[rjlester]

Yes letting them sit is when ethanol is a big problem. I try and start every winterized engine in the yard at a bare minimum once over winter. Usually over Christmas I do this. Just today I went out and started them all for the second, some for the third time since fall. I let them run until full engine temp and shut them down. If there is room in the garage, I will move them back and forth a few feet, keeps gears and transmissions lubed etc.

When I park my snowmobiles for the summer, I also start them half way through the summer and let them run a few minutes. Never have a problem starting up any of them when snow season starts.

Now I do have one classic car with high compression that requires premium. I have had about 6 fill ups of bad premium in the last 10 years. I think it's because nobody really buys premium anymore and the stuff goes stale. I can tell within a few blocks of filling up as the engine wants to stall, lacks power and sputters. Get home, drain the fuel, then I get some premium from another station and it runs fine on the "new" fuel. I then put the crappy fuel in my modern daily driver and the computer just makes simple adjustments and runs fine. Carbs and distributors etc, cannot cope with bad fuel.