How old is old gas?

[ultrarunner]

Has anyone noticed the owner's manual saying not to use ethanol gas in any formulation for 2 cycle motors. I was just perusing my new weed eater manual for the correct size string and noticed that it said not to use any ethanol blend gasoline in the 2 cycle engine. Luckily for me, there are several stations that sell pure gasoline close by. They seem to be getting more and more popular as on a recent trip, I saw a Shell station in Wyoming also advertising "pure gasoline." My Poulan manual said that the oil doesnt mix right in alcohol mixture gasoline. After several carb rebuilds, I now run nothing but the pure gasoline in all my small engines and use Stabil also.

My dealer said the same thing... the only alternative here is to buy premixed quarts at $5 each...

 

[mjw357]

Sounds like you don't use it very often, why keep any gas in it at all? Draining and refilling every few months sounds like a lot of messing around for nothing. If you don't expect to use it any time soon, just run it dry and store it.

 

[me0418840987]

My 84 GMC C60 sits for months at a time during winter, never had a single problem with old gas, ethanol blend 10%. None of the other vehicles sit long enough to have any problems at all. Both of the salvage yards I go to take the fuel from junk cars and put it in a tank. I know that the owner of one runs it in the 2006 Chevy pickup he drives every day. He has two filters in the system, and just makes sure that it is coming out of the nozzle clear and not orange. The other blends it with the drain oil for heating the shop.

 

[rkeith]

I'm not sure if this is a state or federal thing but to answer the question about old gas...
Gas can't be bought from the distributor if it's older that 90 days. To better explain this, the mom-n-pop gas station that sells cheap simply buys the gas that is 30-90 days old; thus, this is cheaper than the "new gas". Gas has a "sell by" date on it just like food products do! May people may not know this but the "new gas" gives you better gas mileage because it hasn't began to breakdown yet at the molecular level.

 

[whiskywizard]

The gas "canary" for me is a pair of Honda 1000 inverter generators. They seem to need the freshest of fuel.

I often add stabilizer to my 5 gal jugs, but not always. Even after a year, the unstabilized fuel is fine for car, truck, sleds, chainsaws, trimmer, ATVs, etc, etc. But not those Hondas. With fresh fuel, they start first pull. As fuel passes about 3 mo, I can expect 5-6 pulls. if the fuel in them goes by approx 6 mo, they simply won't start. Dump it out, drain the carb, put in fresh fuel, 2 pulls.

 

[whiskywizard]

and just makes sure that it is coming out of the nozzle clear and not orange.

Yeah - so true. When fuel does go off, it's very easy to see and smell. There's no mistaking it.

 

[k0ua]

The gas "canary" for me is a pair of Honda 1000 inverter generators. They seem to need the freshest of fuel.

I often add stabilizer to my 5 gal jugs, but not always. Even after a year, the unstabilized fuel is fine for car, truck, sleds, chainsaws, trimmer, ATVs, etc, etc. But not those Hondas. With fresh fuel, they start first pull. As fuel passes about 3 mo, I can expect 5-6 pulls. if the fuel in them goes by approx 6 mo, they simply won't start. Dump it out, drain the carb, put in fresh fuel, 2 pulls.

Thats interesting, I have a Troy-Bilt 4 cycle weedeater, that is my "canary" It refused to run on old gas, (will start but wont accelerate) yet that same old gas will run my JD lawn tractor just fine.

James K0UA

 

[The Haymaker]

I'm not sure if this is a state or federal thing but to answer the question about old gas...
Gas can't be bought from the distributor if it's older that 90 days. To better explain this, the mom-n-pop gas station that sells cheap simply buys the gas that is 30-90 days old; thus, this is cheaper than the "new gas". Gas has a "sell by" date on it just like food products do! May people may not know this but the "new gas" gives you better gas mileage because it hasn't began to breakdown yet at the molecular level.

Logistically, that'd be a hard thing to do. Here in Maine, majority of the gas comes from two different bulk sites. Doesn't matter if you are buying Irving, Sunoco, whatever, IT ALL COMES FROM THE SAME SHIP. So, it'd be impossible to buy "expired" gas.

 

[whiskywizard]

I'm not sure if this is a state or federal thing but to answer the question about old gas...
Gas can't be bought from the distributor if it's older that 90 days. To better explain this, the mom-n-pop gas station that sells cheap simply buys the gas that is 30-90 days old; thus, this is cheaper than the "new gas". Gas has a "sell by" date on it just like food products do! May people may not know this but the "new gas" gives you better gas mileage because it hasn't began to breakdown yet at the molecular level.

Where did that "old" gas sit while it aged? And how does one track the old stuff as it approaches 90 days?