Does diesel go off?

[danny0001uk1]

Hi all,

Does diesel ever go off so its unusable in a sealed container?

Thanks

Danny

[Eighteeteewhy]

I'm pretty sure it does, I think it takes longer than petrol though.

See the "zombie invasion" threads.

[R12HCO]

Ive used diesel thats been sat in container with no lid (in doors though) for 8 months and had loads of moths/dandilion feathers floating in the top. Pour it into a funel into another barrel, to get rid of the plants/animals, and then poured it through the funnel/filter again into the car. Put a couple of litres of 'fresh' in from the pump.

You would of never known.

[Getragdogleg]

We have a little emergency generator and the diesel in that is years old, it seems to work every time you pop a battery on it and fire it up.

[CraigyMc]

From a fuel station pump, the diesel mix is varies between summer and winter, so if it was 6 months old it might be wrong for the conditions (eg. summer diesel might get waxy in a very cold winter).

Can't see it causing much of a problem anywhere in Blighty though.

C

[knk]

How long for petrol to go off?

Super unleaded in the tank of a rarely used Griff longer than a year, and I am about to go away for 6 months.

Do you think just topping up with fresh on return will be ok?

[VR6 Turbo]

you can get Diesel bug. happens on boats more. not sure exactly what it is but its some kind of organism that gets in filters and clogs them. normally need a new tank and fuel lines/system to stop it coming back.

VR

[Matt UK]

knk said:

How long for petrol to go off?

Super unleaded in the tank of a rarely used Griff longer than a year, and I am about to go away for 6 months.

Do you think just topping up with fresh on return will be ok?

It will be fine.

Get back, top up with some fresh, hoon the whole tank through, put in a fresh tank, jobs a good 'un.

[bigfatnick]

I dont know if our climate would allow this, but when I was working on a farm in australia. (the tropical bit, in the north) after vehicles hadn't been used for 4 months due to the wet season, they would start running like crap, we pulled the fuel filters to find they were full of an algae/snot. The humidity and constant 20-40degree temperatures probably didn't help. This was a constant battle, i guess once it's in all the tanks (in remote parts, you have it delivered by the truckload, in big overhead tanks.) it'll continue to grow until the tank is fully emptied/cleaned.