Does gas really go bad?

[Erik M]

Yes, out on the East coast Irving premium gas has zero ethanol. I use only premium fuel for my dozen plus small engines and I add stabilizer for the minor extra cost, just so much easier than cleaning gummed up carbs.

 

[fried1765]

Yes, out on the East coast Irving premium gas has zero ethanol. I use only premium fuel for my dozen plus small engines and I add stabilizer for the minor extra cost, just so much easier than cleaning gummed up carbs.

I sold my place in Shelburne, NS. two years ago, but prior to that, each time I made the trip, I would bring back several 5 gal. cans of Irving premium to Massachusetts.

 

[Texasmark]

Yes. When I was a kid I "Lusted in my Heart" (Jimmy Carter, date unknown) for a Cushman Eagle motor scooter/cycle crossover. Years later, as an adult, I saw an ad for one in the local newspaper. I decided to check it out and thought about buying it. Arrived at the location, owner's home, and started the "kick the tire" process. First thing I did was to remove the gas cap and see how things there looked.

Immediately the smell of varnish was apparent. Peering into the tank, which was nearly full, the fuel was solid varnish.

Also on occasions where I had a piece of equipment sitting for awhile and wanting to use it, initial starting was lengthy and once running it was poor.....adding a good quantity of fresh fuel to the tank and giving it time to work through the engine resulted in normal performance.

Over time the volatile parts of the gasoline formula that give you the most energy per unit, evaporate leaving the heaviner particles which are less volatile and as such contain less energy and produce poorer performance when combusting.

 

[5030]

Not the gum that bothers me so much as the corrosive effects of the corn alcohol on die cast aluminum parts.

 

[k0ua]

Does gas go bad? Watch this and find out:

 

[k0ua]

Does fuel stabilizer prevent corrosion? Watch and find out:

 

[TheMan419]

I use the E10 dispensed by the local gas stations. During the summer I do not hit it with stabil as I go through it mowing the lawn quick enough. Once we are down to the end of summer I hit the mower with stabil and fill the jerry can and hit it with stabil. The generator ALWAYS gets hit with stabil. The cost is minimal and I do not want to take the risk - especially on the generator.

That said the times I have forgotten to stabil the lawn mower over the winter it has fired right up in the spring.

I think "gas going bad" is over sold. It happens just not consistently like some people push.

 

[ArlyA]

Gasoline fuels are a time and temp sensitive commodity and are not made for long term storage. They run down pipelines without oxygen until they reach our tanks or cans. Oxygen cross links with it and it changes into something our engines and fuel systems do not like. Heat makes this process happen faster, same as most chemical reactions. All our temporary use engine fuels here has some Seafoam mixed in them to keep this process from happening. Seafoam is much cheaper than cleaning a fuel sytem out.

I used to work in a marine where cleaning out bad fuel was 70% of our work. Note how I didn't mention alcohol. Long live seafoam!

 

[ultrarunner]

I've seen the difference between gas stored in a temp/humidity constant warehouse vs my service van...

The wide fluctuations inside the service truck wreak havoc in weeks vs years.

 

[Oaktree]

I think "gas going bad" is over sold. It happens just not consistently like some people push.

A lot depends on the engine. Some are much more tolerant of old fuel than others.
I haven't had the problems with old gas that some here have reported, but I still don't like to keep it around for more than a few months. I haven't noticed a big difference between E10 and non-E.