Lucas ethanol gas conditioner

islandhopper00

islandhopper00

Active Member
Jan 4, 2007
2,670
Lake Norman (Denver) NC
Boat Info
240 Sundancer
Engines
5.0L 260hp, BIII outdrive
I'm about to add this to my gas tank and run it through. Is the Lucas brand good for the boat? I know it works well for my truck...

I know everyone is going to say startron, but, I use Lucas products on my vehicles, and was just wondering. I don't usually add any type of gas treatments at all, and never had any ill effects, that I know of. I'm about to go on an extended trip and will probably run thru a full tank of gas in a couple of days, so I feel it will be a good time to run this thru the motor.......maybe?

Any feedback, one way or the other?
 
What is it suppost to do?
I have never added any treatments to gas except stabilizers for winter lay up. I stopped doing that 3 years ago and so far I have not seen any difference.
I have not noticed any difference between ethanol gas and non ethanol gas in the boat so far.
 
Truthfully, me neither. Except maybe mileage. I guess clean the fuel system, clean the injectors??? That's what it says on the bottle.
I don't know what has jumped into my head, maybe I did some reading the other day. I have it at the house (I do use it in my truck) and was just wondering, if I did it, is it necessary, and/or would it hurt or help?
 
I don't have a lot of current experience with gasoline engines, but I'll share with you what the mechanics at our marina have found. This is a big marina with roughly 600 boats in dry stack storage and another 25 gasoline boats in the water. There are 9 full time mechanics, all factory trained by Merc, Yamaha and Honda. The marina doesn't sell ethanol blends, but other fuel outlets in the area do. The mechanics who work on the gas boats all say that they notice significantly fewer fuel related problems when the boat owner uses the Mercruiser fuel stabilizer/additive. They don't have a dog in the additive fight either......they sell Valvetect fuels, Startron, Stabil and Mercruiser additives. For what its worth..........
 
I won't speak to whether one product is better than the other because I don't have enough info to back that up. We have all three brands at the store that Frank mentioned, but Startron is, by far, the big seller for us - so there's not enough product being used (of the other brands) from our store to offer a comparison. But, Lucas Oil is a good company. If their product is designed to prevent phase separation, I don't see any problems in using it.

Keep in mind that this isn't about "I haven't had a problem, so I don't need to use it". This is about preventative maintenance... in other words: "I don't want a problem, so I will use the product". This isn't a mystery science - ethanol DOES cause problems in fuel systems, but there's a number of variables at play that may explain why some people do or do not have problems, yet (off the top of my head... environment, existing fuel condition, existing tank/lines condition, how quickly the fuel is used, to name a few). This stuff is pennies per gallon (in the case of Startron, 1oz treats 16 gallons). I'll take that any day of the week over the possibility of having my tank, lines, injectors cleaned/replaced - let alone possible engine damage.
 
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E-10 gas has a storage life of 90 days. You may have seen this in my post recently but if you didn't: I have a friend in the gas blending and wholesale business, he says 87 octane E-10 is made of 84 octane gasoline and high octane ethanol to get to the 87 octane final blend. The 93 octane is made the same way starting with 90 octane gas and so on. My carbed 7.4 runs and starts WAY better on 91 octane gas over the 93 octane E-10.

This means that a significant portion of your octane is literally rotting in your tank if you use E-10 and do not consume it in 90 days. (Quality straight gas has a stable life of 1 year.) I run E-10 in my truck all the time with no issues and no additive for over 100k but fill it once a week, it always has fresh gas. Most boaters do not fill their boat every week or so year-round. Some try to stretch a tank or two over the entire season, so what do you do if E-10 is the only gas available? Treat it.

So the next issue is with what? I use the Startron, it was suggested to me at purchase and in 2 seasons on a 13 year old boat I have had NO fuel issues and I have had to run some E-10. I have spent $75 on a couple of seasons worth and feel it is good insurance. As for your original question, Lucas Oil is a reputable company. I know several people that use their products including the "Safeguard Ethanol Fuel Conditioner with Stabilizers" for their snowmobiles etc. but no one in their boats.

MM
 
Thank you Frank, Dennis and Mike. You all make very strong points.

Dennis, you hit the nail on the head with the preventative maintenance issue. I work in the Nuclear Power industry, and most of what I do is preventative maintenance. I seem to have always used enough gas in the boat, to never have stale gas aboard. But as you said, just because I've never had a problem, doesn't mean I don't have a problem, waiting to show it's ugly head. So, I wanted to subscribe to the notion of fixing it before it breaks.

So, what I hear, from good reputable sources, (you guys) is it's a good idea to use conditioner. So, I will. Now to the brand. I use Lucas products in my land based vehicles, I like the performace it gives me. I buy it in bulk.

I try so hard to not be a hard head, and listen to good advise. Like I was given. So I will take it!!!!!
Frank you've always been a straight shooter, and Mike startron is used by most as you recommend. I will do my research and choose either Mercruiser fuel stabilizer/additative or startron. My default will be the Mercruiser stuff as Frank recommends. Sorry Lucas, I'll use you in my vehicles.
 
I use the ValvTech additive and it seems to work well at stabilizing the fuel and emulsifying water in the fuel. Here in the Puget Sound, we have Ethanol and rain. A combination that is always fun to deal with. I would agree that one should always use an additive as it is preventative maintenance.
 
Thanks for the feedback. After being hard headed for to long, I'm getting on the bandwagon. Things change and it's sometimes tough to roll with the changes. That's what getting old does to us!haha
 
STARTRON, I asked my mercruiser master tech what he recommended and it was startron. Best thing is you can get it at Walmart in the boating isle.
 
My concern in using a fuel cleaner what are the chances of a bacteria growth that has occurred, you use this cleaner and now the bacteria is in your fuel filter with other deposits. I am not sure that is a chance I would want to take on a long run. I would prefer to do this at the marina close to home with several filters in the ready mode. Just a thought to toss out there.
 
susanandlance said:
STARTRON, I asked my mercruiser master tech what he recommended and it was startron. Best thing is you can get it at Walmart in the boating isle.
Click to expand...

It is frustrating to those of us in non-coastal areas that the local Wal-Mart does not carry much of the boating stuff. I have seen all that stuff when I am in coastal towns but not inland. We price match West Marine.

MM
 
I visited a mechanic's booth at the Detroit Boat Show and asked him what causes the most trouble with boat engines now. Water injestion? Overheating? Cracked blocks/heads due to poor winterization... NOPE! According to him, it's fuel issues messing with carb's, injectors, fuel lines, etc.

His advice, keep STABIL (the blue/green one) in the fuel at all times. I've just been storing it with Stabil, but will begin to add it with each fill. I asked about Startron or equivilants and he says that he has enough experience to recommend this product only for ethanol fuel.
 
In reality, I'd bet they all work so long as they are for ethanol fuels. Some work different than others but I sure they all do the same basic thing.
After I committed to Startron due to recommedations from.....most everyone I talked to, I looked at my Lucas product again and right on the bottle it has a picture of a boat and has a recommendation also. 6 OR 1/2 dozen, probably the same stuff.
I guess I'll stick with startron, untill it gives me a reason to switch to Lucas! haha
 
Hey Mike, Your probably right, I use startron and haven't had a problem w/the ethanol fuel.........yet, so I'll stick to what works.:grin:
 
I can testify to bad fuel/ethanol on the Pacific side. It is reeking havoc on our marine engines. I will be picking my boat up from the mechanic tomorrow. It was bad enough when I had to pay $5.50 per gallon, but then I had to pay $250.00 to have that crap pumped out and disposed of, not to mention initial diagnostic fee when I first brought it in.

My mechanic's advice is: Unless you are winterizing your boat, additives are a waste of money. Use the higher octane fuel and most importantly, only pump in what you anticipate you will use. He further went on to say that 50% of all his business has been performance related issues, which have been attributed to bad gas/ethanol.

http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/49018-Fuel-Filter-or-Bad-Fuel?p=549051#post549051
 
Well, your mechanic is right, to a point. If you go through your gas quick enough, then additives are not needed. But, in most cases, the gas sits around longer in a boat than it does in a car (boat gas tanks are also more open to the atmosphere than in cars - letting in more moisture). However we can't always count on using up the gas as fast as we want (life happens and we don't always get to go boating).

Personally, I want to have MORE than enough gas to get where I'm going - I don't want to plan my anticipated fuel usage that tightly - that's just tempting the boating gods way too much and will likely run out of fuel at some point. Then, how much is a tow going to cost?

I would venture a guess that if you had been using a good additive, you likely would not have had your problem to start with. A few dollars of preventative measures would saved a whole bundle.
 
WahooUSMA said:
My mechanic's advice is: Unless you are winterizing your boat, additives are a waste of money. Use the higher octane fuel and most importantly, only pump in what you anticipate you will use.
Click to expand...

I'm no expert on my own so I must educate myself in these matters. This advice is just wrong. This mechanic needs some fuel training. Higher octane fuel has absolutly no bearing on the rate at which plant material rots (ethanol is plant material).

MonacoMike said:
E-10 gas has a storage life of 90 days. You may have seen this in my post recently but if you didn't: I have a friend in the gas blending and wholesale business, he says 87 octane E-10 is made of 84 octane gasoline and high octane ethanol to get to the 87 octane final blend. The 93 octane is made the same way starting with 90 octane gas and so on. My carbed 7.4 runs and starts WAY better on 91 octane gas over the 93 octane E-10.

This means that a significant portion of your octane is literally rotting in your tank if you use E-10 and do not consume it in 90 days. (Quality straight gas has a stable life of 1 year.) I run E-10 in my truck all the time with no issues and no additive for over 100k but fill it once a week, it always has fresh gas. Most boaters do not fill their boat every week or so year-round. Some try to stretch a tank or two over the entire season, so what do you do if E-10 is the only gas available? Treat it.

So the next issue is with what? I use the Startron, it was suggested to me at purchase and in 2 seasons on a 13 year old boat I have had NO fuel issues and I have had to run some E-10. I have spent $75 on a couple of seasons worth and feel it is good insurance. As for your original question, Lucas Oil is a reputable company. I know several people that use their products including the "Safeguard Ethanol Fuel Conditioner with Stabilizers" for their snowmobiles etc. but no one in their boats.
Click to expand...

Your best bet is to look for non-ethanol gas to put in and leave that Shell sh!t for your cars that run a tank a week or so.

MM

tdappleman said:
This site provides a listing of gas stations which provide Ethanol free gas. I signed the petition as well - hope it does something before E15 becomes a reality!

http://www.pure-gas.org/
Click to expand...
 
MonacoMike said:
I'm no expert on my own so I must educate myself in these matters. This advice is just wrong. This mechanic needs some fuel training. Higher octane fuel has absolutly no bearing on the rate at which plant material rots (ethanol is plant material).



Your best bet is to look for non-ethanol gas to put in and leave that Shell sh!t for your cars that run a tank a week or so.

MM
Click to expand...

I don't believe for a moment my mechanic made any reference to Octane and the 'rot' rate of ethanol, if he would have, I would be looking for a new mechanic. Being that my motor is 13 years old, he just was saying and I was summarizing that the newer engines have improved shaped combustion chambers, which resist pre-combustion yet at the same time have fairly high compression ratio's, so the newer motors run just fine on the lower octane fuel. The octane rating of gasoline has nothing to do with Ethanol, Octane is a measure of the resistance to detonation in spark-ignition internal combustion engine.

Unfortunately, I live in So. Ca., so our fuel is terrible, worse at the marinas. So yeah, that Shell sh*t you referenced? It's a hell of a lot better than the Marina fuel. It would be nice to have access to non-ethanol fuel, but that 'ain't gonna happen in Cali! Therefore, even though my mechanic advised against additive, I will continue to use one at every fill up (against his advice), just to be safe, just like I add a small bottle of 2 stroke motor oil to my diesel fuel in my 2003 Chevy Duramax - 200k miles on the original injectors and it runs like its brand new!
 
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