Fuel Warning

[Luke Quenby]

Some of you may have read my previous thread of last week regarding my ms660 not working. I initially thought it was a fuel / carb problem, and got lots of good advice from other members.

 

Turns out I need new piston and pot re-build due to them being ruined. I always try to buy non-supermarket fuel, and use the Stihl 1 shot 2 stroke oils to mix, hoping this will provide good clean fuel for my saws. This time, because I was short on time and no where near a BP or Shell, I got fuel from Sainsburys at Biggleswade in Bedfordshire, and within half a tank or less, the saw was dead.

 

The fitter who is working on it says the mix was fine (no schoolboy errors!), but reckons it is a bad batch of fuel, and this happens quite often apparantley. The saw is not old and well maintained and was not working hard when it failed.

 

Obviously I can't be 100% certain that this is the problem, but I have heard of this sort of thing happening before with poorer quality fuel on 1 pot highly stressed engines. Probably wouldn't even notice it with the 4 cylinders of a car, but I have been warned about supermarket fuel.

 

Just a heads up and a learn from others experience thread really, I will be contacting Sainsburys as I only bought the fuel a few weeks ago, though I don't hold out much hope of getting any settlement from them.

 

This experience now tells me it is well worth doing a few extra miles and spending a few extra pence to keep the tools running well and avoid downtime and expense.

 

I'm sure this is stuff you guys are all well aware of, but by me trying to save a bit of time, I've lost loads of productivity and now have a repair bill to shell out for:thumbdown:

 

Has anyone else had something like this happen when they switched fuels / oils? Would be interested to hear

 

Cheers, Luke

[Gareth Dalzell]

This is one of those difficult ones to be sure about as you point out. We've only ever run our machines on Sainsburys fuel - all our vans have Sainsburys fuel cards so it's the only place we ever get fuel. We run about 40 Stihl machines and the only problem we've had is with the new 4mix ones - but I dont know if it is fuel related. The dealer seems to think we should be running on their "Special" Stihl two stroke oil and not Oregan which we have always used.

 

I'd be interested to here other peoples opinions also

[gensetsteve]

I lost two saws in space of a month or so around the time tesco had a problem. One was a very old 051 so understandable but a nice husky went soon after. The only two saws I have blown in 20 years. Using shell since not had a problem.

[oldwoodcutter]

I know that modern superbike riders with high revving motors with multi point injectors avoid filling up at supermarkets or village garages,they make a point of using only the main shell esso etc petrol forecourts.

[Ian C]

Fill up any where and never had a problem!

[spudulike]

I always use fresh fuel and a 40:1 mix even though the saw manual and Stihl recommend a 50:1 mix, reason being that if the saw runs lean due to air leaks, fuel running out or adjustment, there is a little more oil to keep it going and more chance of me noticing the tell tail signs of impending doom.

 

I am sure we all know that fuel will destroy the properties of two stroke oil when mixed after a period of about one month so use old mix in the fourstroke lawnmower:thumbup:

 

Spuid

[tomtrees]

The yanks seem to think the ethanol mix used in the new petrols. eats the oil mix and is not good for small engines

[Kev Stephenson]

Used Morrisons fuel 95% of the time with no issues.

[skyhuck]

I killed an 020 with crap fuel, it smelt different, more like thinners than petrol and seemed to make the saw over rev.

[FLASH90]

Its only going to get worse at the moment the ethanol content is only 5% soon this will go upto 10%. The ethanol absorbs moisture so buy from a fast moving outlet not from a forecourt that does not move a lot of fuel.

I do not leave any fuel in my saws when not in use for the same reason