10 month old gas

[mailman1]

I just got my boat in the water after 10 months,due to an illness. It is a 2 stroke 140 Suzuki, It started fine but as I increased the throttle, it was a little rough. I had put stabilizer in last fall. Does gas go bad after a period of time?

 

[CATransplant]

Re: 10 month old gas

It sure does, even with stabilizer. Get rid of the old gas and get some fresh stuff in there, and your Suzuki will probably run a lot better.

 

[LubeDude]

Re: 10 month old gas

If fuel wont last 10 months with stablizer, why bother at all!!! if your tanks are not full, you should be able to just add some fresh mid grade and be ok. I never have used stablizer and have had no problems in as much as 8 months or even more.

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: 10 month old gas

Throw the old fuel away and clean the carbs.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: 10 month old gas

Don't know where Dhadley is at, but I will take a guess at what he'd say....."If it's more than 30 days old, it isn't fresh gas". AND...."Don't fill up with fresh gas when you have bad gas in the tank or all you have done is create a full tank of bad gas".<br />I'd suck'er dry, drain the lines, pull the bowl plugs and start over.

 

[pwiseman]

Re: 10 month old gas

nobody asked how big the tank is or if it is full. "a little rough" would not worry me too much and could be just a case where some gas was left in the carb. If it was a full tank and/or a built in tank, I would add some seafoam and try cleaning the carbs with a spray in product. Gas might be ok. That 140 will drink a tank pretty quick. Unless it was running very poorly, I would burn it out and then fill the tank with the amount of gas you will use in 30 days or less.

 

[walleyehed]

Re: 10 month old gas

Burning that tank out "may" (and I have seen this)be enough to cause sufficient detonation to cause piston damage. Can, does, and will happen.<br />You also would be advised to fill the tank to the top...small amounts sour much quicker.

 

[pwiseman]

Re: 10 month old gas

Originally posted by walleyehed:<br /> Burning that tank out "may" (and I have seen this)be enough to cause sufficient detonation to cause piston damage. Can, does, and will happen.<br />You also would be advised to fill the tank to the top...small amounts sour much quicker.

I keep a one gallon can in the garage for mowing the lawn. It lasts me from April to October and I have never had it go bad or cause a problem. Not saying a lawnmower is an outboard, but I am questioning that gas goes bad in 30 days. <br /><br />This is one of those cases of how safe do you play it. Most here take the cautious approach, and this is hard to argue. 10 months is not that long considering he did add stablizer. I would say the chances are pretty low that piston dammage would occur. Why risk it? -- fair question and so is how much risk are you looking at?<br /><br />I agree that if you are going to leave it sit a long time, you are better with a full tank. I only run a 6 gallon tank, and typically burn about 4 gallons on a long day. I fill it before I go home, and I run my boat almost every week. When I had a 17 gallon tank, I never filled it full because the most I used in a day was 8 gallons. I tried to keep it around 1/2 full when it was on the trailer. I filled it full at the end of the year and stablized it. It sat a solid 6 months like that and never went bad. My thinking is fill the tank to prevent corrosion due to condensation. I worry more about crap in the tank than bad gas.<br /><br />Is it fair to say that today's 87 octane fuel is more stable the the old regular leaded fuels of years past? I think it is.

 

[pwiseman]

Re: 10 month old gas

Originally posted by Paul Wiseman:<br />

Originally posted by walleyehed:<br /> Burning that tank out "may" (and I have seen this)be enough to cause sufficient detonation to cause piston damage. Can, does, and will happen.<br />You also would be advised to fill the tank to the top...small amounts sour much quicker.

I keep a one gallon can in the garage for mowing the lawn. It lasts me from April to October and I have never had it go bad or cause a problem. Not saying a lawnmower is an outboard, but I am questioning that gas goes bad in 30 days. <br /><br />This is one of those cases of how safe do you play it. Most here take the cautious approach, and this is hard to argue. 10 months is not that long considering he did add stablizer. I would say the chances are pretty low that piston dammage would occur. Why risk it? -- fair question and so is how much risk are you looking at?<br /><br />I agree that if you are going to leave it sit a long time, you are better with a full tank. That is why I said if it was a full tank, I would not worry much. I only run a 6 gallon tank, and typically burn about 4 gallons on a long day. I fill it before I go home, and I run my boat almost every week. When I had a 17 gallon tank, I never filled it full in the summer because the most I used in a day was 8 gallons. I tried to keep it around 1/2 full when it was on the trailer. I filled it full at the end of the year and stablized it. It sat a solid 6 months like that and never went bad. My thinking is fill the tank to prevent corrosion due to condensation. I worry more about crap in the tank than bad gas.<br /><br />Is it fair to say that today's 87 octane fuel is more stable the the old regular leaded fuels of years past? I think it is.

 

[BillP]

Re: 10 month old gas

1000s of "snowbirds" who only spend a month or two here in Florida every year leave their boats and 99% don't have old gas problems or motor problems from it. They top the tanks off and go home until next year. When back they run the gas out like normal. Most of them don't have a clue that stabil even exists.<br /><br />Could be gas is blended different for southern climes or whatever but the fright about old gas is highly overstated IMHO.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: 10 month old gas

I love nasty gas. its great for business. usualloy just tears up the skirts. the problem with two strokes is as the fuel sits and the lighter hydrocarbons evaporate the hevier solids are left behind. all the fluids that pass the pistons must lubricate as well. I love nasty gas. cause usually its a routine bore and piston job. I cxan make 1K on a V$ overhaul and do 10 or so a year over poor fuel. so I say support your local tech and try burning off the old nasties.

 

[JRJ]

Re: 10 month old gas

I'm sure gas "goes bad", but I'm running year old gas (without any stable) in my weedeater 2/S and my 4-wheeler 4/S. I run the weedeater once a week and the wheeler once a month. Both run fine. Old gas smells really bad.

 

[mailman1]

Re: 10 month old gas

I only have about 10 gallons of gas in it. I'll top it off with 89 octane and clean the carbs. Thanks to all

 

[Mark42]

Re: 10 month old gas

Go to the major gas producers websites (like Exxon, Shell, etc) they talk about gas and old gas and what to do with old gas (they say to mix it with new gas). <br /><br />Go to the folks who make it to find out about it.