I use stabilizer to protect the fuel pump and gaskets. I have read that ethanol dries out these components. I am not a trusting soul so I also drain the carbs of all my machines anyway. I also replaced all the fuel lines on my 77 engine with ethanol resistant to make sure. I can't say I'm an expert but since using the additive I have had no carb issues. I put the additive into each portable tank before I fill them. Better safe than sorry? To me it is really an act of faith. I have yet to hear that these additives really do anything. They are cheap enough and I will continue to use them until 60 minutes or a similar channel tells me what I already sort of suspect...Snake oil of the Millennium. I think emptying your carbs and fuel lines is the safest thing to do. I have rebuilt enough small carbs in my day. I'd rather not have to do so again. The additive in your tank can't hurt. It hasn't seemed to affect performance of my machines. For this reason, I will continue to use it.
This isn't an insult, people can do whatever it is that makes them feel they're doing the right thing. You are the exact customer the additive companies love to find, you don't know if it works, can't prove it does or doesn't, but it doesn't cost much, so you use it all the time because it makes you "feel" better. There are no amount facts that will change the habit, you just do it.
If anybody looks into the chemistry behind the claims they'll find that while some of the additives may help in a few ways, the list of possible benefits on the labels are at the very edge of being non truths, sort of like miracle weight loss pills.
I do believe these inventors/chemists/companies, start out to make a good product, but then the bean counters and marketing departments take over, they don?t care if it works or not, they?re just employed to squeeze every penny out the formula and production costs, then increase the perceived need for the product and charge as much as possible for some very simple and low cost ingredients that have limited efficacy.
Again, it?s not that they don'?t help in some ways, it?s that marketing departments have done a very good job of making people think they'?re essential products for the health of an engine.
I look at all the replies to these threads, both sides (always add and never add) report the same results, very few or no issues. This indicates the problem probably isn't as severe as the marketing departments want you to think, but I don?t see an issue with adding something for long term storage, long term storage is not a month or so though.
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