Fuel Stabilisers for Vehicle Storage

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Did a search and surprisingly did not find much. Guess there are not many that drive in the salt belt and store their cars for the winter.

Anyways, seeing that I drive in the area with the highest winter salt use in the world, my nice car (the BMW) gets stored for the winter, usually for about 5 months.

What fuel stabilisers do people use and have good results? I always store the car with ethanol free gas (Shell 91 here in Ontario), I usually use the Sta-Bil brand fuel stabiliser, but last year I used Seafoam in the tank, as it says on the bottle that it will stabilise fuel for up to two years. Turns out it really does not. Took the car out of storage and was getting bad misfires. While driving at slow highway speed, the engine would miss every 20 or 30 s, bad enough it felt like all the brakes locked on for a split second. Car had a full tank so had to drive some before I could put fresh gas in. Put a 100 km on it and filled it up again. Miss completely went away. Drove it down to near empty, and after filling it completely up again with fresh gas, the engine really came back to life.

Guess I am going back to Sta-bil.

What say the hive?
 
Blue marine Stabil or Startron.

Typically the blue StaBil for gas in gas can for mower. Startron for boat gas tank (75 gal).

The blue marine Stabil had a lot of cleaners also.
 
I am surprised. Iam a faithful user of SeaFoam sometimes my stuff sits well over 2 years without issues. With Sta-bil I still had the brass jets corrode and plug. No problems since I switched to Sea Foam.
A favorite with farmers too in the off season.
 
SeaFoam caused issues with my 67 Camaro, 65 Corvette and 96 LT4 Corvette (Fuel injected). all had gunk in the fuel system/ The one common thing was they were are stored with non-ethanol premium fuel treated with SeaFoam. Never again.
 
SeaFoam has too much alcohol in it.

Store the car with ethanol-free gas, and either Sta-Bil or Pri-G
 
Been using StaBil for years in both my motorcycles and car that are stored from
November to May. I have always used 2 to 3 times the recommended dose amount.
Never had any start up or running issues. No smoke either.
 
mightymouse, I have searched the world wide interweb about fuel stabilizers and have come to the conclusion that only anecdotal data exists. You have already gotten a taste of it above. While I haven't had the mythic E10 issues that some claim, I find that there are a few tidbits of good information on this self serving site: http://www.fuel-testers.com/is_gas_additive_safe_with_e10_list.html Pay attention to the fine print and a few suggestions they sneak in along the way. Then, form your own opinion.

I use the blue marine stabil for what its worth and attempt to practice good fuel management practices. In our northern climate, I think that over winter storage should be much less of an issue compared the the tropics of the southern U.S..

If you learn of good product evaluations, please share them. If I remember correct, I think that our member Molekule has tried to set us straight a few times about the realities of fuel stabilization. Maybe he will chime in.
 
If sta-bil worked in the past I would keep using it. I stored my car the last few winters (~5 months) and used Startron as it was on sale. I also used premium ethanol free gas. Come spring it fired right up and ran perfect.
 
StaBil
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I use Star Tron with every fill up in all of my equipment and not just for storage.
A small bottle treats 512 gallons and my mower makers insist on it. Great stuff!
 
Red stabil +MMO using non-ethanol 91 octane in all small engines and motorbike. Gas is fresh for up to a year. Everything starts on one pull. Never any carb issues going on a decade.
 
Originally Posted By: 2010Civic
If sta-bil worked in the past I would keep using it. I stored my car the last few winters (~5 months) and used Startron as it was on sale. I also used premium ethanol free gas. Come spring it fired right up and ran perfect.


Yes, will be going back to StaBil for this winter.
 
The Rat is running on 5 gallons of year old gas, E 10, no Stabil. When I need gas for the OPE, I 'm working on the 1/2 tank of 6 month old 87 E 10 in the BMW. The OPE gets a splash of MMO every gas up. So far so good. Gas keeps better if it is kept cool and dry. I tried using 93 E 10 in my OPE and lost 2 carbs. I'm pretty sure I used red Stabil in it. Go figure.
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I use star tron or marine stabil... but a modern vehicle having fuel storage issues after only a few months... sounds like bad gas or something you shouldnt really have an issue with fuel storage after 5 minths in a sealed fuel system srored indoors.
 
Originally Posted By: Superflop
I use star tron or marine stabil... but a modern vehicle having fuel storage issues after only a few months... sounds like bad gas or something you shouldnt really have an issue with fuel storage after 5 minths in a sealed fuel system srored indoors.


The temp of the place where vehicle is stored does matter. At -273K no fuel will go bad. At 100F it might only last a month or two.
 
I've been using Bill Hirsch fuel stabilizer for over 30 years. One quart cost $20 and treats 96 gallons for up to 3 years.
 
Originally Posted By: Eddie Hudson
I've been using Bill Hirsch fuel stabilizer for over 30 years. One quart cost $20 and treats 96 gallons for up to 3 years.


And what evidence can you provide that it works?
 
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