Ehanol kills many older engined units carb and seals . You most likely shall have to install a new carb kit complete with needles and seals . The new kits are Ethanol resistant.

ewalk, Not yet! My little trick of reaming out the float seat seems to have worked perfectly. The engine is about 7yrs old with little time on it. The engine drives a tow-behind sprayer and the only downside is that I will have to run it dry every time because there is some leakage.

Besides, it's crazy to leave Ethanol in the system. I cannot believe (actually, I guess I can..) that a few senators from low population states can FORCE the rest of us to not only buy ethanol, they then write these few people a $6Bil subsidy/bonus to make sure they stay fat and happy.

Jim

Well eventually the rubber seat and needle( on some models) will become brittle and break down from the ethanol fuel . Then you can spend , usually under $20.00 for the rebuild kit . I have not yet had to deal with the ethanol issues , have numerous hunting and fishing buddies from Michigan that have brought their trimmers and chainsaws to camp for me to work on . I have witnessed 1st hand the wonders of ethanol fuel from South of the Border lol :) .

Instead of ranting about the inevitable why don't you swap out the seat?

I can only buy 10% ethanol. After yrs of carb rebuilds every spring, I happened on the way to deal with it. Install a fuel shut off and run the carb dry after every use. Add a cap full of MMO to the gas. Since I started doing this ,my carb troubles have all but ceased. To start my IH Cadet 80 this spring, all I did was to open the shutoff, put it on choke and push the starter button. The 3 yr old battery looks to have survived another winter too. Instead of fooling with carb, I mowed the lawn. The gas in the tank is 7 months old. Un-stabilized

I agree 100% Andy if more American Small Engine owners would buy into using a fuel treatment of premium quality there certainly would be a lot less frustrated owners . Understanding the Nature of the Beast simplfies matters lol .

Gentlemen, let us not forget that there
are still a LOT of carb kits on the shelf
that are older and are not ethanol resistant.
So, if you order a kit, you might be getting
the same as what you have, (unless the seller
specifies otherwise).

lbpod: If you use proper fuel treatment than ethanol will not damage any fuel system components . But I agree there are still rebuild kits (OEM) from pre-ethanol fuel that are not resistant to the alcohol attack .

Ewalk, fuel treatment certainly 'helps', but only to a
degree. Many have made the remark; "If I'm paying $4 per
gallon for gas, why can't the oil companies put in the
treatment?" Good question. I was just reading that
the amount of ethanol will increase to 15% in 2012, and
by 2015 it will be 20%. Lord save us all.

20% less efficient also ! They could care less about small engine owners having problems with their product . Storing Gas is not in there best interest . Buy more every 2-3 weeks Dude lol . Sad but True !

Note: Star*tron advertises their Product to maintain ethanol fuel for up to 2 yrs without Phase Separation . Not that I'am about to store a few Gallons to test there Claims lol :)