Marine Fuel Stabilizer

[Mint Q45A]

A few months ago the car started having a bit of an erratic idle. I decided to try Sta-Bil's Marine Fuel Stabilizer.
I don't know if it just a coincidence, but the car has been running way smoother since then.
Has anybody used this product?


Product Description

Gold Eagle Marine STA-BIL Fuel Stabilizer is the best ethanol problem fighter. This is more than four times the fuel system cleaner than the regular STA-BIL and double the corrosion fighter. Marine STA-BIL prevents corrosion from moisture and ethanol-induced water attraction. If you are using ethanol blended fuel in your marine application, Gold Eagle recommends Marine STA-BIL with EVERY fill up, not just for storage. This 8 ounce quick measure easy pour bottle treats up to 80 gallons of fuel

[elwesso]

My family owns a marina and we use this stuff on boats. Around here when we put boats away for 6 months out of the year you concern yourself with gasoline going bad and varnishing up fuel system components, especially carbs. Also ethanol causes major issues as boats are exposed to a lot more moisture.

This stuff works pretty good, never used it on a car but it should work great. One bottle does, on average, about 4-5 boats.

[Skibane]

It's become HUGELY popular for use on generators, chain saws and other small engines where the fuel in the tank may sit unused for a few months. A Wes mentioned, the recent addition of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) to pump gas is one of the main culprits.

Basically, the problem is that the ethanol in gasoline attracts moisture, which tends to fall out of suspension over time. This can result in clumps of water in the gas, which can't be burned by the engine.

Some folks use the HEET fuel system de-icers for improving vehicle driveability. Adding more alcohol (in the form of HEET) allows the water to be re-absorbed into the gasoline, where it can be burned as the gas is consumed.

So, even though the presence of alcohol in the gasoline is the cause of the problem, adding even more alcohol can alleviate the problem. Strange, but true.

[Mint Q45A]

The Marine version is different from their regular Stabil formula. Seems to be specifically targeted to fight the corrosion caused by ethanol (not just to prevent fuel degradation while in storage).

[elwesso]

In my experience, even though a lot of "marine" stuff is generally overpriced, a lot of it is much better than stuff in the automotive realm. Marine engines are put through a lot more hell than regular engines, so almost always marine stuff (within reason) performs well.

[OwnerCS]

I'm glad Wes chimed in on this one as I learned about the benefit of this stuff from retired personal aircraft mechanic who is currently a marina mechanic.

I've used the regular (Red) product with great success in air-cooled gasoline mower and tractor engines during the winter. It ended the spring trip to the shop for the usual carb overhaul. Also, I have used some (Red) in the Q when I knew it would take over 3 months to burn the fuel. The marine grade seems to be a higher concentrated version.

Gold Eagle seems to be a very well run family operation based in Chicago.

http://www.goldeagle.com

I think Paul Harvey advertised it on his radio show for years. It's been around a long time..