Sta-bil Marine Issues

This topic has 9 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 16 years, 7 months ago by Jesse Herbert.

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November 3, 2009 at 12:17 am #268825

Jesse Herbert
Participant

Hello everybody, I havent posted here in a while because thankfully the old Jaguar with the 200 Johnson Venom ran great this year. But today I had a lot of trouble with it. I recently purchased a bottle of Sta-bil Marine after hearing a lot of great things about it combating the ethanol problem in todays fuel. Well, today was supposed to be my final boating trip of the season, because up here in New York it wont be long before it starts snowing and the lakes freeze over. Anyway, I filled up my boat with 3/4s of a tank of gas and added 4 ounces of Sta-bil Marine today. It said on the bottle to add 1 ounce to every 5 gallons of gas to clean the fuel system and carbs. Since this was to be my final trip out before I got the boat winterized, I figured today would be a good time to clean out the fuel system. I guessed that there was roughly 20 gallons of gas in my tank with 3/4s of a tank, so I added 4 ounces of Sta-bil. To make a long story short, I took the boat out today and the motor ran terrible. It kept bogging down, then it shut off on me twice while running and swamped the back deck. I had a hell of a time getting it running again, I finally got it running and it just wasnt running right, so I put it back on the trailer and went home. The boat ran great all year long, I never had an issue with the motor running rough whatsoever. It really makes me wonder if adding that Sta-bil had something to do with how poorly it ran today. I had the boat out last week and the motor ran great, without the Sta-bil in the fuel. Has anybody had any issues like this? Im really frustrated because Ive heard nothing but good things about Sta-bil Marine. It just seems strange to me that the motor would run great all year long then after I add the Sta-bil, it runs terrible. Any thoughts/ideas/comments about this situation would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

November 3, 2009 at 12:43 am #268826

Caldwellj
Participant

You said you filled up with fuel before you hit the lake..could have been bad gas..or water in the fuel. Did you check that?? I have run the same Marine Sta-bil and have had no issues..not to say thats not the problem just trying to give you some different ideas.

November 3, 2009 at 1:01 am #268827

PhilAddison
Participant

My guess is you either have bad gas or a fouled plug. Just coincidence with the Stabil, though you cant rule that out either.

November 3, 2009 at 1:27 am #268828

Mark5795
Participant

effect on your motor if anything…..it should be either coincidence or a good shot of water…….I run marine stabil, Mercury Leen and Sea foam in every tank and not so much as a stutter and little to no carbon at the exhaust….

November 3, 2009 at 1:49 am #268829

Danny Haley
Participant

What do most people use Sta-bil or I know that Mercury makes a fuel treatment and stabilizer. Which would better.

November 3, 2009 at 2:10 am #268830

Mark5795
Participant

as Seafoam….

November 3, 2009 at 3:14 am #268831

billfish
Participant

Mark5795 Do you run all three together???

November 3, 2009 at 3:15 am #268832

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

The Stabil marine is more for the alcohol, where Quickcleen, Seafoam, Techron, and others are more of use as injector cleaner and carbon deposit removal and prevention. Just my opinion but I would guess you either already had water in your tanks or you got some when you filled up, or you have a clogged fuel line or filter. Remember that Ethanol will pull the gunk from out of fuel lines and tanks and sometimes break down old fuel lines and even though on the outside they look fine, the inner lliner can break down and actually act like a check valve preventing good fuel flow. I just had to change the line from the tank selector to the filter a while back on the water because it had come apart inside and would not let the engine run above idle, so when I got home I changed them all out.

November 3, 2009 at 3:19 am #268833

Bass Cat Boats
Keymaster

We know Stabil is good when you use it in fresh gas regularly. Though we prefer Sea Foam for older fuel supplies and you will have to run it some once it is mixed with fuel. The start it up and burn it till it hits the carbs is not good and we have seen it lock the fuel systems up. The carbs must have a fresh supply of fuel additive run through them till they clear all that old gunk and varnish out. Which sounds like in your case is possibly the issue and it flushes it into the system locks it up.

November 3, 2009 at 6:30 am #268834

Jesse Herbert
Participant

Thanks for all of the responses! BCB, That definitely makes sense, I wish I would have known that this could happen before I added the Sta-bil to the fuel. So now my next question is, what are the steps involved in unlocking the fuel system on a 2-Stroke Carbed motor like this? Thanks again.
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