recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

[Home Cookin']

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

If you run your old gas in a snow blower or snow mobile--in fact, if you own either of them--then good for you but your advice is invalid south of the Mason Dixon line!

Seriously, from all the posts on the topic, the guys in the cold areas don't have the E10 issue as bad as we do in the south or on the coast.

 

[SWD]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I buy fuel in bulk for my ranching operation. That means sometimes 1500 galls sitting in storage tanks for over a year till I burn it. Never ever had any issues.

 

[dingbat]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

Why don't you cycle between the main and reserve tank, to keep both tanks full of relatively fresh fuel and make sure all systems are functional?

When full, both tanks hold #1200 of fuel. Unless I'm headed offshore or fishing a 2-3 day tournament where access to fuel is limited, it doesn't makes sense from a weight or monetary perspective to carry that much fuel. On a good day, I'll run 2.0 to 2.5 miles per gallon. Fully loaded, I drop into the gallons per mile range.

Preliminary results: Still awaiting to run the Accord out of fuel so I can check the fuel mileage.

20 gallons of undiluted fuel was run thru a 1991 Civic. The car averaged 37.4 mpg over 4 tanks of fresh fuel.

The "old" fuel averaged 34.2 mpg over two tanks, a 10% reduction in available energy.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

When full, both tanks hold #1200 of fuel. Unless I'm headed offshore or fishing a 2-3 day tournament where access to fuel is limited, it doesn't makes sense from a weight or monetary perspective to carry that much fuel. On a good day, I'll run 2.0 to 2.5 miles per gallon. Fully loaded, I drop into the gallons per mile range.
.

I still don't understand why you couldn't run off the reserve tank for a trip, and burn the 40 gallons of reserve fuel before it becomes old and stale?

Swap the intended purpose of the 2 tanks for one trip, so the reserve becomes the main and the main becomes the reserve. After that trip, top off the reserve and you are back to normal for another year.

I had a Chevy pickup in highschool with dual tanks, and I'd flip-flip back and forth between the tanks all the time.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

agreed.... what is "silly" is to carry around 40 gallons of fuel that you never burn until it becomes unusable....

burn it while it's fresh, how many lbs of fuel you can carry is irrelevant as long as you adhere to the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 rule... put 20 gallons in the otherwise empty "main" tank and burn the 40 "reserve" gallons out and back..... you are still safe and you don't let your fuel go bad.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

If you run your old gas in a snow blower or snow mobile--in fact, if you own either of them--then good for you but your advice is invalid south of the Mason Dixon line!

Seriously, from all the posts on the topic, the guys in the cold areas don't have the E10 issue as bad as we do in the south or on the coast.

My snowmobiles are more finicky about gas than anything else I own. Any old gas that still looks, smells and burns like gas gets run through the lawn mower, chainsaw, weed eater, jeeps and pickup.

If you really want to get rid of it - put an ad on craigslist for free old gas. Stuff will be gone in a few hours.

 

[25thmustang]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

One of the boats tanks had some old gas and was full of varnish. We filtered and flushed it all winter and put 60 gallons or so in this season (when the filter was pulling only clean fuel). After less than an hour the motor running off that tank started having issues. The fuel crystallized and gummed it up to the point a valve stuck and popped a rocker/rocker arm. We fixed tht and cleaned the entire motor (heads, intake, carb) and drained the fuel into gas cans. In an effort to get the cans back, we gave the fuel to a fellow member of our boat club. He's put it through his F250 (1999+ truck) and seen no immediate side effects.

This was fresh gas, but mixed with enough crap to cause issues in the boat. Apparently it is ok to put through a truck.

Take my post for what you paid for it and proceed with caution!

 

[AChotrod]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

My snowmobiles are more finicky about gas than anything else I own. Any old gas that still looks, smells and burns like gas gets run through the lawn mower, chainsaw, weed eater, jeeps and pickup.

If you really want to get rid of it - put an ad on craigslist for free old gas. Stuff will be gone in a few hours.

Same here, The sleds dont like it but the Truck doesnt care.

 

[joeseif]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I put some in an old Volvo and had no issues, My friend put some in his GMC and he said it never ran the same. Now I take all my bad gas to a local scrap yard.

 

[Jim Hawkins]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I put some in an old Volvo and had no issues, My friend put some in his GMC and he said it never ran the same. Now I take all my bad gas to a local scrap yard.

Dern, If I lived nearby I'd take it off your hands.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I wouldn't put old fuel in anything that had fuel injection. 40 gallons of fuel is only around $150.

 

[Brian 26]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

If you really want to get rid of it - put an ad on craigslist for free old gas. Stuff will be gone in a few hours.

HA! That is so true, you could put it (or anything) on there for $1 and not get a single call, but put it on there for free and you're phone will explode with people beating a path to your door.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

HA! That is so true, you could put it (or anything) on there for $1 and not get a single call, but put it on there for free and you're phone will explode with people beating a path to your door.

I get the opposite. I had a couch that I put on Craigslist for free. When it was free, not a single call. When it was $50, someone came out and got it the next day. It actually was a pretty nice couch. Done the same with a lot of other things now.

 

[dingbat]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I still don't understand why you couldn't run off the reserve tank for a trip, and burn the 40 gallons of reserve fuel before it becomes old and stale?

Swap the intended purpose of the 2 tanks for one trip, so the reserve becomes the main and the main becomes the reserve. After that trip, top off the reserve and you are back to normal for another year.

I had a Chevy pickup in highschool with dual tanks, and I'd flip-flip back and forth between the tanks all the time.

A little background on the situation. I filled both tanks for a 3 day tournament. Fished 2 days and got blown out the third thus the 40+ gallons in the reserve tank.

Shortly thereafter, like the following week, I get notice that I as being laid off in 2 weeks after almost 35 years of employment. At that point, fuel in the reserve tank in the boat was the least of my concerns. Spending $50 of fuel in the truck to put it in the water to burn it off wasn't high on the priority list either.

Unemployment, winter and commuting back and forth to Japan for a living for 7 months kept the boat off the water for almost 14 months. Back at work for 2 months and getting the boat back into shape for a tournament in November. Now...... it's time to worry about the 40 gallons of fuel in the reserve tank.

 

[dingbat]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I wouldn't put old fuel in anything that had fuel injection. 40 gallons of fuel is only around $150.

got a spare $150 I could have? :lol:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I think his point is that if your car sticks a valve and tags a piston it could cost WAY more... happened to me once after running less than an hour on stale gas...... lesson learned

 

[bruceb58]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

got a spare $150 I could have? :lol:

Why, did you just ruin the fuel system in your car running that old gas in it? :laugh:

 

[500dollar744ti]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I was hoping someone had actually burned 1.5 year old fuel and would share their experience.

Sure, I've done it but not in a boat. My 1987 Jeep sat in the driveway for 2 years. I finally got around to repairing it and once it was running, I used the rest of the 2 year old gas without any problem.

 

[Jim Hawkins]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

I would like to offer my services. Anyone in North FL wanting to get rid of a quantity of old gas can contact me.

 

[fishrdan]

Re: recycling 1/5 year old, untreated fuel

A little background on the situation.....

Woof, rough times there... Life happens sometimes, eh?

I was expecting a reply like I was too busy or something.

Now, go out and catch some stripers. (I'm land-locked as they have my fishing waters closed down with the national park closures.)