Sounds like your gas was old. The stabilizer helps keep the gas "fresh" for longer but it does not revitalize the stuff. Dump what you have in the blower, get some fresh gas mix in your oil and go. I find it easiest to buy a gallon and use the small pre-sized mix bottles. It's more expensive (for the oil) but for the 1-2 gallons I use a month in season, it is easier than measuring from quart or gallon containers.

You can use put the current mix you have into one of your vehicles. But I make sure that the old mix I put in is less than 5% of the volume in the tank. I have not had problems yet but I have only done it once or twice.

I second Masiman. Putting Stabilizer in 2 months old gas don't make it new again. Your problem is compounded by being 1/3 full. More air in the can will make the gas go bad faster. If you have to keep gas for longer period, at least use a smaller can and keep it full as possible. You want to add Stabil as soon as you buy the gas back.

Drain the gas mix back to the can, bring it to the gas station, pour into your car, then fill your car up to dilute the mix in the car. Then get fresh gas into the can.

I do this all the time to my car.....poor car!!! Sitll alive and kicking though!!!

by eye" a half gallon, could it be you got too much oil or not enough in you mix. your gas must contain alky for it to go bad that quick. I always have a gallon container as suggested above and mix with fresh gas. My gas has no alky in it so it keeps for several months. But, I never keep it longer than 6 months. I add it to the burn pile can.

Doesn't sound like old gas to me but worth changing out. I wonder if there was a little water in either the blower tank or the new mix?

IMO and what I have seen (not my equipment, but others) it you let gasohol set in a tank over winter you are asking for trouble. Varnish, water and rotting of the gas lines most likely will occur. Once you suck that crap up and through the carb. plus what was left it the carb. you most likely will not get it running right or at all.

found this out from the guy next door that leaves his equipment out and yes even in the rain.

Thanks for the replies.

The 2-month old fuel was supreme w/ 10%ethanol, which everyone seems to sell in Northern VA near DC these days. Also, by "1/3 full tank", I was referring to the tank of the blower, meaning there probably was still the good fuel in the line. Anyway, I'll replace the old fuel and see what happens.

On a side note, will stabilized fuel w/ 10% ethanol last til the following spring? And is there anyway to get fuel without that d#@%ed ethanol? (I'm glad to help the environment all I can, except for that mpg-killer.)

I notice some gas like Chevron smell more alcohol and Shell smell less alcohol. Don't know this is a reliable way to judge. I am using Shell, I trust my nose.

Follow the instruction how to put equipment in storage, I won't keep gas in the equipment for a few months even with stabilizer. If you really going to leave gas in. Make sure you put fresh gas with stabilizer. Fill it to the top, prime to make sure as little air in the primmer bulb as possible. The instruction on Sta-Bil said you can add more to keep gas longer. Make sure you get at least mid grade gas. Good luck.

Yes, to answer your question you can get real gas without the detrimental affects of ethanol. Just go to the nearest airport and buy AVGAS 100LL. It's ethanol free and lasts for years due to the way it's refined. The added bonus is the high octane level which benefits 2 cycle equipment.

The chainsaw "afficionados" swear by it. I've just started using it in all my OPE with excellent results. It costs an extra $1 or so per gallon.

if you use stabilizer right went you get the gas and store your gas until spring it will be fine. I do this all the time and we have had the 10% ethanol gas forever. If you run your equipment dry and drain the tank you'll be fine. Make sure you add stabilizer to the gas you just bought and store the gas in the container for the winter you will be fine in the spring. I fill up my my 69 camaro and my 96 Camaro and add stabilizer to the gas at the gas station. They basically sit from Nov through mid April. This last spring I took the carb apart on my 69 camaro to rejet it for the larger cam and new heads I put on and it was as clean as could be. I also leave stabilized gas in my cub cadet, my generator, and my chipper. I use stabilizer and each one has no problems starting.

However, it is really important to run your 2 stroke equipment dry for the winter because the oil in the mix will definitely clog up your carb if it sits for 4 months. Still if your store your stablized 2 stroke mix is the gas container it will be fine for next spring.

Alot of 2 stroke problems are related to clogged carbs. I mostly blame the carbs clog up because of the oil in the mix not the gas itself. Think about it. How thick is the oil before you dump it into the gas container? Now when you don't run your equipment for a few months, the gas will most likely evaporate leaving behind that thick oil.

When I store my equipments, I empty the gas tank, prime the bulb in up right position to empty the bulb as much as possible( usually can be pretty empty). Is that good enough? What else should I do?

I just went to OSH and notice they sell 50:1 and 40:1 mix gas oil in quart size for $4.99. It has no alcohol, shalf life of 2 years, synthetic oil. For weekend warriors like me, I wonder whether it is worth while because I usually dump 1/3 of the gallon of one month old gas into the car every month and have to get new gas. The worst part is the smaller trimmers, I have to empty them out every month. $4.99 and I can save all the trouble might not be that bad!! What do you guys think?

I think this gas thing is getting blown way out of proportion. This summer I used gas in my ryobi trimmer, my stihl BR 550 BP blower and ms250 chainsaw that I bought over a year ago. Every piece of equipment I own ran like a champ. Just put stablizer in your gas when you get and don't worry about it. Every winter I drain the tanks on the 2 strokes, fire them up till they run out of gas. I press the primer a few times and fire it up again. I do this a few times until they don't start. Then I shut the shed door.

I don't think it is over blown. I have had two carb issue already which is relate to old gas. That is about the most common problem for gas equipment. For weekend warriors like me, using up gas is one of the very important issue. I know you can get away with leaving gas in the tank for months and chances it will still start. Just once every so often, they do die and I had two before.

I think that is mainly the reason home owner's stuff never last and LCO stuff last a lot longer. Not that Ryobi, Weedeater stuff are so bad. Just the people that use them don't know how to maintain and take care of them. Cheap Ryobi is known to last 500+hours in the hand of LCOs because they never have problem of keeping gas fresh.

Yungman,

It it gives you piece of mind to switch you gas every week or month go ahead. Its your equipment and your money.

I'm just stating what works for me. I have 14 running engines(the original engine to my 69 camaro is sitting in the corner of my garage awaiting a rebuild), 4 of which are 2 strokes. In the last 8 years, I've had only one problem and that is because I left gas in my trimmer over the winter. I cleaned the carb and no problems ever since. I know cheap $75 remanufactured ryobi trimmer are not supposed to last that long. I don't know maybe I'm lucky, but using stablizer works for me. Good luck with all your equipment.