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davidindevon
Original Poster
192 posts
103 months
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Hi all,
Basically does anyone know what the life of petrol is please?
It still looks and smells like petrol but I am wondering whether a gallon in the bottom of a tank is going to be usable after nine winter months or best to drain the dregs and start afresh.
Thanks.
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crazyidea
82 posts
11 months
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The petrol will have "gone off" by now but it depends on how much other gunk you have in your tank. The all build up sludge and sometimes it is best to leave it un-disturbed. I have always followed the advice to leave the car at least half full for a period where it will not move for a while and then top it up with the highest octane fuel that I can find (tes co have 100 octaine on some of their forcourts) doing the same a couple more times when the tank gets back to half full. Not sure if this works with a TVR engine but has done me well with MGs and historic Daimlers.
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alex_gray255
3,021 posts
74 months
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I believe two-three months at tops depending on type of petrol.
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TVR500Morgan
624 posts
21 months
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Modern petrol is 2 months tops from experience. Best thing to do is go and fill up a 20 liter fuel can with high octane fuel and it should be ok.
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Lesliehedley
114 posts
129 months
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My TVR has been SORN'ed for the past two years. I start the engine every month or so, but it hasn't moved more than a few feet in that time. The petrol is at least two years old. The tank is almost empty but it starts first time.
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B19LAM
128 posts
24 months
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I can not believe some people on here think petrol goes off in 2 or three months , just goes to show you should never ever listen to the drible peddeled on places like this.
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smartypants
17,367 posts
38 months
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B19LAM said: I can not believe some people on here think petrol goes off in 2 or three months , just goes to show you should never ever listen to the drible peddeled on places like this. What a useful post. Can you actually answer the question then?
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hurststeve
100 posts
68 months
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Petrol certainly does go off, but some engines are more sensitive to it than others. It wouldn't surprise me if most car engines would start and run fine on 9 month old petrol or even older. But a small two-stroke (such as my chainsaw) will not - will definitely not - start on three month old petrol.
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RFC1
334 posts
66 months
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hurststeve said: Petrol certainly does go off, but some engines are more sensitive to it than others. It wouldn't surprise me if most car engines would start and run fine on 9 month old petrol or even older. But a small two-stroke (such as my chainsaw) will not - will definitely not - start on three month old petrol. Thats because its a 2 stroke, and after a while the petrol in the carb evaporates and leaves the oil behind which basically clogs the carb up. Not the same as just "old" petrol. My taimar starts and drives on 3 year old petrol.............
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LordGrover
18,635 posts
81 months
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Doesn't it lose 1 RON a month or two or something? If you start out with 99 RON tesco's finest in about 6-12 months it'll be down to 'regular' 95 RON.
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alex_gray255
3,021 posts
74 months
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That helps. The 2-3 month figure was based on experiences of both neighbors who are avid bikers. Their petrol goes off after 2-3 months. I do know there are additives you can get to keep petrol good for upto 2 years, but def not my area of expertise. 
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hman
4,810 posts
63 months
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it certainly loses its poke after a few months
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Geoff Ashcroft
215 posts
75 months
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smartypants said: What a useful post. Can you actually answer the question then? +1 
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Gazzab
15,115 posts
151 months
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Dave_M
5,075 posts
93 months
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Clearly it does not go off to an appreciable extent in a short period such as 3-6 months as there are many vehicles which are seldom used and these would have issues. It will degrade but not so much to impact us over such a small period 
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SharkyTVR
130 posts
80 months
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smartypants said: B19LAM said: I can not believe some people on here think petrol goes off in 2 or three months , just goes to show you should never ever listen to the drible peddeled on places like this. What a useful post. Can you actually answer the question then? +2 
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sjwb
428 posts
77 months
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I had this very conversation with a major gasoline refiner in relation to fuel left in portable fire pumps. The answer was, simply keep the tank FULL because the major cause of degradation is water. Gasoline is hygroscopic; reduce the exposure to air to prolong usefulness. The recommended term before discarding the fuel? Two to three years.
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DonkeyApple
12,019 posts
38 months
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sjwb said: I had this very conversation with a major gasoline refiner in relation to fuel left in portable fire pumps. The answer was, simply keep the tank FULL because the major cause of degradation is water. Gasoline is hygroscopic; reduce the exposure to air to prolong usefulness. The recommended term before discarding the fuel? Two to three years. The ethanol content is, not the gasoline element. Oxidisation is the real issue with stale fuel but this takes a long old time to actually be a problem. Keeping the tank full is the best way to slow oxidisation. Barn finds in the past have been fired up on fuel that is decades old.
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B19LAM
128 posts
24 months
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by stored right i mean in a container with a good lid, i have just worked on a car that was stood for 8 years and it started and ran fine on the fuel in it .
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LordGrover
18,635 posts
81 months
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B19LAM said: well over 2 years even longer if its stored right, bizzar that people just drop daft numbers like 2/3 months with no real idea what there taliking about, waht if the lad had taken that as being the correct answer, he would have wasted his time and money pissing around changing his fuel what a bunch of d--ks Out of order.  Make your point politely with good grace.
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