Ethanol and Carb Time

[railroad]

Temps got up to 63*F today. I bought some canned gasoline for the 2 stroke engines and canned VP for the others. I started the lawn mower, leaf blower, weed eater, portable generator, tractor and the T.
Battery was nearly down on the lawn mower, had to jump, gas and carb OK. Leaf blower and weed eater no issues. Tractor is diesel, so with the battery being good, no issues. Forgot the 4 wheeler. The battery has been bad for about a year. It has VP in it already. 1st kick, came to life and idled like it had been just cranked. Took a hot battery to the barn to spin over a V8 flathead that is waiting on a home.
Tried starting the T. Battery was hot and did a lot of spinning, hits and misses. Finally pulled the breather and the back bowl was flooding. I pulled the wires on the fuel pump and it fired right up. Really fired up surprisingly fast, since it was flooded. I might have to put a switch on the fuel pump. Right now it comes on with the key. Anyway everything is good. Between the Stabil and canned gas, I might have dodged the bullet.

 

[tfeverfred]

One word. "Star-tron".

 

[railroad]

I have seen that brand advertised by boating sites. It must work good, outboards seem to be sensitive to ethanol and moisture.
I will watch for it next time I shop.

 

[EWTALLEY]

Best price I found was at Lowe's or Home Depot < $7.00

 

[railroad]

Thanks, Do you put the whole bottle in a tank or add a couple of oz like the Stabil? I am sure I would know after buying, just wondering.

 

[ChrisK]

Anybody seen those battery rejuvenators? A coworker of mine bought one for his boat becauseof storage drain and having to go out and get a new batt everytime the thing doesn't charge. He used it to de-sulphate a battery that had been sitting for a couple years. Can't think of the name of the charger he bout it at a boat supply place.

 

[EWTALLEY]

The "STAR-TRON" I get is in 8 oz bottles and says it treats 48 gallons of gas, as I remember I paid $6.98 per bottle + tax at Home Depot or Lowe's.

 

[railroad]

I bought a bottle of something you put in the liquid acid type batteries. It was made by Minkota, I think. I could not tell it helped. Another battery observation, letting an Optima battery go dead is the end of it.

 

[ChrisK]

I remember putting asperin in the cells to bring it back now with sla batteries you cant do that. Railroad your right about the optima batterys. They get down below 12.0v its game over.

 

[fletcherson]

I have numerous trucks, cars, bikes, tractors, etc that have specific uses, none routine, and the battery thing, omg! I buy the best battery available, and from the same retailer to get favorable warranty service, but if you don't start them and run them, they won't last. The gel mat definitely last the longest that I have tried. I actuall looked into a franchise that refurbished batteries a few years back, and they sent me some chemicals to try. I don't remember the brand, but I wasn't impressed. I have bought re-batteries that done good for several years, and they flushed and changed the electrolyte and have a special charging system that releases the electrons from the plates and recharges at a specific rate, from my understanding. I would be very interested if there is a consumer grade version of that charging system availabe. Something else to google! Lol.

 

[railroad]

I use the Harbor Freight $6 battery tenders. It is not the best, but will keep then up better than nothing. I have a couple of batteries I use on a skeet/trap machine. I connect them together and just put the charger on 2 amps.

 

[tdkkart]

Deltran Battery Tender. I own several, anything that's not going to be run regularly gets plugged in.
The battery in my lawn mower is the same one that was in it when I purchased the mower in 2008. My Harley
is plugged in right now, has been since October.

Not all "tenders" or trickle chargers are the same, many of the cheapest ones are not regulated
and "force feed" power to the battery. Better brands actually monitor the charge in the battery and
shut off when the battery is fully charged.