Will 4 year old gas run in a generator?

[The motor guy]

I sold my Honda generator to a friend a few years back. It ran great for the hurricane. I think he ran it for a couple days. Anyways, with hurricane beryl, he said it ran for a little while the day before then wouldn't start the next day. You know, now that I think about it they do have that low oil shutdown thing that won't allow it to start. Anyways, do you think it could be his 4 year old gas that won't burn correctly?

 

[#18FAN]

I run Vpracing C9 mine runs just fine on 3 year old fuel other fuels it's a craft shoot maybe maybe not

 

[The motor guy]

I run Vpracing C9 mine runs just fine on 3 year old fuel other fuels it's a craft shoot maybe maybe not

I told him it was probably just the main jet plugged in the carb. I've always had the opinion that old gas is fine as long as it's burned. Now if you take 4 year old gas in something that's going to sit in the garage for a year then all bets are off. So burn the old gas up, then put fresh gas in and that will clean anything the old stuff deposited

 

[fantastic]

I mean even Sta-bil only advertises 12 months of freshness. 4 year old fuel is gonna be sticky LOL Wonder how clean it burns.

 

[SC Maintenance]

E0 or E10?

Was it 4 years in the tank, or was the carb full too? My generator has a valve so you can run the carb dry.

I would take the carb apart and clean it and start with new gas - E0 preferably. Lots of different things may have happened but most likely is a stuck needle valve or plugged jets.

 

[The motor guy]

E

E0 or E10?

Was it 4 years in the tank, or was the carb full too? My generator has a valve so you can run the carb dry.

I would take the carb apart and clean it and start with new gas - E0 preferably. Lots of different things may have happened but most likely is a stuck needle valve or plugged jets.

E10

 

[The motor guy]

E0 or E10?

Was it 4 years in the tank, or was the carb full too? My generator has a valve so you can run the carb dry.

I would take the carb apart and clean it and start with new gas - E0 preferably. Lots of different things may have happened but most likely is a stuck needle valve or plugged jets.

I think he said he poured it out of a gas can he had sitting next to it....for 4 years

 

[The_Eric]

I know no one will believe me but I made a riding mower run that had been sitting for a claimed 7 years. I popped she has cap off and it smelled like ok gas, so I splashed a little semi fresh fuel in (from a 2 year stash of bulk in a farm tank) and with some starting fluid I was able to get it to run. It'll now even start on its own. So I suppose that it depends on how and where it was stored.

 

[cptbarkey]

Carb is probably funked up because of 4 year old gas. Drain it. Remove the carb, take off the fuel bowl, spray liberally everywhere with carb cleaner, reinstall.

 

[SC Maintenance]

I think he said he poured it out of a gas can he had sitting next to it....for 4 years

It is odd that it would run one day on the old gas but not the next, but I agree - the carb is probably gummed up or dirty. The gunk likely settled out when it sat. I would start with the carb.

I assume he checked for spark?

 

[The_Jeff]

The best storage of gas is in a large container with no air.

The newer smog gas cans are better but not great.

A generator with vented gas cap and typical "pancake" shaped tank has lots of air-to-gas interfacing. A generator has smaller carb jets than a car and will be touchier with stale fuel than, say, a Ford Y-block with 4bbl carb in a grain truck.

 

[97prizm]

I sold my Honda generator to a friend a few years back. It ran great for the hurricane. I think he ran it for a couple days. Anyways, with hurricane beryl, he said it ran for a little while the day before then wouldn't start the next day. You know, now that I think about it they do have that low oil shutdown thing that won't allow it to start. Anyways, do you think it could be his 4 year old gas that won't burn correctly?

The old guy near me who repairs push mowers showed me a cool trick. He went and bought welder tip needles to clean out welder heads. He uses those to clean out carb jets. Apparently some carburetors (not sure why) have a really small "starting jet" but not all. If the starting jet is blocked it won't start. If the gas is that old you also likely have a white crust that is corrosion in the float bowl.

 

[The motor guy]

Where is the starting jet?

 

[meep]

Honda builds fabulous OPE engines, and they seem, to me, to be wildly efficient even with a carb. Drawback: they have very precise jets, and everytime an old man spits on the sidewalk in Milwaukee, a Honda carburetor clogs. I’ve had my latest eu2000 apart 6 times to clean the jet, 2 times after installing an in-line filter. And I learned this from an HR lawnmower and found it consistent with another eu2k. If there was a glob of gel floating around in that fuel, it probably found it

 

[nomas]

Before you go down that bad gas rabbit hole , eliminate a few other things . Low oil cutoff , no spark , clogged fuel filter , etc. Those are quick and easy .

 

[The motor guy]

Honda builds fabulous OPE engines, and they seem, to me, to be wildly efficient even with a carb. Drawback: they have very precise jets, and everytime an old man spits on the sidewalk in Milwaukee, a Honda carburetor clogs. I’ve had my latest eu2000 apart 6 times to clean the jet, 2 times after installing an in-line filter. And I learned this from an HR lawnmower and found it consistent with another eu2k. If there was a glob of gel floating around in that fuel, it probably found it

I got a honda gx390 on my pressure washer. That thing runs like 3hrs on a whole tank. Not sure what the tank size is. Maybe 1.5gal? Whatever that standard white colored tank is that they put on all the honda gx engines

 

[wag123]

Unless it is 100LL AVGAS it is a virtual guarantee that 4 year old pump gas will be bad.
If you are lucky you may get away with just having to rebuild the carb and clean the fuel system. If you are unlucky you may have a stuck open (varnished open) intake valve and possibly a bent valve and/or push rod as a result.

 

[4wd]

I bought a dual fuel to not use gasoline …
Happy with that decision …

 

[repairman54]

PRI-G in my 5600k BS Craftsman gen set. 2006 model. Always parked full of treated E0 fuel ready to go. Just sold it as new place has a Generac, it fired right up after sitting 2 yrs. Couldn't get the choke to off fast enough after a 1 second E start spin/fire up. Always shut down by turning off fuel valve.
4 yr old E10 is definitely poor if not bad.
When it comes to standby power an ounce of prevention is worth pounds of cure.

 

[jeepman3071]

4 year old E10 fuel? I've drained 6 month old E10 fuel out of customer mowers that was the same color as Tropicana orange juice. That carburetor will be completely gummed up and need cleaning to run again.