Bad Fuel

I tried to start my D14 up tonight after it sat in my garage all winter.  Before 'putting it to bed' last fall, I ran the carb dry and treated the remaining fuel in the tank with a fuel stabilizer.  Figured that would be enough.  Boy was I wrong.  I cranked and cranked and it only barely caught one time.  I drained some fuel from the sediment bowl and it was nasty looking.  Thank you ethanol!  Learned my lesson.  From now on, the tank gets drained completely before storing.

Did you use the green Sta-bil for ethenol or the regular red stuff?  I'm like you, drain everything and forget the elixers.

I use the same technique that Gerald suggests... and I throttle the engine up, when it starts to falter, I pull out the choke so it draws out as much as it'll pull... then I drain the carb bowl.

Draining the tank isn't necessarily a good idea- it invites condensation, which corrodes the inside of the tank.  When I put things in long-term storage, I fill 'em to the top with winter formulation fuel, and when it comes time to start 'em back up, I drain the tank, and refill it with fresh fuel.  The old stuff will usually 'layer out', with water at the bottom, then a mixture of water and ethanol (ethanol is hygroscopic), then ethanol, then gasoline.  I drain off the water and ethanol, and put it into tiki-torches. The remainder will usually burn fine in my old generator, but it goes through a good filter first, and I mix in fresh fuel to sweeten it up.

Most towns have a pump or two that have ethanol free supreme...it'll cost ya, but that's what stays in anything gas powered that ain't going to be run for a few months around here.

Well I shouldn't say everything. The lawnmower doesn't get it's fuel treated until the last time I use it in the fall.