I was told by my Simplicity dealer to use the blue Stabil to better protect against engine damage caused by ethanol. I called Stabil's customer service and was told that there was no advantage to using blue over pink in lawn equipment. He did not say it couldn't be used. Also, although it costs about twice the price, you only use about half as much. Since it seems that it comes out to about the same cost, why not use the blue?

Plus, pink is for girls, and blue is for guys. It's traditional ya know;o)

Heheh, Pink is for girls.......but that isn't why I use the Blue Stabil. I recommend it to all my customers, If it is all the double, quadruple protection, that they proclaim then I say its what you need to be using. Since I began using it, I haven't had any trouble with carbs on any of my personal arsenal of small engine equipment. I believe it is the best insurance I have to protect against ethanol's harmful effects on small engines, especially 2 cycle. And I don't mind possibly losing repeat business from my customers. Besides they don't do much routine maintenance so they end up at my door for other preventable problems that they messed up.

I wonder if the blue has the flaking issues some here have had with the red? Maybe I will have to make a concoction of 1 part red, 1 part blue, 1 part MMO, and 1 part SeaFoam. That ought to get all the demons out of the engine : )

Now that I know Pink is for girls and blue is for boys, how do I determine the gender of my power equipment, without someone reporting me for sexual harassment? Charles Ranheim

***"how do I determine the gender of my power equipment"***
Look underneath. If your machine features two or more nuts that appear to be loosely connected to the prime mover, that indicates a male of the species. The visual inspection is most accurate as auditory clues (such as whining) can be heard from both genders, depending on certain other factors.

If the ethanol amount in gas is raised to 15%, it may make the blue Stabil more of a requirement than a choice.

Hopefully blue is all it is cracked up to be. I started using it too after Saxman and others began singing it's praises. I found personally that B&S Freshstart worked better than the red Stabil on my own stuff. My year old Stihl fuel would up and run the saw and brush cutter. The Onan generator had issues (though minor) after sitting w/ red treated fuel at 6 months. And that gets run every month or maybe two if I forget. I've read and also believe the red stuff may keep the fuel from "varnishing" for a long time, but that it doesn't maintain the runability of the fuel for more than 90- maybe 120 days. Maybe it's the gas we get here, I dunno.
On the flaking issue. I've seen the flakes in the red stuff after it was sitting a while after being opened. Maybe age is a factor or not sealing, I don't know. On occasion I find it in carb bowls. I picked up some JD stabilizer last fall that I had noticed the flakes in it a month after I opened it- so it is likely an age thing an it had been on the shelf for a while.

In the last two years, I have had to rebuild the carbureters on two of my 2 cycle ECHO machines because the diaphragms lost their flexibility, and would not pump the fuel properly. I have been using the ECHO 2 cycle power blend oil and the female (pink) Stabil in 93 Octane gas. I have wondered what caused this problem. Was it the ethanol, or the stabil? The ECHO Power blend oil is supposed to contain fuel stabilizer, but I still add the regular Stabil. There are times when I wonder if additives like Stabil or SeaFoam will attack these flexible carbureter parts. In my case, I had not used SeaFoam in the failing carbureters, only the female Stabil. I have used the pink Stabil for many years in all my power equipment, and never had a carbureter gum up. If the Stabil had anything to do with the diaphragm failures, the male (Blue) Stabil might cause even more problems. Charles Ranheim

I understand that "blue" was developed to address the issues with large quantities, 50-100 gallons, of E-10 being left in boats for long periods of time. The claim was that the ethanol was seperating from the gasoline and falling to the bottom of the tank. This caused at least three problems, ethanol is the octane booster these days and E-100 won't fire in an engine timed for gasoline plus ethanol loves to eat aluminum and rubber. At least this is the story the "big kids" told me.

We ran a dragster on ethanol but primed it with gasoline and then ran it dry and drained the fuel tank at the end of the weekend to clear the fuel system of standing alcohol.

I have found that my 32:1 mix doesnt need Stabil. Mix going into its 2nd yr will still run. I also add MMO to each tankful. This is using brand X oil.
I am on the last 8 oz of a qt of pink Stabil that is 4 yrs old. I have seen the sediment in gas tanks of stored OPE. I just drain the tanks and add fresh gas. The engines start, because the carbs haven't varnished

The ethanol additive was always a bad idea from the start - with no benefit other than added expense and damage motors...long term effects are building up across th board....