Quote Originally Posted by FrancoCialone View Post
In most cases higher octane is not required, it’s more expensive and the higher octane causes more carbon build-up. My 26 year old push lawn mower uses 87 octane with 10% ethanol and Startron fuel additive, my 13 year old Optimax uses 87 octane with 10% ethanol and "Don's Cocktail". My 16 year old Honda snowblower uses the same gas as my lawn mower. My 11 year old Highlander uses 87 octane with 10% ethanol (no additives). No fuel related problems so far.
i never knew it caused more carbon buildup, just that it burned slower and I would see a reduction in speed with the boat.

i barely use my boat (8 times in the last 2 years since our daughter was born, it’s actually still winterized at my parents house.. won’t be picking it up until maybe tmrw night. So I just got the non ethanol stuff since it sits for a while and didn’t want to risk phase separation.

the other small engines I might need to fill a 2.5 gal can once every couple months so I didn’t mind too much. Snowblower got some use this year, seemed like it was in use once a week from Christmas to March