Ethanol fuel vs. 2-cycle engines

[NeTree]

I have a lot of customers asking me about non-running power equipment that they own; saws, mowers, edgers, etc. Ethanol fuel is most likely the cause of these issues. Are there any quick fixes or additives that can be used after the fact, in lieu of rebuilding/replacing carbs and whatnot?

No.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Not an additive, but what about using power steering fluid to restore rubber? Has anyone ever tried soaking a diaphragm in it? One of the functions of power steering fluid is to maintain the seals in the steering system. I have heard that it adds new life to old rubber.

 

[NeTree]

No. If the diaphragm loses it's shape it won't pump fuel. Swelled seals may stop leaking, but will soon leak again.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Oh, I thought that there was possibly some chemical reaction between the fluid and the rubber to help restore, guess not.

 

[SkwerI]

That was an old used car sales trick I heard about in my dad's garage as a kid. If the rear main is leaking, just add some PS fluid (or brake fluid) to the oil. you'll end up ruining the motor but it will stop the leak temporarily. Unfortunately I bought a truck once that the seller had done something like this. It ran great until my first oil change but I ended up putting a new motor and a new transmission in it in 6 months.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I remember one time being stranded with a leaky master cylinder. My groundie said "use water." Water worked great!!!

 

[NeTree]

I've heard of nefarious dealers using fine sawdust to quiet a noisy engine bearing.

 

[Al Smith]

There's a zillion old tricks used to pedal junk cars .

Now then a saw carb diaphragm is made of Buna-N which is synthetic rubber which is gasoline resistant .Unfortunately not so with ethanol though . You can soften a stiff diaphragm by soaking it in brake fluid but it's just a temporary fix and not really a very good one at that .The only real cure is a new one .

 

[Magnus]

Magnus, please read the first post of the thread again. Your rants about campaigning for National policy changes are not answering the question. Nothing you've posted has answered the question. But thanks for adding a bunch of posts to separate the current discussion from the original question. :roll:

That was an old used car sales trick I heard about in my dad's garage as a kid. If the rear main is leaking, just add some PS fluid (or brake fluid) to the oil. you'll end up ruining the motor but it will stop the leak temporarily. Unfortunately I bought a truck once that the seller had done something like this. It ran great until my first oil change but I ended up putting a new motor and a new transmission in it in 6 months.

And you say I am off topic?

HA!

 

[NeTree]

Another fine thread shot to hell.

 

[Magnus]

Not necessarily a bad thing.
The steering oil used in most cars is ATF oil. Used in some of the different transmission as well.

A very dry oil, and uses a type of seal that is very tuff, like a ram seal. I worked on cars a bit and renovating steerings was a sure way to get dry hands if gloves were not used.
Same thing with brake fluids...

 

[Al Smith]

Generally speaking most seals are Buna-n .A few might use viton which is a type of nylon like material . While one would think a praticular material should be robust among any number of liquids or gasses it's not always so .

For example it was discovered that the seals used on fuel injector nozzles would fail after time if used with E-85 .So those were changed on the multi fueled design engines .If would have made sense to me they all should have been changed .Detroit didn't see it that way and continued to use the older type material in other ratings than E-85 .

As an interesting note when designed for E-85 the engines not only required better sealing componets but also need a slightly larger capacity fuel injecter .Merely because of the fact than ethanol requires a larger volume amount to produce the same power as straight gasoline .

 

[Magnus]

There are hundreds of grades/classes with seals..

The flexi fuel engines used seals not meant for gasoline. Those that had access to E-85 and used it constantly, it was no trouble
But for those that didn't the problems soon began...
Volvo learned this very fast from their company cars that were flexifuel. It got same grade rubber and seals as gas cars and this particular problem was solved...
There was many more to come.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

In an other life, I was in a R&D laboratory , working on cosmetic aerosol cans (hairspray, foam, perfume, hair dye, oil ....). Critical components to keep the pressure inside the can were the seals. Their "rubber" are made with blends of many substances. Their comportments are different with each product they are packing. Different molecules and different % in the "juice" could lead to big trouble.

The seals either shrink or swell. Sometime they don't move.

Shrink comes from the juice extracting some rubber's components (and the rubber is hardened too). It's a no no, as it gives leaks.
In opposite, the swell is due by the rubber taking some juice's substances. And he's softened.
The best in aerosol world is a slight swell, around 5 to 10%. It enhances the tightness but keeps the functionality (moves, valve opening /closing).

If the swell is too big, the seal becomes brittle, looses his shape, even his integrity and jams the moving parts.

In the engine's and fuel's world, you can find the same behaviour with all the plastic and rubber parts in front of the different oils and fuels, like seals, gaskets, tubing, bottle and caps ( for example, Husqvarna anti spill gas-bottle spout gets stuck, or Stihl 1/4turn gas cap jams with sp95 but not with sp9 ...

It's an impossible task to find "The" right seal for all the products and all the asked functionalities. Some are better than others, but not universal. They are pricey too and put in only in the last resort.

 

[dastevoe]

Not an additive, but what about using power steering fluid to restore rubber? Has anyone ever tried soaking a diaphragm in it? One of the functions of power steering fluid is to maintain the seals in the steering system. I have heard that it adds new life to old rubber.

I've heard that the "ladies" find it stings their "private parts",so it's not recommended

Just thought I'd add to the "de-rail" (playing catch-up on my thread reading !!!)


Steve

 

[Al Smith]

I'm not real sure if that type diaphragm is still in use as they were just about as reliable as the rhythym method for their intended purpose .Plus it's high unlikely the user would soak them in tranny fluid prior to insertion .

Now as to a carb diaphragm the only sure fire cure is a new one .Temporary fixes are just that ,temporary .

 

[NeTree]

I'm basically lazy... so if I'm going to expend the effort to get to the diaphragm, I'm putting a new one in, and not trying any magic tricks.

 

[arborworks1]

I was at the saw shop Thursday. They were telling me the difference in blue and red glue on the welch plugs in the carbs. Apparently this simple change in glue is solving a good bit of problem with stihl carbs.