Hello,

I've been experiencing some problems and difficulties with both Sta-Bil (Red & Marine) fuel stabilizer, as well as Star brite Startron fuel stabilizers. On different quads, I seem to be getting the same difficulties and problems with both stabilizers. After I use each product and start a quad up after not being used in a few months, the quad starts up fine. It runs on choke, I really let them idle to warm them up before taking the choke off. I drive them relatively easy to warm up the entire bike, and than as soon as I really start to 'take off' or hit the gas; the engine bogs as if I'm in a super high gear, and the engine turns off.

Now I know there could be a million reasons wrong with the actual bike, but I've used both these products on multiple working quads ranging from Hondas, Yamaha and Suzukis, all the way down to Chinese quads. It's always the same thing. And after it turns off the quad is nearly impossible to start and drive.

I just want to know why this is happening? I always put fresh gas in my quads, and I always use stabilizers to avoid carb issues. I also always run the quads with the fresh fuel and stabilizer for at least 5 minutes on idle to ensure the stabilized gas is making it's way through the carb. I also always keep my bikes on battery tenders so the battery stays charged.

Just curious what can this be from? When my Yamaha Warrior did this, the more I drove it, it did eventually get better. But it has happened on multiple occassions with fresh gas that was stabilized. I now have another quad experiencing the same problem, and it's not running/starting great, quad keeps turning off. I'm gonna take the carb apart and clean it, but I'm wondering if theres something in these stabilizers that makes the quad run bad once warmed up?

A worker at a local powersport dealership told me you can either stabilize the gas or buy race gas (VP). He said the race gas was more expensive, but doesn't go bad or need stabilizers like pump gas, and runs better. He was telling me quads don't run as good with stabilized fuel, vs regular fuel. That's starting to look like the case for me.

Any feedback or insight to my problem would be appreciated. It's becoming annoying, especially since I hate removing the carb and cleaning it.

 

My son and I serviced up his pontoon with a Yamaha 80 four stroke that's been sitting stabilized for the better part of a year down here because of the extreme drought. It cranked up fine on the old fuel and ran good at the lake. Same for my old Honda Nighthawk. I've still got winter gas in it and have been driving it around with no problems. I use marine Stabil in my riding mower,power washer,all the way down to my weed eater and have never had a problem,except when I used the "plain" red Stabil and had to clean the old motorcycle's four carbs. Are your engines modified an any way,higher compression,etc that require 108 race gas/pump gas mix? At the shop we only had to use VP 108 and pump gas on highly modified dirt bikes. What ratio stabilizer do you use? I always double dosed (2 ounces to 5 gallons) instead of the one ounce per 5 gallon ratio. OPT

 

None of the quads are modified, they are all stock. I follow the ratio for the container, but I too usually put a little extra to ensure it's good. I'm not really sure why it's happening, just something I started to notice. I got a new (used) quad about a month ago. It ran fine. I topped the gas off with fresh gas and used the star tron. I started it up today, let it idle for a solid 15 minutes, drove it easy and it was fine. Once I started to rev it a little higher it started bogging bad, and shut off. Now it won't start with or without choke.

As I said before, I'll clean the carb; but I'm just wondering why this problem is occurring and if it's common?

 

ditto on prettymuch everything opt said- I use marine stabil on my boat that sits 6-7 months a year and it runs great with just the old gas.

I don't use stabil in my log splitter and that has gas in it from last summer! actually runs great.

I don't use stabil in my atv's- I'd just run'em out of fuel if they were gonna sit for a few months and not worry about the gas sitting in it.

my lawn tractor sits for 6 -7 months a year with the old gas in it and no treatment- starts right up every year!

are you following the usage instructions? maybe using too much stabil?
if this is an ongoing issue- than I'd say stop using stabil!
sounds like your carbs jets are clogged up to me tho- sounds like the engine is starving.

 

I have used 2 yr old gas in the tank of my boat before, but it was premium non alcohol gas with both Stabil and Seafoam in it, ran fine with no problems. The third year ( its a 31 gallon tank, and I was moving, so boat saw little use) I did not trust that old of fuel, I syphoned it all out, it was yellow looking and smelled funny for gas...glad I emptied the tank. Put in fresh premium and some seafoam and still running good.

 

I use sea foam in everything and never had a problem in years. The 1 time I had a problem is when my quad sat for 6 months with fuel that was not treated.
A few years ago I bought a quad that had sat for 3 yrs and the carb was a mess. Two local shops could not get it running right because of carb issues. At that point I said screw it, dumped a lot of sea foam in the tank and ran it. To my suprise it did the trick and she ran proper after that.
If your machines do not have major motor work done there is no need for race gas. The only real benefit you will see from using race gas is your machines will run cooler and might have a little more get up and go. If you decide to use race gas try to get it at a small local airport first. Sometimes they will sell you 100+ octane plane fuel. But IMHO its not worth it for a stock motor.