Fish-Hawk.Net

I had read both here and on another forum about using Shell gas for outboards because of the ethanol content being added to gas.

I didn't use too much gas last year in my boat but used Shell gas exclusively.

This year I decided to use Shell gas for my vehicle, 2004 Santa Fe.

I am on about my 12th - 15th tank full and I have really begun to notice better acceleration and overall better responce in my vehicle.

I can't help but think this should also translate into better performance for my boat too.

Anyone else have positive feedback and would recommend Shell gas for their boat? I also add Marine Sta-Bil.

Dave Scott (of AIM Outboard Recyclers) tuned up my old Merc. this
year and he strongly recommended Shell 'V' Premium gas, partly because
it's 'nitrogen enriched' & also the lower amount of ethanol.
(he said ALL gas contains some amt. of ethanol )

He also builds racing marine engines and uses Shell gas in them as well.

Dave built my big Merc too,and he is very adamant about only using top notch 2 stroke oil and a water separator is also a must. as well as the tohatsu or stabil fuel treatment for ethanol.

A few years ago I saw a bulletin against using Shell in Chrysler products, but I think they have since corrected the problem.

While I normally use Sunoco whenever I have a choice, and have always been happy with it, I will use what ever is available when gage says I need to fill up.

I think that Shell's nitrogen-gas might just be some well marketed hype. I will admit, I don't use it as there are no shell stations anywhere near me, if you read up on it, you'll find out that ALL gasoline companies are required to put detergents in your gas to clean engine components. It seems that Shell has just decided to make a big deal over marketing theirs. I do know that as far as emissions go, Shell only a couple years ago was being raked over the coals for having the HIGHEST sulpher emmisions in their gasoline, something they admitted they "needed to work on". I haven't heard lately about sulpher emissions though, so no idea who the biggest polluter is. As for the effectiveness of nitrogen gas, you might check this link....

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-effi ... oline1.htm

Shell 91 v power has no ethanol content . One of the few that don't .Marina gas as a rule will not have it in there fuel either . It's especially bad for marine engines .

TD

I asked my local fuel dealer (Woods in Tweed)where I also buy my gasoline what the percentage of ethanol in his gas was and he said none.

He said it would be coming in the fall but didn't think it would be in the HI Test

The only shell gas that does not have ethanol in it is their premium.

They use benzene to maintain octane in their premium gasoline, I spoke to them this summer and go to thier website and you can see for yourself the additives they use in their gas.

Thier regular and mid grade have ethanol as an octane stabiliser. So do all the other gas companies.

Using high octane gas in an 87 octane motro wil actually give you a drecrase in perfomance as the motor CAN'T utilise the fuel properly. it's got to do with thermodyanmics and an 87 octane engine CAN'T squeeze the fuel hard enough to get the heat up to fully burn of the fuel. Now that is not to say that if the engine is dirty, lots of carbon that the additives won't make it cleaner and run a bit better but you will do just as good or better with good clean FRESH regular.

Gas in an open container can and will go bad in a week. Ask any fuel company. Gone are the days when lead would keep it stable for a year or two. Ethanol is hydroscopic, it retains and attracts moisture and in a marine environment that is not good. You are better off using FRESH regular and adding a stabiliser like starbrite's marine stabiliser made for ethanol fuel. Lots of stabilisers just use ethanol to maintian fue octanel and adding it to an already 10% fuel containing ethanol can put it over the manufacturers spec for that motor.

Not to argue with Mr Scott but using premium is a waste of money in the long run IN AN 87 OCTANE MOTOR and you would be better off using and a proper marine fuel stabiliser

At service school we had this arguement on a yearly basis and the instructors at times just couldn't get it into some of the mechanics heads that in an 87 octane motor to use 87 octane fuel. In order to make premium they have to take out hyrocarbons and replace them with benezene and that decreases the amount of hydrogen in the fuel so you get the same volume of fuel but you also get more benzene and it's the hydrogen molecules that give you power not the benezene. This is straight from the manufacturer ie, mercury or BRP. Not my seat of the pants opinion. It's physics and as long as we have gravity I will believe the physics not the anecdotes.

I have a 200hp engine on my boat and I use only 87 octane fuel but I use an appropriate fuel stabiliser. stabrite- if the fuel is going to sit in the tank longer than a week. My experience for the past 15 years and I also recommend shell as my boat motor runs better and so does my Jeep.

if i use premium gas in my 4stroke the performance suffers noticeably. Nitrogen in gas? thats a croc. nitrogen oxide is just a pollutant that happens to clean your engine. if you tend to troll alot then i would use Seafoam once in a while instead of put more pollutants in our lakes. if you don't troll with your motor then your outboard is running hot enough to burn the carbon out without any additives

I've been using just regular gas at the pumps for my Opti 175 as per recommended by Merc. I've also been adding Merc's quuckCleen carb cleaner evry 2md fill up and things have been running smooth.
when the boat is going to be dormant for more than 2 weeks or put away for the winter, I add a fuel stabilizer ( marine sta-bil or regular sta-bil to the tank.
with all this talk of water seperation from the ethonal, I wonder if I should add the fuel stabilizer regularly throughout the boating season as well?

cheers,
Scott

I add marine sta-bil at every fill up.

Got the bottles cheap at CDN Tire on sale

Sure can't hurt.

J,it is good to add each fill up, bassman,go see Dave Scott,at aim outboards, he will show the insides of what can happen to your motor, when I was in there the other day he was just bolting a 225 opti into the boring lathe, he machines these things daily,you will walk away from there with a complete understanding of what ethanol and water can do to your merc.