How bad is 18-month old gas? What should I do?

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Originally Posted By: gfh77665
Originally Posted By: BobandWeave

a) go to the gas station with a jerry can and fill the tank with 5 gals of fresh gas before attempting to start it and drive over and immediately fill it


This.

Add a good PEA cleaner like Techron or Gumout Regane to the 5 gallons. If you can get the car to fire and run, the new, highly concentrated cleaner treated gas will quickly fill the system. Drive around a bit to flush most of the 5 gallons through. You will be OK if you accomplish this.

Then, run another full tank of "Top Teir" gas, with 2X the concentration of the same cleaner.

Good luck and welcome.


^Yup.

Gas doesn't get "Stale", but the additives can gum up over time and turn the gas into a semi solid goo.

You want to add as much fresh gas BEFORE starting to dilute whatever is going on in there and then fill it up and add a quality fuel line cleaner like Red Line and change the fuel filter when you get home, and then again after the first tank or two. You'll also want to change the plugs.

Gas is Ok thru the winter, but anything longer add Sta-Bil.
 
Awesome advice! I'm the original poster and I see that I've come to the right place.

The 18-month old gas in the car is our country's best--Chevron 94, both high in octane and ethanol-free...as well as our most expensive... :-/

Hopefully no ethanol means that the degradation over time that some other posters have seen won't have happened.

I'll do as many suggested: put in 5 gals of fresh 94 octane, plus a bit of Techron and then drive it over to the station for a full fill.

I do have a siphon sitting around somewhere. Is there any advantage at all to siphoning out the old stuff currently in the tank? There won't be much. But because it was in a empty tank, I am worried that the gas absorbed water. Maybe it's a good idea to get it out?

In future what would have been the best strategy to have used in this situation? Full tank (to push all air and water vapour out of the tank) + Stabil? Could that combination have survived well for 18 months?
 
Cool, ethanol free! It's the ethanol that absorbs water so you shouldn't have to worry about that. If the tank is really that empty, I think getting 5 gallons of fresh gas would be a good idea.

You got the right strategy. The best storage method is to fill the tank and add Stabil. I think it's supposed to be good for only 12 months though.
 
Originally Posted By: BobandWeave
In future what would have been the best strategy to have used in this situation? Full tank (to push all air and water vapour out of the tank) + Stabil? Could that combination have survived well for 18 months?


I have stored different vehicles for years, with each one haveing up to a 2.5 year storage interval. I use 2X Stabil, and top off the tank (to avoid condensation), and crank and run them for 20-30 minuits every 60 days. My experiences of the last 15 years have been perfect. BTW, Stabil says use 2X concentration for 2 year storage.
 
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