FE290: Fuel in the oil!

[PIB-My-Ride]

I've logged a little more than 30 hours on this synthetic oil. I checked it yesterday as I was preparing to change it. It was very clean, but the level was slightly over the full mark... I smelled it, and sure enough, I smelled gas.

It was normal last fall. It has only seen about 2 running hours since then, and it ALWAYS runs perfectly. It starts immediately and I've never seen it smoke. I also noticed that the vent tube has come disconnected and was laying in front of the engine. I wondered if that is a clue, but in my panic about the engine, I didn't check to see if it was clogged.

Any theories about how this happened and how I can prevent from happening again?

[nobuckbuild]

it has become a real problem with ethanol gas , whats probably happening is the cart sitting for periods of time the float needle gets gummed up and starts dumping gas into the engine , its not much because the pump is not working when the cart is not running but a little here and there and you get this problem , the only cures that i can think of would be to put one of those little black and red 1/4" fuel line cutoff by the carb and run the cart out of gas before you store it for long periods of time. either that or use the bowl drain on the carb when you store it but that is a pain in the *** , of course your still going to need to clean out the carb and check the float needle. usually in carts that are run more often the gas will just burn or flash off of gas from the oil im thinking that started to happen and the gas fumes might have caught an ignition source and blew the tube off , not nessasarally a fire but a flash that you may not have even noticed .

[nobuckbuild]

almost forgot the most obvious check the fuel pump pulse line to the engine , you could have a pin hole in the pump , thats the most likely due to the ethanol breaking down rubber parts , remember use ethanol free boat gas since you have it all around you.

[PIB-My-Ride]

Makes sense. thanks for the input.

[sassycat]

i feel mine runs better with ethanol free gas myself..

im curious about the synthetic oil opinions?

im old school and never tryed it really..i am a diehard vavolin type guy and love havoline,pennzoil also..i have a new/few gx390 clone and bought some vavoline 10-30 full synthetic for this new engine for after the 3 hr break in..

today i opened it and put a dab on my finger,too me it dont fel as tacky or silky smooth as regular oil..is this just me because im a synthetic newbie?
i want whats best for the engines in all things i have ,i just never could justify if it was really worth it as vavoline is good stuff
and quaker state is for bike chains only
synthetic seems so thin but hey,,if its best im putting it in next time along with some good shiny billet parts so i can spin 5--6000 rpm,s
im stuborn and dont like change,but im trying to fit in this new oil craze