Using old fuel

[mk1matt]

I've just realised that the car I'm breaking has nearly a full tank of fuel in it. I should really have thought about it when taking the car off the road!

It's been sitting since the 23rd July.

I was thinking of draining it and using it to fill up my BMW 330ci, but I've heard that fuel "goes off" when left for a while, and may cause running problems.

Can anyone confirm if this is ok to do? If not, any tips on how to dispose of ~50 litres of petrol? (no, I'm not going to burn it...)

Matt

[james_tigerwoods]

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/557467

[Matt106]

Ive drained fuel out of a vehicle before and used it in the lawn mower, generator etc but not in another car.

Sell it to your clueless neighbour and explain its a really good deal

[MadRob6]

Give it a sniff, you'll soon know if it's off. I found half a tank of fuel in my 944 that had been off the road for 10 years and it smells nothing like petrol, just smells fking awful.

My Dad uses it in his lawnmower after diluting it with fresh fuel. Sort of works.

[Reload]

I've heard that anything over a month old will have started to "go off" as such. It gets denser and you effectively over-fuel your engine. Syphon it out and keep it for 5th November.

[hman]

meh, contrary to what that article says I have used the fuel of a couple of months age in a car which I left in storage and it was fine.

Just bung it in and top it up with some nice 99 ron and you wont notice the difference. The gumming thing wont have taken a proper hold yet and you could use 50L in a day very easily.

[Matt UK]

hman said:

meh, contrary to what that article says I have used the fuel of a couple of months age in a car which I left in storage and it was fine.

Just bung it in and top it up with some nice 99 ron and you wont notice the difference. The gumming thing wont have taken a proper hold yet and you could use 50L in a day very easily.

Agreed. My MX5 didn't move for 4 months and I'd accidently left it with a full tank.

It was fine.

[zx10ben]

Being in the forces, when we all go off on tour which is usually 6 months at a time, noone empties their tanks, yet we all get back, jump in the cars and drive off non the wiser. Never had a drama yet.
Not saying it's the right thing to do, just saying we've been fine.

[hman]

zx10ben said:

Being in the forces, when we all go off on tour which is usually 6 months at a time, noone empties their tanks, yet we all get back, jump in the cars and drive off non the wiser. Never had a drama yet.
Not saying it's the right thing to do, just saying we've been fine.

Good call!, do you get a lot of flat batteries?

[Huntsman]

Reload said:

I've heard that anything over a month old will have started to "go off" as such. It gets denser and you effectively over-fuel your engine. Syphon it out and keep it for 5th November.

I'd be interested to read the science behind that.....

[Pothole]

Here demonstrated one of the worst things about the internet; the dissemination of cod science masquerading as fact to the total exclusion of common sense. (to say nothing of inventing things to worry about because modern life is so easy)

Just stick it in the car and stop worrying. Enjoy your relatively stress-free life!

[Alfa numeric]

My Alfa sat for six months a couple of years ago and ran fine on the half tank that had been left in it, so I wouldn't worry.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Huntsman said:

Reload said:

I've heard that anything over a month old will have started to "go off" as such. It gets denser and you effectively over-fuel your engine. Syphon it out and keep it for 5th November.

I'd be interested to read the science behind that.....

It's absolute rubbish .... and dangerous rubbish at that.

Whatever you do, don't put a match anywhere near petrol on Nov 5 or any other time!

Old fuel is best disposed by mixing with fresher fuel in the tank of your car. You can easily get rid of 2-stroke that way so normal petrol is no problem at all.

[mk1matt]

Thanks for the advice fellas. The BMW is just under half full at the moment, so at least there will be some new(ish) fuel in there to mix with. I'll get it done at the weekend.

[Awaits standard PH-style reply saying that my engine will explode and take out a bus load of orphans, and that if I'm even considering this I shouldn't be allowed on the road ]

Edited by mk1matt on Wednesday 6th October 09:57

[jon-]

50 litres of petrol gone off after 3 months? Have a

Will be fine. Even more fine if you're mixing it with existing fuel.

[Big Rod]

I drained a full tank of fuel out of a car that I broke. Stuck it into some large containers, put them in the corner of my garage and promptly forgot about them.

A good while later, I stumbled across them so defcided to put the fuel in my daily.

It noticeably lacked performance and I got about 2/3 of the mileage out of the tank full.

Didn't break anything though.

[WilliBetz]

If it's still clear and bright, it'll be fine.

Rare and irrelevant issues aside, the main concerns are gum formation and evaporation. Gum formation is dependent on fuel formulation and additive packages, but will be evident on inspection. Evaporation will cause loss of the more volatile components, but isn't worth worrying about in this instance.

[maniac0796]

hman said:

zx10ben said:

Being in the forces, when we all go off on tour which is usually 6 months at a time, noone empties their tanks, yet we all get back, jump in the cars and drive off non the wiser. Never had a drama yet.
Not saying it's the right thing to do, just saying we've been fine.

Good call!, do you get a lot of flat batteries?

Stuck handbrakes aswell.

[jbi]

chuck some octane booster in it if your worried.

Takes quite a long time for it to go properly bad though

Edited by jbi on Wednesday 6th October 10:28

[coley20]

It probably sits around for longer than that before it enters your car

I would just use it