Gasoline
 

Greetings-
For a new 2020 Yamaha, do you recommend ethanol-free (100% gas) or regular gas?
Appreciate all your comments.

IMO If EFI won’t make difference. Ethanol-free gas costs lot more IMO not worth it. I would be more concern about oil change schedule. that’s what going to insure the engine will last.

Check your owner's manual. It probably says that fuels containing more than 10% ethanol are not recommended. Since regular gas (E10) has 10% ethanol it is fine. Essentially they are saying not to use E15 (15% ethanol) and E85 (85% ethanol) fuels.

Our Yamaha there is a sticker on the gas tank, "E10", which is the regular gas as gas stations, and grade 97 is also fine, these are not high compression engines.

Pick one and stick to that type of gas. My opinion is regular is just fine.

If your cart is going to be parked for a long period of time , ie snowbirds,
Non-ethanol fuel is better, aka recreation fuel, Rec fuel

I've had my 2008 yamaha since 2011. Always used regular gas, and always used Stabil. Every fill-up. Never had an issue of any kind.

Use regular if your cart will not sit for a month or so. Use ethanol free if it is going to sit. Buy your ethanol free gas somewhere other than Villages Carts unless you want to pay too much.

had a ez go for 12 years...used reg gas for about 7,then found out about other...it seemed to run better on the other,,but had no affect on engine...sold it

We own a 2011 Yamaha and have run premium with no alcohol since we bought it. Runs well and does not smell as much as many we have encountered.

We use Eth Free gas in ours. WaWa pumps 1 & 2 have it, Cheaper than The Villages.

I have a 2014 Yamaha that drinks gas from Wall Mart. No Problems.

it's not a lot more. 10% maybe. my experience with small engines is they run smoother and seem stronger. google ethanol. related problems in small and marine engines

I just picked up my new golf cart from Villages Golf Cart in Brownwood. They told me that although ethanol free gas is preferred, regular unleaded if in a bind or every once and a while will not hurt my 2021 Yamaha.

Cheapest, and nearest supply.
Your talking about lawn mower engines, not Ferraris!

IMO It ran better cause ethanol reduced the BTU’s ( less power and less MPG). Ethanol free gas is better in anything except TAD’s. But you pay more IMO in glorified lawn mower engine that not working in harsh loaded environments won’t make difference.

The energy difference between ethanol free fuel and 10% ethanol fuel is about 3%.

Regular gas with ethanol plus marine stabilities

Golf Cart Fuel
 

As we several items that use fuel other than the golf carts we use all non-ethanol fuel in everything. I also add a stabilizer to the fuel called Star Tron. We have used it for many years and prefer its performance to Sta-Bil. Since we keep a couple of 5 gal cans full, we can fuel what ever needs fuel from home.

We are seasonal from WI, 6/6 mo's in WI, & T.V. I have been using non-eth. gas in all "smaller engines" for years based on a recommendation from a snowmobile servicing pro. He told me even with Sta-bil, the ethanol in reg. gas will evaporate and thus
the Octane decreases substantially. Found out the hard way when I had used Eth. gas in a chain saw and it died because of the Octane decrease. I have since used non-eth. gas for years and have not had any problems. My G.C. in T.V. seems to run better on
non-eth. gas, than on reg. gas. But if you use your G.C. year round in T.V. regular gas should work. I am willing to pay the little extra
for non-eth. gas to avoid problems, since it is not like filling a car's tank. Others may think differently.

For a new Yamaha EFI, how long should you wait to do the first oil change? What is recommended frequency for subsequent oil changes??

Please trade that environment destroyer in and purchased a pollution-free electric vehicle. Please be kind to your fellow Americans, who are suffering raging fires in Ca. , tree farm failures due to pest infestations, crop failures in the Midwest, and increased and stronger hurricanes adversely affecting the Gulf States. Small engine vehicles pollute greatly. Soon Miami and New Orleans will be uninhabitable. Please be kind to YOUR mother - mother nature.

Your owner's manual contains the manufacturer's recommendations on maintenance.

Carts and Clubs recommended the first oil change at 1000 miles.

Subsequently, I have been changing the oil every 50 hours; about 1000 miles also.

I use ethanol free gasoline per recommendation from the The Villages Golf Carts where I purchased my golf cart. I had previously had bad experience with 10% ethanol gasoline in a weed whacker, chain saw and in our motorcycles. Both the weed whacker and chain saw had been stored with gasoline in them treated with Stabil and in both the fuel lines deteriorated and had to be replaced. For the motorcycles, I found that the gas tanks, which were plastic, had swollen. This wouldn't have been an issue except that the tanks needed to be removed to change the air filters. I did not not note any performance issues but I did see an increase in gas mileage in the motorcycle when I used non ethanol gas.

I buy the non ethanol gas from a WaWa near me as it is much cheaper than buying from The Villages Golf Carts. In my area the wawa is accessible by golf cart. I've seen the gas advertised as boat gas or recreational gas.

It is also important to note that the EPA is finalizing a rule to raise the allowable ethanol percentage to 15%. This will invalidate warranties for many engines including golf carts and motorcycles, many of which state no more than 10%. The AMA (american motorcycle association) has been opposed to this change.

The more ethanol (corn) in the gas, the more prone to collecting water in the gas. Bad for engine and starting, particularly if cart sits unused for a week or so. Solution? Add correct amount of Stabil to tank. At Walmart and not expensive at all. E-10 Regular octane is fine.

I had 27,000 on my 2015 when I traded it in. Used regular gas never a problem.

Wel, it’s still less power and less MPG. But, I agree not enough to pay extra price. Some say it costs more than it worth to make ethanol, but it drive up corn prices=and meat products.

It’s been 10 years since we switched from battery to gas with zero problems using regular gas in our golf carts. Our house watch runs them around a few blocks every other week and occasionally takes one golfing during the summer. We have the oil changed about once a year. Less issues than the battery carts IMHO.

AND where does a "pollution-free electric vehicle" obtain its power from ???
AND doesn't a golf-cart use much less energy than a regular vehicle ???
Suggestion for you -- throw away all your pot and roofies and stop living in the 1960's

It only hold 1 quart. For me and my usages that about twice year. I change it when it turns black and dirty regardless of miles, hours, months. Never had any engine fail from oil related problem, gas goes bad when it sets in tank with temperature fluctuation, ethanol quicker.. If you’re golf cart going to set for 4 months or longer it may be concern. I only use ethanol free gas in my 49CC scooter I don’t ride it that much and it sets a lot. Even then I suck gas out and put in Fresh If don’t use up The 1.3 gallons it takes to fill it up every 6 months.

IMO it take more than week or two! If that was case my car would never start?

Where is there Walmart that sells gas around here?

Koolaid sure tastes good don’t it?

:a20:

466a

The 1st year I got regular, then I switched to premium and the cart definately ran better. I play golf 3 times a week at courses all over the Villages and drive the cart to all doctors appointments and many other things. I fill up the tank about once a month, so the difference between filling up with regular or premium is a couple of bucks a month.

When I asked him that same question, I had a golf cart repair guy with over 30 years experience tell me, "Do you think these big golf courses with huge fleets of carts use that expensive 'recreational gas'? Of course not. They use the cheapest gas they can find. And so should you." So since then I've been a regular kind o'guy.

When we bought our 2017 Yamaha, we check both The Villages dealership and external, independent dealerships. Every one we talked to said that while Yamaha designs the engines to work with regular unleaded with 10% ethanol, their mechanics all said that exclusively using non-ethanol ("recreational") gas made for significantly fewer issues and longer engine life. If it was just The Villages dealerships saying that, I might suspect that they were pushing cart owners to the gas stations owned by The Villages. But since the same was claimed by outside dealerships who don't own any gas stations, I thought that maybe they had a point. Other than a couple of times when I was running on fumes and could only get to a station that didn't carry recreational gas, I have always filled mine with recreational gas. While it's more expensive, it also seems to me to be less hassle than filling it with regular but keeping a bottle of additive to throw in. I'm also hoping to keep my cart for a long time, so this feels to me like paying a small premium for hopefully getting a longer life.

Where do you find non ethanol fuel in TV except Villages Carts? In Wisconsin most premium fuels are non ethanol but in TV all the gas stations I have been to the premium also contains ethanol. Most modern small engines are designed to be able to use ethanol fuels but you should definitely not store your golf cart with ethanol fuel in it for long periods or your asking for problems with fuel lines, carburetors, and other things besides the engine.

:) Marathon and Wawa