How does Stabil or the other fuel stabilizers work to keep gasoline from going stale?
If I'm not mistaken, "stale" gas is gas where the lighter more volatile compounds evaporate, leaving the heavier hydrocarbons, possibly forming gums or varnish if left far too long. You're still going to have those more volatile compounds regardless of what you add and they're still going to want to evaporate. Ethanol presents another issue being hygroscopic, so invites water into the gas... No fuel additive is going to change that.
So how does Stabil combat these problems? Looking at the back of a Stabil container, it contains "petroleum distillates." Gasoline itself, is mostly a petroleum distillate. As is kerosene, MMO, mineral spirits, toluene, heck just about any fuel additive is made up of petroleum distillates. Wonder what makes Stabil work its magic, I've often wondered if it's just "snake oil" with a feel-good, good reputation.