Amsoil AST worked better for me than Sta-bil

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I've been running stabilizer in all of my power equipment gas all year round for several years now since use can vary so much depending on conditions (long dormant grass periods due to dry and heat, sudden end to snowfall etc...).

Every year on my 1986 Toro 824 despite having a new carb, stabilizer, running dry, lubricating before storage etc... it always needed a disassembly and carb cleaning each fall before the season to run properly. As far as I can tell the Sta-bil resulted in soft deposits, but the whole idea was that there would be no deposits. My Honda summer OPE has stayed clean and functioning well.

Last year I switched to Amsoil AST http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/ast.aspx instead of Sta-bil.

I started my snowthrower today on the fourth pull without too much excitement. It runs great and doesn't require any carb work.

This isn't a universal conclusion but, for me, Amsoil AST seems to work better. Any price difference was just made up by better performance.
 
I've looked at it, but I had a couple of questions. First of all, does it contain Alcohol? and it mentions nothing about Ethanol. I use Stabil Marine or Starbrite Star-tron in my boat fuel for both the season and storage because it specifically is targeted at preventing water/fuel issues in my boat due to the ethanol laced fuel. Because of the lack of information from Amsoil, I've been reluctant to use it.

Generally each winter I add a stabilizer to the boat, my summer car, and my power equipment, and I've been pretty much using the two products above in my non-marine engines also for storage. If I could replace it and feel comfortable using Amsoil for all my engines, I would, but not until I see something from them regarding the situation.
 
I was using StaBil before also and had similar problems. I switched to Pri-G 3 years ago and haven't had a problem since. Tecumseh powered [censored] snow thrower starts on the first pull, even the first start in the fall. And the Kawasaki powered Deere walk behind does the same thing in the spring. Even my finicky McCullough leaf blower hasn't been finicky for 3 years. If I didn't go through gas so quickly in my cars, I'd use it in them too.

Dave
 
Originally Posted By: Johnny248
I've looked at it, but I had a couple of questions. First of all, does it contain Alcohol? and it mentions nothing about Ethanol. I use Stabil Marine or Starbrite Star-tron in my boat fuel for both the season and storage because it specifically is targeted at preventing water/fuel issues in my boat due to the ethanol laced fuel. Because of the lack of information from Amsoil, I've been reluctant to use it.


Alcohol isn't in the MSDS. I thought that the "Marine" Sta-bil was determined to be nothing special? I haven't paid 100% attention to every thread on it because it doesn't apply to me, though.
 
I would add some MMO instead of these stabilizing products if you really need to add something. It will do a great job.
 
I have been using the Amsoil AST for years. I would not use anything else. I use it in my regular gas for the snowblower and in my 2-cycle mix for all of my lawn equipment. I have never had to take a carb off any of my equipment and most fire right up after storage on the second pull.
 
Originally Posted By: Rat407
Fuel power is another great stabilizer for fuel!


I use FP in every can of OPE fuel as well, including the ones that gunked up the snowthrower. So, I sort of disagree on real-world stabilizing performance.

I don't bother getting into FP on non-BITOG forums, it just confuses people since it's so unheard-of.

As I said in my first post, the deposits with Sta-bil were at least soft, and could be removed with a finger nail instead of scraped off with tools or dissolved with chemicals. But, they were still there and needed removal for the machine to run properly.
 
Originally Posted By: Craig in Canada
Originally Posted By: Rat407
Fuel power is another great stabilizer for fuel!


I use FP in every can of OPE fuel as well, including the ones that gunked up the snowthrower. So, I sort of disagree on real-world stabilizing performance.

I don't bother getting into FP on non-BITOG forums, it just confuses people since it's so unheard-of.

As I said in my first post, the deposits with Sta-bil were at least soft, and could be removed with a finger nail instead of scraped off with tools or dissolved with chemicals. But, they were still there and needed removal for the machine to run properly.


Interesting. First I heard of that.
 
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