ETHANOL OR NOT?

[Myrt]

DOES ETHANOL HURT A(ANY) 4 STROKE MOTORS?

[Ralph Wiggum]

You'll get mixed opinions. I believe that any modern outboard has been designed to run off of today's blends of gas and ethanol, so it's no big deal. Now, don't try to run E85, but I believe regular pump gas is fine. Be aware that it does go bad fairly quickly, so make sure you use some type of gas treatment (Stabil, etc) if you're not using up the gas in a reasonable amount of time.

[fasternu]

My Yamaha owner's manual says that regular ethanol is fine, along with 86 octane gas. It even says no need for hhigh octane gas, unless you are experiencing a problem. As a racer that uses Methanol (pure alcohol), yes, it can attract moisture and "go bad", but it actually is harder to do than one would think. But if you are going to store it like over the winter, Sta-bil won't hurt.

[Sutty]

In MN you don't have much of a choice but to run the ah hem stuff... but It will go bad faster in the summer than in the winter so if it is sitting for more than a couple weeks run stabyl in it in the summer as well.

[jwhjr]

As long as its used in a reasonable amount of time and doesn't sit you should be just fine. I don't always get through the gas within a month or so, so I get the non-oxy to be safe as the separation takes a bit longer.

[Wish-I-Were-Fishn]

The water is the issue. Do you have a water separator filter?

[BobT]

I would recommend checking your owner/operator's manual. It should tell you in there what to use. Otherwise, look under the motor head on the shaft and locate the specification label. It might tell you on there what type of fuel to use.

Bob