Use of marine fuel for Argos with the Briggs and Stration air cooled engines

[mightymaxIV]

As everyone knows who owns a newer Argo with the emissions style 16, 18, 23 horse Briggs and Stration air cooled engines there can be some heat related issues and idle issues because the fine turning adjustments have been taken off the engine for the sake of emissions standards.

I have had both heat and idle issues (Sometimes the engine will back fire or run rough when it gets hot)

In any case I filled my Argo 650 HD with marine fuel for the Busco trail ride and never experienced any of the heat related misfires, as a matter of fact I ran the machine all day with the hood on under some pretty bad conditions and never experenced any of the standard heat issues.

The marine fuel is expensive buts seems to stablize everything. If you have a new Argo and have had any of the these problems I recommned you try the marine fuel before you do anything else.

[Rock Doctor]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is in Marine Fuel to make it different. We don't have it where I live, but we have "Farm Gas".....same as regular gas but without the Road Taxes on it. Can run it in ATV's, Boats, Generators, Sleds, ect as long as the machine is NOT driven on roads.

I was having some heat related issues with my 27hp Kawi this summer. I think it's becouse I might be restricting the exhaust a bit by using the old Muffler off the 20HP Kawi that was in the machine.

RD

[plott hound]

my guess is that marine fuel contains no ethanol.something like shell v-power gas with 91 octane.

[mightymaxIV]

Forgive my ignorance, but what is in Marine Fuel to make it different. We don't have it where I live, but we have "Farm Gas".....same as regular gas but without the Road Taxes on it. Can run it in ATV's, Boats, Generators, Sleds, ect as long as the machine is NOT driven on roads.

I was having some heat related issues with my 27hp Kawi this summer. I think it's becouse I might be restricting the exhaust a bit by using the old Muffler off the 20HP Kawi that was in the machine.

RD

Hey Doc, all the fuel you buy in this area is about 10% alcohol, I don't know all the dynamics but the as i understand it the marine fuel is designed for longer storage and doesn't have the alcohol. Since i can't fine tune the carburator I thought the marine fuel would work better, this is the first ride I have made where i was able to turn off my machine on the trail and start it again without a minor or serious backfire. Exhaust and carburator restrictions in the new machines are a big problem but I don't want to void my warranty so i am trying everything short of exhaust and carb modifications. This seems to have worked and I will run marine fuel for my next few outings and report on the good or bad. For me it seems to have solved an annoying problem.

[Rock Doctor]

Thanks, I will look for some around here to.

RD

[pcmark]

Marine fuel is relatively hard to come by outside large marina communities, typically coastal. Here's a link of one brand that gives an overview: ValvTect - Valvtect Marine Gasoline . My boat is on a lake of around 4,000 boats, and none of our marinas have marine fuel. As recommended by virtually everyone in the marine industry, we all run an enzyme-based fuel treatment that essentially converts standard gas to a marine-type formula -- it's extremely effective and very cost-effective (an $8 bottle treats 48 gallons in small engines, or 128 gallons in larger, sophisticated engines). This brand is available at Wal-Mart: Star Tron Enzyme Fuel Treatment - LIFESTYLE MARINE . I've been using it in my Argo 580 from day one. I can't say how it would run without it, but my 2011 18hp Argo Briggs Vanguard has started, idled, and run wonderfully for the 40 hours I have on it.

[mightymaxIV]

PC Mark-, thanks for the tip and the link. I really appreciate that, this stuff will probably be a lot cheaper than the $3.85 a gallon I have to pay for marine fuel

[mightymaxIV]

I spent the day Big Nasty ATV Park and the conditions were just abusive. The mud was extremely soft and there were several holes where I was in mud up to the top of my tracks. I ran in soft mud for hours and never had my machine backfire or over heat. I filled my tank with another tank of marine fuel and I was very pleased that the Argo performed all day under these extreme conditions with out over heating and without the occasional backfire I have experienced on occasion. The marine fuel seems to be a good solution to the new air cooled, Carbureted, emissions engines and I will continue to use it for my future AATV outings and highly recommend it to anyone with the newer air cooled carbureted engines.

[Noel Woods]

Dan, I had the same idle issues and overheating on my Argo. Once I added the vents to the hood I took it out and ran it hard on the beach in really bad gumbo, it never got hot, and has idled perfectly since then. It also used to have a ticking sound made by the valves, that magically went away as well.
I think Argo made a design flaw by totally enclosing the engine bay, Since I opened mine up I have no heat related issues. I've got some photos in the gallery.

[mightymaxIV]

Dan, I had the same idle issues and overheating on my Argo. Once I added the vents to the hood I took it out and ran it hard on the beach in really bad gumbo, it never got hot, and has idled perfectly since then. It also used to have a ticking sound made by the valves, that magically went away as well.
I think Argo made a design flaw by totally enclosing the engine bay, Since I opened mine up I have no heat related issues. I've got some photos in the gallery.

Thanks for the information noel, I checked out the pictures of your vent system, I am happy to hear it did the job for you. I agree that the Argo enclosed system is not the best in the world and could use some improvement. If I were the manufacturer I would have never released these machines with out fixing these issues.

[1Response]

i was told to use avaiation fuel. WHICH IS EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE.. Any thoughts on this ?

[mightymaxIV]

i was told to use avaiation fuel. WHICH IS EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE.. Any thoughts on this ?

Aviation fuel is higher octane and I am not really sure that is what we need here. I think the marine fuel works because it is more stable and doesn't have the alcohol. I did notice my exhaust blowing a little black smoke once or twice but I didn't have any of the other issues so I am going to stay with marine fuel.

[Stonewall]

Aviation gasoline is 100LL; or 100-octane, Low Lead. Meaning it contains some lead, but there is also no ethanol. My flight instructor uses it in his 4 wheeler that he tows planes in and out of the hangar with, but I have used it and can't tell any noticable difference. (exhaust smells worse...) I don't see any advantage other than its non ethanol and more common than "marine fuel", but at almost $5.00 a gallon, it's not easy on the wallet. I would suggest the non-ethanol that you can get from Shell stations.

[trevorakm1]

back in college i had a buddy fueling planes for the school and he would acquire 5 gallon jugs of it and sell it. i burned about 10 gallons of it in my celica and it ran really well. seemed to burn quicker though. another friend of mine in the aviation maintenance program told me not to run too much of it as it burns hotter and not really made for car engines. everyone also tells me now though that the ethanol in the fuel isn't great for engines also and to run stable in it to prevent the carb lacquering up while sitting in the warmer months. i've also been told that gas has a shelf life per say when considering it's potency. i'm no mechanic so....

[Shawn H]

Ethanol in fuel pulls water into it, so in the winter the add a stabilizer to the fuel blend.
We had same prob with our mowers (we put about 900 hr per year on each mower), after talking to BS tech, heres what we had to do. First change to hotter plug, second was change to mid grad fuel,third change from 30 to 10w30 oil, last we need to check the blots that hold the coil to engine this is where it gets its GND to the outside of coil.
Our Big Foot BS18h, We had to change the fuel line out, it look good from the outside but inside was bad. Which a part of fuel line made its way into the carb.
We also use luces fuel cleaner in all our tanks.
Good luck