Michigan - Saginaw County | I would have been in the never had a problem with ethanol - until this spring...
The Oliver 1600 sat all winter in the pole barn... Was running fine when it was last used in early December... Refused to start in APril... Decided it was the gas... Dumped the tank (looked nasty) Put fresh in and drained the carb... Still no joy...
Took the carb apart and it was full of a black goo/gel... Put a rebuild kit on it and replaced the filter and now runs normally...
Yeah, it was my fault - a half tank of gas (did have stabil in it) and the humidity was absorbed by the ethanol and turned into an acidic gel... But, never in my life before ethanol had any problem with dozens of engines in my lifetime that would sit for long periods and would start right up...
I remember as a boy a fella my dad knew had a J3 Cub that he had pulled the wings off when WWII was declared and flying was made illegal and put it in the hayloft to hide it from being confiscated by the War Department - he asked dad for some help to put it back together... This would have been the summer of 1950... We went to the farm and using the rope slings for hay lifted the Cub to the ground and put the wings back on... Dad took the bottom spark plugs out of the engine and squirted oil in each cylinder and puled the prop through a dozen blades, let it drain for a bit and put the plugs back in... When we first lowered the fuselage in the rope sling dad had insisted on rolling it upside down for a minute before rolling it back and setting it onto the wheels get oil on the camshaft...
Anyway, the Cub had been up there in the heat and the cold with gas in the tank for nine years... Dad had me get in the plane and run the mags and throttle.. I turned on the gas and made sure the mags were off... Dad pulled it through six blades... Turned the mags on, he flipped it through and it fired off immediately... Idled a bit rough for about ten seconds then smoothed right out... This was nine year old gas... The next day, Sunday, dad flew the plane off the hayfield and spent the rest of the day giving rides to the owners family and friends - all on the old gas... This was 80 octane aviation gas...
Ethanol gasoline is a bad decision (except for helping farmers) made for bad reasons... Just as we finally figured out that MTBE was doing harm they are now having to fight the battle over the smog that gasohol creates... I predict that in ten years ethanol will be banned and we will be off to the next poisonous chemical to "save the environment"... Pure refined gasoline is not a particularly bad chemical - smells good and is reasonably stable - until they start adding stuff for the environment, then it goes to hell in a hand basket... |
Goss' Garage on Motorweek re ethanol
