Seafoam

D's snowmobile thread got me to thinking about engines mostly small engines that I don't use during the winter.

For the last few years I have got a bottle or two of seafoam and put it in the gas. before that I didn't put anything in and didn't have any problems, but I figured if it saved a problem later on it would be worth it.

I'm not too sure why I chose Seafoam over Sta-Bil or any other brand, but I do like the Sta-Bil container better because you can kinda measure how much you put in verses just dumping some in.

What do you guys do when you put an engine away for the winter?

Wing master

seafoam is a great product, I use it all the time on all my
small gas motors in gas tank....troy, I keep a 1 oz
"medicine" measuring cup with seafoam can to use as measure
Use sta-bil too cuz my outboard shop said it is good for
alcohol gas to protect the aluminum parts in outboard
engines. Also, treat my trk gas tanks with a full can of
seafoam every so often. Read the label to see what they
claim it can do.

Seafoam is a decent additive. But like most additives it doesn't add much for stored engines. It is just Isopropyl alcohol and a light oil. With engines using ethanol gas, the additional alcohol in the Seafoam doesn't do anything else than the ethanol doesn't naturally do. Thin fogging oil is also good in the engine while running.

If the engine is being stored less than a year, fog the engine, just turn off the gas (or run it out of fuel), drain the carb bowl , and MOST important tape shut (seal) the ail intake on the tank. This is a hole in the gas cap or a separate vent on engines with build in fuel tanks (boats). Fuel tanks 'breath' with temperature changes, constantly bringing in moist air and condensing to put water drops in your tank.

Neither Seafoam nor Sta-bil have been shown to prevent ethanol fuel from breaking down; most ethanol fuels today are somewhat stabilized as it come from the supplier.

If you have old engines with rubber fuel lines, drain the fuel lines or better replace lines with new ethanol safe hose. That old rubber hose actually dissolves with ethanol; it forms a gray 'sludge'.