Advice of Fuel level for storing vehicle

[theguru]

I am looking at putting a car away in my garage for 3-6 months and wondering if I should have the tank full or not? The battery will be on a auto charger.

 

[daemonite]

i keep a full tank + fuel stabilizer

 

[Ugly3]

Full tank of gas with Sta-Bil. Battery on a float charger. That will do the trick.

 

[theguru]

Fuel stabiliser is fairly uncommon here, except at marine equipment places. Even they often don't have it in stock. Maybe our warmer winters don't warrant it.

 

[PulMax]

Well, you'd better do your ****dest to find some

There might be a way to order a bottle of STA-BIL from a place, or some store has to sell it around there somewhere.

That said, I once ran a car completely dry and then just let it sit for about 2.5 years out in the open. Fresh gas and a new battery and it fired right up and ran great. I don't reccomend that you do something like that (this car ended up falling apart around it's motor and transmission...just slamming the trunk produced a downpour of rust from the underside). But if there was absolutely no other option, it might be all right to run it dry, and then run some injector cleaner and a new fuel filter when you fire it up again.

But I WOULDN'T unless you really truly could not get any sort of stabiliser. It really is the best way to go.

 

[michaelc80]

quote:

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Originally posted by theguru:
Fuel stabiliser is fairly uncommon here, except at marine equipment places. Even they often don't have it in stock. Maybe our warmer winters don't warrant it.

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Fuel will go bad no matter what the temperature. It's time, not temperature that degrades it.

 

[cestes]

Everyone's right about the full tank. If the tank is empty, temperature changes will cause humidity in the air to condense out, and you'll end up with a pool of water at the bottom of your tank. Full tank = minimal air in the tank.

It's not the end of the world in a car, but in an airplane that could really ruin your day!!! I was always taught to refuel before parking the plane at the end of the day.