Non-Ethanol Gas In the Lawn Mower? (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 9/20/2026 11:01:35 PM EDT
[Last Edit: doc540][Edited]
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Am I imagining things or did my lawn mower just come to life and run better? I know for a fact the exhaust doesn't choke me like before, but it seemed to run effortlessly in deep grass, no longer loading up and struggling to mulch. obligatory pic 
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I do it primarily so I don't spend an afternoon trying to start it next season. 3 seasons now started on the second or third pull. But yeah, now that you mention it, it does seem to run smoother. |
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Originally Posted By Flatbilly: When you fill your gas can with good stuff, remember that the last guy filled with cheap stuff. The hose and pump plumbing will be full of the cheap stuff. Put a few gallons in your vehicle to flush it out before filling your gas can. Everywhere I buy real gas from anymore has a completely seperate hose/handle for it. |
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Originally Posted By Flatbilly: When you fill your gas can with good stuff, remember that the last guy filled with cheap stuff. The hose and pump plumbing will be full of the cheap stuff. Put a few gallons in your vehicle to flush it out before filling your gas can. My local stations have a separate pump for non-ethanol Recreation Fuel, which is the ONLY stuff I run in anything that's carburated. |
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| I cut a lot of grass. Two zero turns and use about 150 - 250 gallons per season. My mowers have never had ethanol in them. Expensive but worth it. We mow about 9 months a year. |
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Originally Posted By doc540: Am I imagining things or did my lawn mower just come to life and run better? I know for a fact the exhaust doesn't choke me like before, but it seemed to run effortlessly in deep grass, no longer loading up and struggling to mulch. obligatory pic https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/183309/lawn_2025_A-3830445.jpg You are not imagining things. Etoh-free is the way to go for small engines and as the base fuel for 2 cycle mix. When gas was cheaper I occasionally ran it in the car and PU and I could tell a difference. |
| If it has a carburetor, ethanol-free only. I've found it doesn't matter for anything fuel-injected. |
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Originally Posted By Badlatitude: Ethanol has less energy. It takes 5x more ethanol to make the same power as gasoline in a race motor Came to post this. If you're running ethanol at 10%, you're about 8% lean on your fuel/air ratio. This is also why your fuel economy drops when you run high ethanol in a flex fuel vehicle |
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Originally Posted By curiomatic: I use non-ethanol gas in all of my small engines, including my motorcycles. They all run good, including the 2 strokes when I mix it with Stihl premium oil. |
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There’s no one around me that sells it. WMT was selling it by the gallon in-store but the price is astronomical. So for the past few weeks I’ve been experimenting by removing the ethanol from 93/E10 by using water on my own. Super easy. Lots of Youtube vids on it. I guess I’m doing it right. Been using it in my 4 wheeler and chainsaws and so far, so good. *Doing this separation brings the final octane down a couple of points, from 93 octane to ~91 octane |
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Originally Posted By Flatbilly: When you fill your gas can with good stuff, remember that the last guy filled with cheap stuff. The hose and pump plumbing will be full of the cheap stuff. Put a few gallons in your vehicle to flush it out before filling your gas can. Around here ethanol free has a separate hose. |
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On the advice of my late father decades ago (worked as a mechanic or selling auto parts all of his life), I always use non-ethanol gas in my lawn mower. Push mower with a pull start. Starts quick and runs good. There are only 2 places in the town where I live that sell it. The closet is the Farmer's Co-op. Sure it cost little more, but I fill my plastic 5 gallon can once a season and it last me the whole time I mow, which is nearly weekly from April to sometimes as late as November. Very small yard. |
If I edited the post above it's more than likely because I suck at typing. If I didn't, I was either in too big of a hurry or just missed it.
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10% and I never had a problem. First pull every time unless it runs completely out. Then 2 pulls. I do try to run.it.out first though at the end of the season. One mower is 1999 and the other is 2021 |
| And you don’t have to worry much about it “ going bad”. Non-eth is all I run in my small engines. When I purchased my Predator 4k, I filled it, ran it for the 12 hr break in, and refilled it after changing the oil. I had picked it up for the well if the power went out. We only ran it a handful of times, and it sat more than it ran. When we first moved into our house in 2020, the genset had sat for almost 6 years with a full tank. I decided to test it, and it fired on the first pull. I started loading it up, and it never missed a beat. I did drain the tank and refill it……after the fuel shut off started leaking. So, 6-7 year old non ethanol, and was still good with zero issues. |
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Use to run Rec90 all the time then the store near me stopped selling it. I went to Shell 93 and never had an issue with a Toro recycler. I even left it outside in a little alcove. High humidity and during the offseason it would sit for at least a month. Never an issue. But as a rule I run ethanol free. |
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Originally Posted By Flatbilly: When you fill your gas can with good stuff, remember that the last guy filled with cheap stuff. The hose and pump plumbing will be full of the cheap stuff. Put a few gallons in your vehicle to flush it out before filling your gas can. Around here there is one grade of non-ethanol and it gets it’s own pump. |
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It’s all I run in everything except my cars. Boat, waverunner, pressure washer, lawn mower and generator. Speaking of mowing, just yesterday…. Attached File Yea, I know. It’s time to fire up the pressure washer. 
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Originally Posted By Flatbilly: When you fill your gas can with good stuff, remember that the last guy filled with cheap stuff. The hose and pump plumbing will be full of the cheap stuff. Put a few gallons in your vehicle to flush it out before filling your gas can. Where I get mine is a separate hose and nozzle. |
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Originally Posted By ScottsGT: It’s all I run in everything except my cars. Boat, waverunner, pressure washer, lawn mower and generator. Speaking of mowing, just yesterday…. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/32016/IMG_5666_jpeg-3830534.JPG Yea, I know. It’s time to fire up the pressure washer. Stunning view. |
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For the last 20 years, I have been using 93 octane E10 in my OPE with Startron in the can every time I get gas. This has given me top performance with no carburetor or other issues. My two 21" mowers are 18 and 22 years old. I do the same with my 2-cycle mix - my Ryobi 2-cycle string trimmer is about 10 years old which as you know is rare for a Ryobi - usually they are thrown away because of carb issues. The primary reason i use premium gas is my 2-gallon gas can that feeds the mowers and a riding mower is stored in a hot shed. Every time it is opened, volatiles gas out and some octane rating is lost, so by the end of the season I'm probably down to 87 or maybe lower. BTW, I use Startron in the vehicles too and have never needed fuel system/intake service/cleaning on anything in 25 years. |
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Our local Farmer's Co-op has ONLY non-ethanol, 87 and 90 octane and diesel all in seperate pumps. I have bought all of my fuels from them for decades except of course when away from our area. I no longer own any fuel injected engine, all carbs, so it's a must. I keep everything as full of gas as possible to avoid condensation. My 2 chainsaws might sit as much as 2 years between uses and will fire-up with just a few pulls everytime - even my damned Stihl if you follow their precise start procedure. The saws are 15 years old and only changed fuel lines once in that time. I use the 90 octane exclusively, better additive package I assume. The other day when I filled my truck the 90 was $4.50 a gal. 87 was $4.30. Filled my 2 diesel cans for the tractor 2 weeks ago and it was $5.00/gal at that time. |
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Originally Posted By SouthernGunHand: Non ethanol is the way. It's expensive to run non-ethanol gas, but not quite as expensive as paying to get a broke-ass mower fixed. |
Lol @ the retarded folks
"Blowtorch and Corkscrew" What a great tactic.
Seven Grand children Rich.
DOOM!!
"Blowtorch and Corkscrew" What a great tactic.
Seven Grand children Rich.
DOOM!!
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Not only do I run non-ethanol in all my small engines and boats, I also add Star-Tron to all of it too. Star-Tron |