sea foam?????

SRX500kid

SRX500kid

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Gansvoort, NY
i have a 2000 sx500r. it has about 1 gallon of gas and has stabal marine stuff in it and sum other stuff. :whine: :( :mad: i was going to put sea foam on first fill up of the season but should i drain or run the sled out of gas first? i know the season is still far a way, but i am excited! ;)! :letitsnow tell me what you guys think :?: :dunno: :yam: :die: ETHANOL :yrules:
 
If its not too full it should be okay if you top her off with fresh. Ive personally done it without any issues. I clean the carbs first though and make sure the tank has 1 gal or less in it. First tank is normally premium. Then 89 after that...
 
If you have the Marine Formula Stab-Bil in it which is made for Ethanol fuel then you will be fine using that gas. If you don't use an additive, the Ethanol can form algae pretty quickly when sitting. If you take apart your carbs and see a nice green tint on the bowl, that's the algae. I store my toys with a full tank of fuel and that Stabil additive with no problems.
First tank is normally premium. Then 89 after that...
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Out of curiosity, why the premium?
It's not any "cleaner" than regular and unless your engine is designed for it (higher compression, advanced ignition, etc...) it's actually worse for your engine as it burns at a cooler rate and will build up carbon on your plugs and pistons.
 
SRX500kid said:
is it bad i only run regular (87 octane) in my toys?
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I try to run the lowest octane possible w/o detonation. The lower the octane....the more power/volatility there is in it. Although I usually worry that the octane level is right there on the bubble of not enough octane. So normally I air on the side of slightly more than I need/require.
I'm just a worry-er.
 
Dmace said:
Out of curiosity, why the premium?
It's not any "cleaner" than regular and unless your engine is designed for it (higher compression, advanced ignition, etc...) it's actually worse for your engine as it burns at a cooler rate and will build up carbon on your plugs and pistons.
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And to add to that, an interesting thing happens when you store gasoline. The volatile short chain molecules evaporate quicker, leaving behind the longer chain higher octane molecules. Essentially the gas is being distilled to a higher octane level. (let it sit around long enough and you will have something that barely burns)


Adding premium to what is essentially already a very high octane gasoline isn't the best idea... If anything, its probably better to mix the lowest octane available.
 
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SRX500kid said:
is it bad i only run regular (87 octane) in my toys?
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No, UNLESS you have a toy that requires higher octane. For example, I have a four wheeler that requires 89 octane and the one time I had to run 87 in an emergency while riding, you could tell the difference. The engine lost power, was harder to start and after our ride (300 miles) the plug was black. I keep my equipment top shape and know the plug was a perfect light brown before that tank of gas.
sleddineinar said:
I drain the tank every year before putting it to bed for the summer, never had a problem doing that.
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Usually that works fine especially if you have a plastic tank. I found metal tanks create condensation in the winter months and rust the inside of the tank. Also, when left dry for an extended time (4-6 months), many fuel lines and seals tend to dry and crack which leads to misc fuel leaks later on.
 
The main reason I run premium is because I don't care to let ethanol sit in my tank very long. Usually I ride more than once a week, but sometimes it might sit for an extended period. We can buy non-oxy 91 here. Everybody seems have trouble with ethanol in their 2 strokes these days. I only buy oxy-89 or 87 if that's all that the station has and I don't think I can make it to the next station. Also, my 700 has the thinner head gasket. True that metal tanks can rust when they are empty, but then fill it up before you store it. Also most modern seal & gaskets aren't going to dry out over the summer. I guess I was just thinking of modern 2 strokes, not vintage...
 
A couple of bucks said:
Does anyone remember those GOD-AWEFULL tanks that Deere had on their 80ish FIRE series. WOW....whoever oked those tanks for production should have been hung by the b@lls.
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my dad had a JD liquifire (probably got that spelling wrong)when I was a kid.
I was too young to remember much about it but I know he thought he was King $#@t of turd island at the time
 
sleddineinar said:
I guess I was just thinking of modern 2 strokes, not vintage...
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He asked about toys in general not just snowmobiles. Last I checked just about every motorcycle out there has a metal tank. Also, lines may not dry and crack in one summer of storage but if you store it dry, they will weaken a little more every year until finally failing at the worse time.
 
smokingcrater said:
And to add to that, an interesting thing happens when you store gasoline. The volatile short chain molecules evaporate quicker, leaving behind the longer chain higher octane molecules. Essentially the gas is being distilled to a higher octane level. (let it sit around long enough and you will have something that barely burns)


Adding premium to what is essentially already a very high octane gasoline isn't the best idea... If anything, its probably better to mix the lowest octane available.
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This is some BAD information as the exact opposite is true. An octane rating is a fuel's level of resistance to detonation, regardless of it's rate of evaporization. Fuel looses it's octane rating as the light end molecules evaporate off while sitting, as the light ends are what subdues detonation NOT what is left behind, hence causes it to detonate ALOT sooner or easier. This gasoline degradation process starts to happen almost immediately as it's exposed to air /heat / sunlight, etc. and can loose significant octane rating in a matter of weeks. You can have stale 93 premium or 112 race fuel that has an effective octane rating something less then 87 R+M/2...
This has been preached over and over again on blogs such as Dynotechresearch.com and various motorsport magazine articles.

You cannot gain more octane rating by letting gas sit, otherwise we'd all be distilling our own race fuel out of the old lawn mower gasoline and wouldn't be burning down pistons after running WOT across a lake or railbed after filling up with a tank of old stale marine gas out in the sticks somewhere...
Think about it, if that were true then we'd only be fighting hard starting or low power output.
 
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Also be careful when diluting your fuel with additives, like Stabil or Sea Foam, etc because it does just that, dilutes the fuel (less gasoline molecules makes a leaner AFR) and also thins out the very molecules that also supress detonation. Double whammy!
Get that crap out of your fuel system before running the machine hard...
 
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stabil marine says that it is safe with any fuel and i don't have sea foam in there yet so when the snow fly's i was going to ride it around my yard to burn it all off and then go fill up brand new gas! my yard is not that big so it will take some time. is that all right? plus i would have no clue where i would drain it from!(haven't looked in to it much)
 
mbarryracing said:
Also be careful when diluting your fuel with additives, like Stabil or Sea Foam, etc because it does just that, dilutes the fuel (less gasoline molecules makes a leaner AFR) and also thins out the very molecules that also supress detonation. Double whammy!
Get that crap out of your fuel system before running the machine hard...
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This is the same principle as..........if ya think about it......your average 2 stroke weed wacker. Lets say it calls for 50:1. And you put the oil in as the manufacture suggests......plus another 'chug' from your 2 stroke oil jug. You are, in effect, leaning the mixture out.
 
SRX500kid said:
stabil marine says that it is safe with any fuel and i don't have sea foam in there yet so when the snow fly's i was going to ride it around my yard to burn it all off and then go fill up brand new gas! my yard is not that big so it will take some time. is that all right? plus i would have no clue where i would drain it from!(haven't looked in to it much)
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Siphon it out with a hose or jerk-tube... Use it in your snowblower

A couple of bucks said:
This is the same principle as..........if ya think about it......your average 2 stroke weed wacker. Lets say it calls for 50:1. And you put the oil in as the manufacture suggests......plus another 'chug' from your 2 stroke oil jug. You are, in effect, leaning the mixture out.
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Less fuel molecules also means less HP...
 
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