Don't be afraid of Ethanol fuel blends as I have been using it many years. Here we had 10% Ethanol fuel blend since the before the turn of the century. Yes I hear the horror stories about it. A lot of it is just that, stories.
Some fuels problem are caused by the additives. I had '79 car that was constantly plugging fuel filters when I was using a mid grade fuel but never had problems using the regular or premium blends.
When properly mixed with good quality fuel oil there is no problem using it in 2 cycles. I actually run the 10% Ethanol in everything here. We run 2 cycles at mix ratios at up 50:1 (one US gallon to 2.66 us oz of oil). In my shop I only use Ethanol blend with a Pro Mix synthetic oil that is design for use in anything using from 16:1 to 50:1 when mix as package. It comes package as one package per gallon to make mixing simple.
One thing about Ethanol fuel blends is that it must be stored in tightly sealed containers or it absorb moisture from the air and will separate out as water in the fuel. And as with all fuels will cause problems when in long term storage. It is recommended that any Ethanol blend be used up within 30 days or have stabilizer added.
Another problem is the poor quality fuel and fuel oils sold at the local convenience stores. I have seen the results of this myself so I only use fuel from a trusted supplier. There is nothing like having to drop a fuel tank loaded with fuel because of water pumped or the incorrect fuel into your tank. Once I purchase 5 gallons of fuel for my garden tiller and filled the tank. I went all of 10 feet when the engine died. Water in the new fuel. I acutally had over a quart of in the 5 gallon container. If you ever had a 300 lb plus tiller in a freshly tilled area you would had hard it is to get it out by hand just work on it.
Normally a straight fueled 2 cycle here will have the spark coated with grey residue (actually aluminum). Norm what you is one that is way too lean on fuel/air mixture normally. BTW some once they realized they straight fueled an engine will put in the correct fuel mix and claim they have used the correct mix. Most times you can drop the muffler where you can the exhaust side of the piston and cylinder. If straight gassed it will be quite obvious from the damage done.
Matter of fact I just got leaf blower in yesterday the was straight gassed that had the properly mixed fuel in the tank. Plug greyed and when I dropped muffler there was heavy damage to piston and oil trails on the piston as I cycled the engine showed how the cylinder was scored. The customer is needing to another cheap blower or buy a better unit. Oh the short block is fairly cheap but between the shipping and my labor it would had cost more than 2 new one of the same model.
