It’s been about three-and-a-half weeks now since I filled up a couple 5-gallon containers in anticipation of power outages during a winter storm. Since I’m a dumb dumb, I did not add stabilizer at the time, but I do have some Seafoam stabilizer on hand.
I understand fuel degrades over time and running degraded fuel can damage engine parts. Should I pour the fuel into my vehicle or will that gum up my car’s engine? Is it still worth adding stabilizer today so that I can continue to store it in my garage for a rainy day? The only other responsible alternative I can think of is taking it to a hazardous disposal site in my county. It’s octane rating 87, I believe it also has ethanol, in case that makes any difference.
Three-week-old fuel is brand new. I don’t even fill up my car that often.
No issue here.
I’m guessing those tanks have been sealed from when you filled them?
Gas goes bad primarily from absorbing water from the air, oxidation, and evaporation. Since the tanks were kept closed, the gas will last for years.
Gas cans that are used frequently need stabilizer because every time you pour a little to fill a lawnmower, fresh air gets in to replace the volume poured out.
Correct, they’ve been sealed since I filled them three weeks ago. Thanks for explaining a little more around how gas degrades.
What everybody has said here. I’ve got cans that have gas from years ago between the boat, weedeater, lawn mower motor cycle etc. I keep a little shy of 20 gallons on hand and cycle through it first in first out. That run just fine in anything I put it in. The 2 cycle mixed gas is the worst offender as I use so little of it it might take me years to make it through a gallon.
That said three weeks is nothing. The gas I put in the chainsaw two weeks ago had been in the can since the last administration, and it cranked up and ran without fail for hours, the only time it quit was when it ran out.
Yep same here.
Biggest thing to worry about is leaving gas that has ethanol in it, in the tank/carburetor of your small engine machines. It gunks up the carb and wreaks all kinds of havoc.
So I run rec gas only, in those machines, personally. There might be other solutions, but this has been simple and foolproof for me. Hasn’t failed me yet.
If I knew the ethanol gas would be replaced with rec gas in the next few months, I’d run it. But thus far I’ve not taken the risk.
If you are concerned about it, you can mix 5 gallons at a time in your car with the remainder being fresh gas. I.e. if you have a 15 gallon tank, use 10 gallons of new gas with 5 of old.
3 weeks isn’t all that long though, its probably fine as long as you didn’t leave the cap off.
What kind of car is it potentially going in?
Thanks for weighing in. It would be going into a Mazda 3 or a Honda CRV.
If they are non turbo, it should be fine. If they are turbo cars, run premium for the new fuel and use a minimum 3 to 1 ratio of new to old fuel just to be safe.
Really, 3 weeks is fine but I don’t want to lead you astray and cause problems here lol. I’d run it though.
Start worrying about it when it’s last years gas, you’re fine
Nah you’re good
ChrisFix said once (in the first Mustang video at 7:40) that you try old gasoline in your lawnmower. If the lawnmower works, you can probably use it in a car.
I have a car that’s been sitting in my driveway for a year now and it’s really fun when i start to think about stuff like this
Same; I have a busted diesel I need to fix.
Apparently some fucking squirrel or something chewed through the harness holding my O2 sensor on the engine or whatever, so the O2 sensor doesn’t work, so i couldn’t pass an inspection and then I just haven’t had the fucking money to follow through with trying to get it inspected in my new county (which doesn’t require emissions inspections) or anything, knowing the entire time that my car just gets more and more fucked the longer it sits there
Three weeks should be good to go, easily. Back when I had a gas lawnmower I was rarely refilling the big jug, though those little engines are a bit more forgiving. Some hybrids will keep gas in the tank for a year before they force a burn-off.
3 weeks is fine. Add stabilizer now. It will be fine in a vehicle.
I’m certainly no expert but it’s my understanding that it takes gas at minimum three to six months to go bad. Apparently high ethanol gas goes faster. But I think you’re probably fine to use it.
I just ran my snow blower on fuel bought in October… If I don’t use it all, it goes in the truck in March/April. It may have done 89 this season… But I’ve never had issues with 87. Except for 2cycles… Buy the canned/ethanol-free stuff or switch to electric.
It will be fine. If you’re worried about it, dilute it with fresh gasoline.
I once drained gas out of a car that had been sitting a few years. (I was fixing the car) I added it a couple of gallons at a time to my car’s gas tank and never had an issue.
The car is where the stale fuel goes…
Unless it’s a nice car.
Don’t worry, it’s still more than good enough to drink, it takes a lot longer for it to spoil! Enjoy 😊
