Ethanol Free or not?

[Jeff wernick]

New to jets....always an outboard guy, but happy with my recently purchased 190 FSH. Any advice on whether to use Ethanol free gas is appreciated

 

[Ancient canoe]

If it's available to you, use it. If not, it's not the end of the world and your boat will be fine.

 

[Stevenpigsooie]

You’ll likely get several different responses. I used to run only ethanol free but was convinced otherwise on this forum and now save about $30 per fill up. Throughout the summer I use Yamalube ring free additive with every fill up with 87 regular gas. When I winterize I use ethanol free gas full tank with Yamalube fuel conditioner and run that a bit to coat everything for protection while it sits.

 

[Ancient canoe]

Yeah assuming you are using a fuel stabilizer you will wear out the rest of the boat before the engines are supposedly destroyed by the ethanol.

 

[boudin]

I pay $1 more a gallon for ethanol free, but only because it's convenient. My boat is in a slip, and the fuel is on the water. I don't need to slug a bunch of five-gal fuel cans down the hill. If I trailered all the time, I would just fill up with 87 octane at the pump and add stabilizer, like others have said.

The biggest challenge I see with ethanol is the water separating and then rusting out the fuel pump.

-Greg

 

[MidnightRider]

I'm by no means an expert so please experts correct me. The two down sides of ethanol is both its solvent properties and hygroscopic properties which from my understanding means it can be hard on some fuel system components and that it has more of tendency to absorb moisture. The extent of these downsides are probably arguable though. I've been taught non-ethanol in all recreational/occasional use engines so I have a tendency to stick to that. If I couldn't find it I wouldn't stress but I do look for it. I find that it is actually much easier to find these days than years past. https://www.pure-gas.org has an app for you phone you can download that maintains mapped locations of gas stations that offer non-ethanol gas which I've used while traveling away from my local area. Now the experts can swoop in and correct my understanding - which I welcome.

 

[Julian]

Been running ethanol gas in my Yamaha jet boats since 2003....with no ill effects.

 

[buckbuck]

10% ethanol for the last 10 seasons. No problems.

 

[Jeff wernick]

seems like either way there are no issues...although this is the first time I have heard of the Yamaha additives/lube, so i will look into those as well.

Thanks to all for the input!

 

[Jack Long]

Have been using marine stabil since they started putting ethanol in gas on 4 different boat engines and have never had a fuel related issue.

 

[bronze_10]

I read on here somewhere the last time this topic was brought up on weather to run ethonsl in the mr1... Someone with a vast amount of knowledge here simply stated the mr1 engine was initally designed for on road use for motor cycles and was designed to use ethonal. I am not sure about the back story behind the tr1 or the 1.8 l engines.

 

[afsigma21]

I use the non ethanol when I can, but mostly because the closest station to my storage is non ethanol. I could trailer a bit further and pay a little less, but why bother. I use the Engine Med in every fill up. I use Stabil 360 for the winter.

Now, on my 1999 Polaris Sportsman, non ethanol only. It sits for long periods of time without use.

 

[2kwik4u]

I use E10 throughout the season. Run stabil on the last few tanks starting in early September and do a final fill with zero ethanol for winter storage.