I'm in coastal New England. This past winter I used my brand new snowblower for only 40 minutes. It came filled with Toro all season fuel, which is an ethanol-free technical fuel like Trufuel. I'm thinking because the tank is still full, I can store it over the summer/fall with this technical fuel still in it without risk of damage to the engine.

Also, the manual says to change the oil after the first two hours, but again, I only ran the thing for 40 minutes. So I'm thinking I can wait on that, as well.

Am I right on these two assumptions?

Yes on the oil question. As for the gasoline: I don't like to leave gasoline in carburetors through the off season. If the machine has a fuel valve I'll turn that off and run the carb dry. Otherwise I pump the gas out into a can and run the carb dry.

Put in Stabil. Mix well. Run a bit. Flip fuel shut off and let it run until it dies

What ensigmatic said.

Any engine with a carb big enough to have a float bowl (which your snowblower does) should have the carb run dry.

I've had excellent luck leaving mixed 2 stroke gas in smaller engines like weed eaters and chain saws. The synthetic 2 stroke oil I use seems to preserve the gas, and the carbs are "on demand" type with their own pump/diaphram so they don't store fuel.

At least, that's my theory.

To reiterate, the snowblower isn't filled with gas pump gasoline, but with Toro All Season ethanol-free fuel, which comes in one quart cans and is billed as a different formulation than gas pump fuel.

My question is that since this ethanol-free product does not corrode or gum up internal engine parts or the carb, is it ok to leave in the tank through the summer/fall?

my take fwiw. I would change the oil. A new engine will have contaminates in it from break in. Even less than two hours. I would drain the gas out. Then fill it up with a high quality non ethanol canned gas. Like you mentioned. Run the engine a few minutes. Then store the machine and call it good. Maybe start it a couple of times during the summer if you think about it. It will be good to go come next winter. That is what I would do.

I would not trust what Toro provided for gas. I would use something I "knew" was fresh and good to go.

quote:

Originally posted by M'headSig:
To reiterate, the snowblower isn't filled with gas pump gasoline, but with Toro All Season ethanol-free fuel, which comes in one quart cans and is billed as a different formulation as gas pump fuel.

Understood. I read what you wrote the first time . I don't use Ethanol-tainted fuel in any of my small engines, anymore, either. And I add Sta-bil to all my small engine fuel, both 4- and 2-stroke mix.

quote:

Originally posted by M'headSig:
My question is that since this ethanol-free product does not corrode or gum up internal engine parts or the carb, is it ok to leave in the tank through the summer/fall?

First of all: Modern engines aren't susceptible to Ethanol-tainted fuel gumming up the works like older engines were. The problem with long-term storage of Ethanol-tainted fuels is Phase Separation in Ethanol Blended Gasolines. This is true whether left in the tank or kept in a gas can.

All gasolines are subject to degrading over time. Even non-Ethanol-tainted gasolines, and even when stabilizers are used. Pure gas is less likely to give you trouble, but it can still oxidize and gum-up carburetor parts.

I run non-ethynol gas in all of my power products to the tune of 50 gallons a year. Most things, like chain saws, leaf blowers etc don't have a shut off valve for gas. I just leave then over the winter. I've never had a problem with the carburetors gumming up - except for a Toro snowblower. This is mainly because some years it doesn't get used due to no snow or our hibernation to a warmer climate. I always remove the gas and run it dry.

Yesterday I started my ATV, SidexSide, leaf blower without a hitch. I don't run Stabil either. Machines are generally idol between October and now.
Mike

I would never leave a modern carb dry despite what is said above. Non ethanol fuel, leave the tank full, run some storage oil into the motor and put it away. You will be fine. The life of the non ethanol fuels is generally quoted as a year.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
in smaller engines like weed eaters and chain saws.

From that I gather you need a bigger chain saw.

I use the fake fuel in my string trimmer, chain saw and leave blower. I leave it in all year and have never had any issues.

quote:

my take fwiw. I would change the oil. A new engine will have contaminates in it from break in. Even less than two hours. I would drain the gas out. Then fill it up with a high quality non ethanol canned gas. Like you mentioned. Run the engine a few minutes. Then store the machine and call it good. Maybe start it a couple of times during the summer if you think about it. It will be good to go come next winter. That is what I would do.

I would not trust what Toro provided for gas. I would use something I "knew" was fresh and good to go.

^^^^^^^^^^^
This.

If you Google "Toro all season fuel" Toro says it has a two year shelf life after opening. This should mean it will not gum in that time length.

Run it dry. If you ran it for 40 minutes on that original tank - 2 hours of run time should empty it.

Years back I used to run ‘dry’, thing is, never gets every drop out anyway. It’s easier for what’s left to evaporate.

Now days I fill with quality fuel, for most that’s the non-ethanol fuel. I actually use 100LL aviation fuel. With non-ethanol fuel, Stable or similar never hurts.

As to the oil, I’d likely run it 15 minutes, then change into a proper viscosity synthetic oil.

When done I put a squirt of ‘fogging oil’ under the spark plug. Keep mice away during storage.

If running dry, siphon 1st, lots less run time.

The other option is to leave the fuel you have in it, and just run the engine for 10 minutes, every 2 weeks. That is probably the best thing to do with it.

Running it every 2 weeks is totally unnecessary. Running it dry for storage is dumb. Changing the oil is a waste of good oil. Fill the tank. fog it. put it away. I promise you will be fine. IF not I will come get it started for you.