Have a 2007 Yamaha VMax 250 that I ran regular gas in for years with Stabil and Ring Free always added.
The last couple of years, I have come accross ethanol-free gas more often and have been using it regularly.
Is it worth the price premium or is properly treated regular gas with ethanol just as good for 2 stroke engines?

Thank you

I don't know if it is worth it or not but I try to run non ethanol as much as possible.

Prob only if you don�t run the boat all the time.

While I believe Ethanol is not great for the motor I think the main thing that it is bad for is the fuel lines and filters (mainly due to fuel line break down). I have a 4 Stroke now and still run Ethanol as much as possible.

Jody

Costco regular unleaded gas is $2.30 or so. Bucees ethanol-free is $3.80. That�s another $600 a year or more just in gas alone for the ethanol-free �upgrade� if it even is an upgrade compared to high quality ethanol gas.

Depends who you ask. I have always run ethanol and zero additives. Never had a problem. So i say not worth it.

I don't think its worth the extra money. I've actually had more problems out of the non ethanol fuel than the ethanol fuel over the last few years. Problem is that the whole fuel system in this country is set up to run ethanol fuel now. Most of the non ethanol fuel is way older than the ethanol fuel. We were having so many issues out of small engine equipment that we started checking the octane in the non ethanol fuel we were getting. Not one time did it ever test over 85. Some of the non ethanol fuel we got would hardly light. We tested this from several distributors and the non ethanol fuel was all well below advertised octane. Low octane fuel causes way more issues than low percentage ethanol fuel ever will. My advise is if you buy non ethanol fuel, buy the highest octane they have and get it from somewhere that runs alot of volume. Personally I think you are way better off just buying the ethanol fuel. Best remedy for fuel issues is to run the boat regularly so old fuel is never an issue.

Not to me at this point. If E15 ever becomes the norm, then definitely.

Thank you for all the input.
Since non-ethanol gas is such a small fraction of the total output, I wondered about the quality of it.
Although I've never had a problem, I think I'll go back to buying the gas with ethanol and stock up on stabilizer.

Not for me... Plus, the engine manufactures have designed these newer engine to operate on ethanol added fuels... Dan

The #1 Rule of a very respected mercury mechanic who is on BASSBOATCENTRAL is to buy the correct octane from a top tier station.

Ethanol-free is $0.15 more at local station. Definitely worth it to me.

FROM MERCURY WEBSITE


"Fuel & Fuel Systems
Question:

Will the use of fuels containing ethanol void my engine warranty?
Answer:

Fuels containing up to 10 percent ethanol are considered acceptable for use in Mercury engines. Fuels containing higher levels of ethanol are not considered acceptable for use, and the use of fuels containing ethanol higher than 10 percent can void the warranty.
Question:"


https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/faq/?category=fuel-and-fuel-systems&category[]=fuel-and-fuel-systems

for some reason the link to mercury wont work in its entirety, copy past that whole line and it takes you right to mercurys answers on this

Save your money on the stabilizers too

Dang, it�s .60� more per gallon here.