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Mechanical Question

Pam

Pam

Come hither, all ye hairy chested, knuckle dragging, crotch scratching, greasy fingered manly men, for I...a girlie, have a question.

My tiller is being balky, so I took it into the shop this morning. I was told I was a bad, bad girl because I used old gas in the tiller. It was gas that I had mixed the oil in with last summer. The guy told me I should never use gas past about 45 days. I asked what was I supposed to do with gas I had that was older then that. The tiller doesn't use much gas, it's just one of the small Mantis tillers, and I rarely go through a whole galleon, but it's the only piece of machinery that I own that I have to mix the oil in the gas by hand. He said to just run any excess gas through my lawn mower.

So, I want to know, won't running gas with oil already mixed in mess up the lawn mower? I know you put oil in the lawn mower, but won't the extra oil in the gas hurt it?
 
45 days? Doesn't sound right. I've let my Datsun sit for 6 years with the same gas in it and when I started it, everything was fine. You might want to replace the fuel filter (if there is one) and either clean or replace the air filter. See how that goes.

If that doesn't work, dump the fuel out, and replace with fresh. I doubt that's the problem though. The two stroke fuel mix sometimes settles and separates after awhile. Also, remove the spark plug and tell me what it looks like (or post a pic of it).
 
If you're mixing oil with it, it must be a two stroke. I'm hoping your 'shop guy' knows you have a 2 stroke mower too or it'll cause problems. Few things could happen 1. Yes check your spark plug for oil deposit (wash in petrol & refit) 2. the fuel & oil separate enough ( pick up tiller & give it a good shake...failing that find something that fits in the cap & give it a good stir before trying to start it) 3. There is a chance that the small hole in your filler cap has allowed the fuel to evaporate over time and leave you too much oil in the mix (that ones just a guess, i've never heard of it) 4. The 'shop guy' sees a bunny & is trying to sell more fuel oil.
 
Clean the plug start it up and run till empty. Shake your "gas can" well and use it. It'll burn out most of the shelac build up and disolsve over time and use. Just next winter empty the fuel back in your can till spring.
 
They also make a "gas stabilizer" in a can that you can add to the fuel to help with storage.
I wouldn't use gas much older that a year, though. It breaks down and turns into a varnish. A good sniff of it ewill tell you if its getting on the bad side.
But, up to a year you should be good.
Sometimes, you do get lucky and have some seriously old gas that still will run fine. Not too often, but it does happen occasionally.
 
it might be easier just to mix your own gas/fuel as you need it. just get a can of gas (I presume it is petrol we are talking about) and a bottle of the oil and mix the amount you need each time. two stroke fuel does go stale though I'm not sure of the shelf life.
 
The tiller is at the shop. While I appreciate the suggestions, I wasn't even going to try and work on it myself. This is the same place I bought it, and where I get my chainsaw chain and clippers and stuff sharpened. It's also where I rented a large, heavy duty tiller when I first was breaking ground on my garden. So, I'm sure they'll figure out what's wrong.

I really wanted to know about the "bad gas" that one can get without pulling Devil Duck's finger. I think, based on your advice, that I won't be running any gas with oil in it through my lawn mower.
 
chilliman64 said:
it might be easier just to mix your own gas/fuel as you need it. just get a can of gas (I presume it is petrol we are talking about) and a bottle of the oil and mix the amount you need each time. two stroke fuel does go stale though I'm not sure of the shelf life.
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The tiller was a gift from my father, and when he bought it, he also bought me a 1 gallon gas can and a six pack of cute little bottles of oil. The cute little oil bottles each hold enough oil to mix with one gallon of gas. So, I've always used one of the cute little bottles and mixed it a gallon at a time. I suppose I could figure out the correct proportions and only mix a little bit at a time, but the little bottles are so cute!
 
Most 2 strokes are usually around 20 to 1/23 to 1 mix ratios gas to oil.

Or, around 6.4 ozs. to 5.8 or 5.9 ozs. of oil to one gallon of gas.
 
pam do you mean these loveable lickable suckable bumps
2hz6zyr.gif
:cheers:
 
Pam said:
And, well, hey, I'd say by these funny bumps on my chest that it looks like I'm a girlie!
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Pam - I think we need pics and let us judge whether they are funny bumps or not. I can understand if you don't want everyone involved in this so it's ok if you just pm me :cheers:
 
chilliman64 said:
Pam - I think we need pics and let us judge whether they are funny bumps or not. I can understand if you don't want everyone involved in this so it's ok if you just pm me :cheers:
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Whilst duly impressed by your willingness to "take one for the team", and grateful for your sensitivity and consideration of my feelings in such a delicate matter, I'm afraid my bumps are semi-private bumps and are currently in an exclusive relationship with a set of flatter, more manly bumps.


I only asked about the tiller here because I didn't want to endure another lecture about Proper Maintenance of Power Tools and Proper Winterization of Gasoline Engines.
 
Pam said:
I only asked about the tiller here because I didn't want to endure another lecture about Proper Maintenance of Power Tools and Proper Winterization of Gasoline Engines.
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So you came and go it here instead ;)
 
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