scauffiel

I'm hoping to fire her up this weekend but I'm wondering about the gas that's been sitting in the tank for more than six months. I know that gasoline loses is volatility after a time, but has anyone had problems running old gas? Should I siphon it out and add known-good gasoline? Additives?

Thanks,

Darth Steve

ede

i use a 12 volt eletric pump to pump out old gas or drain gas tanks. you might want to consider doing that. if there isn't much gas in the tank you could also add more gas.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

Dave M

if you've got less than half a tank of gas I'd say add some fuel stabilizer and then top off the tank. It may not run to it's full potential the first tank or two, but you should get it started.


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Dave M
88 GTA

scauffiel

Well of course I'm at 3/4's of a tank - I think I'll try the stabilizer stuff first then pump it out if I have to. Tried for about an hour to start her tonight - nada. Got spark, got fuel (tons of it) and have air but nothing else.

DS

DartByU

If you have spark,fuel and air it should start unless your ignition or valve timing is way off, I once started an old 66 Chevy truck that had been sitting in a barn for at least five years with half a tank of gas,all I did was repair the starter, clean the points and replace some wires that mice had eaten through, and it started on the first turn, but it did run much smoother after I put fresh gas in it.

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92 Camaro RS 5.0 5-Speed(Quasar Blue)
14" Open Air Cleaner
3.08 Posi-trac
Edelbrock TBI Intake
Crane cam
Ported & polished stock heads 3 angle valve job
HyperTech Chip
SLP Headers (Ceramic Coated)
UltraFlo cat-back exhaust

74 Dodge Dart Sport 360 (11.2 1/4 mile)

2000 Dodge 1500 Ram Sport

Grim Reaper

Maybe your fuel pump is bad, fuel pressure regulator not working or your injectors are clogged.

Stuart Moss

Six months is nothing to worry about. While the gas is certainly decaying, I'd be surprised if you had any problems starting/driving it (I'm not talking about the last 0.1/sec at the track...). Of course you can play it safe and top it off.

I've heard that six months approaches the time that the gas starts to go bad and should be replaced, but nothing that would require "drastic" measures like draining it or adding special additives.

Now, if it was six years, that'd be different. I recently just started up a car (Datsun pickup - does that clue you in to the age of this vehicle?) that had the same gas in for 10-11 years, or whatever was left after all that time - varnish, gunk, whatever it's called. In that case, the entire fuel system from tank to carburator should be cleaned, but since that was not an option, I easily got it running pretty well (not at it's peak) with just cleaning the carburator intake line (a small orfice) and flushing the tank out with a gallon of gas or so.

But six months (IMO) is going overboard.

Vader

I store several cars every winter and start on the "old" gas every time.

Fuel volatility protectants (Sta-Bil) should be used BEFORE the vehicle is stored, and won't do much good after the fact. Use a tank of ethanol-blended fuel to clean things up. If you wnat improved octane, keep using the ethanol.

I've got four-year old gas in my '96 that is in storage, and it starts right away, runs well. It had Sta-Bil with the fuel when it was filled.

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Later,
Vader
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"Let the bodies hit the floor!"
Adobe Acrobat Reader

Dyno Don

iTrader: (7)

Just my experience, but I had a motor setting for about 8-mo., when I went to start it it would not hit a lick (TPI) I opened the butterflys and squirted in some gas and it tried to start so I pulled all the injectors and had them cleaned, bingo it started right up. I really was amazed that not one out of the 8 inj. would fire until cleaned.

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Chronologically challenged. But still kicking!
'92 CAMARO RS
305 TBI 5/spd (now TPI)
B4C Alt.
'69 camaro-BB/Lenco,1050 dominators, /Pump Gas/no drugs 8.97-150+/3200lbs.
SoCal Thirdgen F-Bodies

camaro6spd

ok, here is what I am going threw. I bought my 1987 IROC 305 TPI with a seized engine. The guy said it only had a knock and when he tried to bring it home it seized up when he go there, ok that is probably seeing heat continues to build up after the engine has stopped b/c not more water is flowing. Sooooo.....the car was running on it 1/2 take of gas and about 2 weeks later when I obtained itI added Stabilizer. Of so the take is taken car of but what abou gas in the lines and in the injectors, is there a to get it all out of there before "gunk" starts to build up and the fuel goes kind of bad?