately diagnose their
problem on one hand also.
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Mr Whippy
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| posted on 4/9/23 at 11:51 AM |
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I think a lot of the complaints about E10 are really due to that a part was about to fail anyway (possibly cos it was a cheap Chinese part) and people
just jumping to the conclusion it's all due to the evil fuel.
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craig1410
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| posted on 4/9/23 at 06:59 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
Originally posted by craig1410
For our garden machinery, I buy super unleaded in a large steel jerry can and immediately add a fuel stabiliser. This fuel is used for our mower, leaf
blower and generator. I also use this fuel along with 2-stroke oil for our strimmer. So far so good.
I wonder what the negatives of it are, that means it's not in all fuel. Unless it's just cost for the average car driver that isn't
needed.
I just run mine dry, it solves the problem, but fuel stab won't help if ethanol IS actually causing damage rather than just degrading itself.
E10 has been in use across Europe for a LONG time now, I've spoken to a lot of my European friends here and none of them have heard of any
problems with it. It seems odd that our continental brethren have no issues but the UK falls apart. Of course you can search forums and find some
cases of people moaning it's a problem, but you can also count the number of people with common sense and an ability to accurately diagnose their
problem on one hand also.
I use fuel stabiliser just to ensure the fuel doesn’t go off while still in the jerry can. I did this before E10 was brought in for standard unleaded,
but of course super unleaded is still E5 and is what I need to use on my Rover V8 engine anyway. I will also run the garden machinery dry before
putting it away for the winter but like I said, the fuel in the jerry can and generator and locost tend to fair better with stabiliser. Unstabilised
petrol can start to go off after just a few months and E10 is worse than E5 in that regard.
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Dingz
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| posted on 4/9/23 at 08:15 PM |
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A friend who worked repairing mowers, strimmers etc now only uses fuel made by Aspen, 4 and 2 stroke. Apparently you can leave fuel in them
overwinter and they don’t deteriorate, no ethylene in them. Expensive though but if you don’t have to spend a couple of hours in the spring swearing
at the mower it may be worth it!
Phoned the local ramblers club today, but the bloke who answered just
went on and on.
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James
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| posted on 11/9/23 at 09:44 AM |
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Gotta say, about a year ago we bit the bullet and went electric after an idea from my pro gardener BiL.
After a bit of investigation and some trials down at the local garden machinery centre we went with this:
https://egopowerplus.com/power-mowers/
I wanted a 21" to match our current mower but only the 19" had the roller attachment so we went 19" in the end.
Gotta say- it's absolutely brilliant! Quick, quiet, lightweight, our 10m x 30m lawn is done on about half a 5Ah battery charge.
It was so good we bought a bare-body strimmer to use the same battery. That does the strimming using about 1 bar (out of 5) on the battery so more
than enough to then mow as well.
The mower even has... headlights!
Cheers!
James
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"The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses, behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights."
- Muhammad Ali
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craig1410
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| posted on 13/9/23 at 10:58 PM |
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I'm all for electric @James but we've got 1200sqm of grass here and although our Worx Landroid manages to cope most of the time, in times of
variable weather (ie. sun, rain, sun, rain etc) the grass can grow past the point where the Landroid can cope. In those times, with somewhat soggy,
long grass, a decent petrol mower is essential. Even the 4.5HP petrol mower is stalled if you go too fast through 4" wet grass. No way an
electric mower would cope.
We used to have a Ryobi electric mower before we moved house but it was certainly not up to the job here. We still have the Ryobi strimmer which uses
the same batteries and can do most of our edging with two batteries.
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