WakeWorld (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/index.php)
-   -   shelf life of Old Gas (http://www.wakeworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=797380)

jaws 03-22-2013 8:10 AM

shelf life of Old Gas
So i have 3 full 5 gallon gas cans from the end of the boating season (October). My thought was to use them, but i forgot. Do you think the gas is still good? Can i test it? I do not want to waste it, but i do not want to use it if it will cause harm to any engine.

drnate 03-22-2013 8:20 AM

If you want to chance it, I would at least put some Sta-Bil in it now.

If it were me, I would use it in my lawn mower just to be safe.

CarZin 03-22-2013 8:20 AM

I think if you mix it in with clean gas and you don't have anything to worry about. We fill our tank up before the winter (September) and add Fuel Stabilizer to it, and crank the boat back up in April and its just fine.

cadunkle 03-22-2013 8:39 AM

After 6 months gas is starting to break down pretty good and you may notice slightly harder starting and sluggish throttle response. It will burn though and no reason to waste it. If it's not going into a high performance or high compression engine just mix with fresh gas and run it. If you have a car or truck that's low compression and burns 87 octane, just dump it in there.

Also I've run gas that's two years old with no problems other than poor throttle response and hard starting. Not ideal but it'll burn. I did once have 20 gallons of 12+ year old gas to get rid of. Looked like hell and smelled like varnish. Pour on the ground and would not evaporate, had to hold a torch to it for several seconds to get it to light and it would go out before burning all of it... So really old gas does go bad.

wakedaveup 03-22-2013 9:14 AM

Jason don't do it, it's not worth it. 15 gallons of gas is about $50. Cost of flushing your tank, fuel system, and possibly injectors if the gas is bad, waaaay more than $50. Fuel these days has a lot more ethonal in it and seperates when it sits. If it's bad and even if you mix it, the boat will not run good AT ALL. Then you may be faced with flushing or cleaning out your fuel system. I wouldn't take that chance over $50

wakedaveup 03-22-2013 9:15 AM

If the gas is non ethanol you should be ok. If it's ethanol I personally wouldn't just my opionion. I've seen quite a few boats roll in this year with those problems.

boardman74 03-22-2013 9:23 AM

They claim that with ethanol you get phase separation at the 30-45 day point. We leave gas in the boats and sleds for 6 months in the off seasons. I have never had an issue. We only use non ethanol premium and do stabilize.

Dump one tank in your car every time you fill up.

jaws 03-23-2013 4:39 AM

Thanks everyone. It is premium. I was not going to chance it in the boat. I was going to use it our cars, lawn equipment or the snow blower since they are calling for 7 inches of snow! Never again will I plan my boating season around a large rat they call Phil.

CarZin 03-23-2013 6:02 AM

Some of these answers are funny. If the gas was premium and in sealed tanks there is no issue. I have a Chevy Volt, and the car doesn't force you to start burning gas until the gas gets one year old. Took me almost a year to burn 9 gallons. According to some of you, you would think this gas would have killed the car :). Do you think everyone that has a winter layaway drains their tanks?

rallyart 03-23-2013 10:29 AM

It's pretty easy to test gas. Smell it. If it smells like gas it is good. Closed in a 5 gallon container it has nothing to degrade it. I've actually heard that they can get oil out of the ground and it's probably been in there for 60 million years or so without turning to water. ;)

boardman74 03-23-2013 11:05 AM

Oil doesn't have water introduced into it with the ethanol, now does it?????

If there is ethanol there will be phase separation in 30-45 days. Unless 100's of people with PH D's are liars or just plain stupid. Not something people are making up. If its straight gas then its another story.

CarZin 03-23-2013 11:47 AM

I think the point is that in this case it doesn't really matter.

My car is proof in point. Average age of the gas, which contains ethanol, is at least 6 months. Granted it is in a pressurized system. But if this really were an issue, everyone would be draining their tanks every winter.

petrey10 03-25-2013 7:45 AM

ya i am sure the oil companies would never pay someone with a PHd to tell people their gas is junk after 6 months.......... you read on the internet so it must be true right?

jmanolinsky 03-25-2013 9:11 AM

