Real life issue with old gasoline

[Snagglefoot]

I picked up my neighbours lawnmower from her rec property to service it. She’s a widow and her grown kids come out once in a while to stay. The kids have very little interest or inclination to do yard work so I drop by just to help them get motivated to mow the lawn.

The mower is a 2005 Briggs 6 hp Quantum. It has one of those push button primers but no choke plate. I find those units are pretty susceptible to old gas. There was still gas in the tank and I’m sure no one added any Stabil or equivalent. Sure enough I could not get it to start no matter how many times I primed it. The gas was coming out the proper outlet in the carb but would not ignite. I gave it a shot of starter fluid and it took right off and ran well. I siphoned old the gas out. I’m thinking the gas was two years old and was sitting in the tank since last August. I still had to give it a shot of starter fluid to get it going but once the fresh gas hit the bowl I was able to shut the mower down and start it up again. Also, it started fine when cold. Previous to this I had replaced the air filter and installed a Champion EZ Start sparkplug. Runs well now. I disposed of the remaining old gas and will drop by to remind them to buy new gas, hopefully, non ethanol premium. I may drop by this fall with some Stabil Marine , which I heard good things about. Here are pics of the mower and the old gas in a plastic milk jug. Enjoy.

 

[RoadDukie]

You're a good man Snags!
You always seem to do the right thing...

 

[vw7674]

that's mostly water now. that liquid in the jug. : (

 

[Snagglefoot]

Here is the EZ Start plug I had laying around in my tool chest, and also the old plug.

 

[billt460]

For as little use as it gets, it might be worth it to purchase a quart of Tru-Fuel. That stuff has a shelf life of 2 years, and has zero Ethanol. You could even give that a shot of Sta-Bil, just for assurance over the long haul.

That's what I do with my power washer, (6.5 H.P. Kohler). It only gets run a couple of times a year. But it starts on the first or second pull every time.

 

[Wrenchturner44]

Snags, great job! As it has been stated many times before.....today's fuels last about 30 days before it goes stale.....or phase separation kicks in.

Some people also buy some aviation fuel and mix it with regular fuel to also prolong the life of regular unleaded in any motor that is going to see limited service.

 

[xgmad]

For as little use as it gets, it might be worth it to purchase a quart of Tru-Fuel. That stuff has a shelf life of 2 years, and has zero Ethanol. You could even give that a shot of Sta-Bil, just for assurance over the long haul.

That's what I do with my power washer, (6.5 H.P. Kohler). It only gets run a couple of times a year. But it starts on the first or second pull every time.

tru fuel mixed with stabil or any non ethanol gas lasts a long time, my stihl I bought 2 years ago has 35:1 ethanol free gas with stabil and starts in 2 or 3 pulls but sometimes even one. Has only seen 2 hours of usage.

 

[brianl703]

Snags, great job! As it has been stated many times before.....today's fuels last about 30 days before it goes stale.....or phase separation kicks in.

That must be why my riding mower always starts up in spring with no problem using the gas it had when I last used it in fall...

 

[dlundblad]

I think this may be the same engine my push mower has. It definitely takes the same plug.

Too bad it’s being neglected.

 

[Duffyjr]

That must be why my riding mower always starts up in spring with no problem using the gas it had when I last used it in fall...

My snow blowers sat for about 15 months and they fired right up couple weeks ago. I was getting a little worried the gas was getting old so I sucked out what I could and let them run till they quit. I admit I do use E0 and red sta-bil but I don't think gas goes bad as quick as some think.

I put a little fresh gas in and ran them for a couple minutes so the they would fire right up this fall.

 

[Silver]

So the one tug plug... any actual advantage to that? I see the electrode is smaller.

 

[brianl703]

My snow blowers sat for about 15 months and they fired right up couple weeks ago. I was getting a little worried the gas was getting old so I sucked out what I could and let them run till they quit. I admit I do use E0 and red sta-bil but I don't think gas goes bad as quick as some think.

I can't get E0 unless I make a special trip to a gas station about 20 miles away. So I've been using E10 for the last 5 years with no problems. I do add a bit of TC-W3 (marine 2-stroke oil) to the last tank of the season. But I'm not sure that is actually making any difference and the only reason I do that is because I have a gallon jug of TC-W3 for which I have no other use.

And, very important, I keep my riding mower in the garage. I don't leave it outside to get rained on with the potential of water leaking into the fuel system from that.

 

[danez_yoda]

best performer was non-ethanol gasoline with no fuel treament at all. 19 months.

 

[Snagglefoot]

Just an update. I left town to attend the car show in Sandpoint, Idaho this weekend. As I drove by my neighbours place I noticed some of her kids and their friends arrived. Three car car loads worth. I drove by on the way back after the weekend. The cars were gone. No one cut the lawn. Geez.

 

[AnthemBassMan]

Just an update. I left town to attend the car show in Sandpoint, Idaho this weekend. As I drove by my neighbours place I noticed some of her kids and their friends arrived. Three car car loads worth. I drove by on the way back after the weekend. The cars were gone. No one cut the lawn. Geez.

Beautiful area up there. A friend of ours from high school lives in Coeur d’Alene, and we took a vacation and visited him in 2017. We thought we were coming across a bad accident along the lake, but then I realized the ambulances didn’t have any other markings except for the EMS logo. Looked it up the next morning and saw they were filming part of the movie, Radioflash there.

L8R,
Matt