Does gas really go bad?

[ultrarunner]

I fueled all the cars with Ethyl when I worked at the Dealership... they had one pump of High Octane Union 76

 

[MossRoad]

Think it can because there are a lot more chemicals in it that can chemically react, given time. Stuff even tastes and smells way different from the old, fresh gas we used to have. Change came when they took the lead out and had to leave or add back some chemicals in there for octane improvement. That was a LOONG time ago, before many of you were born.

Ralph

it was 1975 when they mandated the use of unleaded gas in cars with catalytic converters. Lead wasn't banned in the U.S. as a fuel additive until 1996, just 24 years ago.

https://web.mit.edu/ckolstad/www/Newell.pdf

 

[ultrarunner]

Yep and leaded fuel dispensed through a larger nozzle that would not fit into the smaller unleaded fuel filler.

Friend had a Honda CVCC Civic year 1978 that was in very high demand because of 42 mpg, no CAT needed to meet smog and the 5spd was fun to drive.... I think this is what made Honda here...

It was nothing like the 2 cylinder 600 model from not that long ago.

 

[Jstpssng]

Just counting off the top of my head, we have in order of use most to least:
4 running vehicles
the PT425
the push mower
weed eater/pole saw
2 chainsaws
pressure washer
log splitter
generator

And that's it. Just 12 gas engines. All use 87 octane E10. None go longer than about 11 months without use.

How many vehicles do you have in storage now? And what do you do to them to keep the fuel issues at bay?

I have, in order of use;
(2) on road pickups
chainsaw
snowsled
wood splitter
ATV
off road pickup
Troybilt tiller
semi trash water pump
walk behind string trimmer
Dirt shredder/hammermill
spare chainsaw
welder/generator
outboard motor
string trimmer/cultivator (used to see more use but I forgot to drain the fuel last year.)
ice auger
generator
THe only things which run E-10 are my pickups, and snowsled for most of the winter. For the last few tanks I burn non-ethanol, then run them dry in spring.

I also have an antique snowsled, 1953 Ferguson TO35, and Ariens snowblower, all of which I need to get running because they were stored with fuel in them.

The best way that I've found to clean old tarnished fuel tanks is with paint stripper, followed by a pressure washer.

 

[MossRoad]

Yep and leaded fuel dispensed through a larger nozzle that would not fit into the smaller unleaded fuel filler.

Friend had a Honda CVCC Civic year 1978 that was in very high demand because of 42 mpg, no CAT needed to meet smog and the 5spd was fun to drive.... I think this is what made Honda here...

It was nothing like the 2 cylinder 600 model from not that long ago.

A friend of mine had a 80's CRX economy model that averaged 55mpg. It was a D-O-G dog, but man, it sipped the fuel. I was driving a 3/4 ton GMC with a 454 that got about 8mpg. :laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

Sometimes I think we live parallel lives in alternate universes!

My go to neighbors growing up both came from Kokomo Indiana... I was always invited to make a trip back with them but like so many other things that get put off and then too late.

Oh, they met in CA as singles but she was always the girl from home... back then it seemed like almost everyone was from somewhere else... especially the Bay Area with military and defense.

All this talk about gas going bad is giving me nightmares.... The I/O SeaRay was garaged with 40 gallons 8 years ago...

 

[MossRoad]

Sometimes I think we live parallel lives in alternate universes!

My go to neighbors growing up both came from Kokomo Indiana... I was always invited to make a trip back with them but like so many other things that get put off and then too late.

Oh, they met in CA as singles but she was always the girl from home... back then it seemed like almost everyone was from somewhere else... especially the Bay Area with military and defense.

All this talk about gas going bad is giving me nightmares.... The I/O SeaRay was garaged with 40 gallons 8 years ago...

Been to Kokomo many times. Probably well over 100. I have family in Indy and Cinci, so we traveled through it since I was born. Always stopped there to stretch the legs, have a bite to eat. Mom used to like the mall there. I was just through it twice last week on the way to Oklahoma and back.

When I was a kid I remember you could see it miles off in the distance because they had a 40 story natural gas tower there, just like the one we had in South Bend. It looked like a green silo with a red and white checkerboard top. They imploded it in 2003.

They had quite the automotive industry there. Still do, but just not as many people employed as when I was a kid.

Chrysler and Delphi(formerly Delco) are still there.

 

[ultrarunner]

He was quite a mechanic and superintendent manufacturing industrial gases... there was not anything he couldn't fix and in later years became good friends with Chuck Yeager who also came from Indiana?

Still remember the terrible smell from an old jeep he had picked up. The fuel tank had to be boiled out clean...

 

[Jstpssng]

When's the last time you had a fuel line freeze using E10 gasoline?

THe last time that I had any fuel line freeze was in or around 2000, when my snowsled tank somehow got water in it. (See my comment above about putting the stale gas in the snowblower.)
I believe that sled had the filler tank in front, and I sometimes plow through a lot of snow.

 

[lman]

Been to Kokomo many times. Probably well over 100. I have family in Indy and Cinci, so we traveled through it since I was born. Always stopped there to stretch the legs, have a bite to eat. Mom used to like the mall there. I was just through it twice last week on the way to Oklahoma and back.

When I was a kid I remember you could see it miles off in the distance because they had a 40 story natural gas tower there, just like the one we had in South Bend. It looked like a green silo with a red and white checkerboard top. They imploded it in 2003.

They had quite the automotive industry there. Still do, but just not as many people employed as when I was a kid.

Chrysler and Delphi(formerly Delco) are still there.

I used to drive through Kokomo until they built the second bypass. Now I generally drive around it.

 

[ultrarunner]

WE had one of those towers growing up in Oakland... when building it was leveled by hundreds??? of men with jacks to set it plumb...

During the war they thought it as a prime target... when it was taken down it went very fast but no room to topple... so piece by piece.

 

[fried1765]

I have, in order of use;
(2) on road pickups
chainsaw
snowsled
wood splitter
ATV
off road pickup
Troybilt tiller
semi trash water pump
walk behind string trimmer
Dirt shredder/hammermill
spare chainsaw
welder/generator
outboard motor
string trimmer/cultivator (used to see more use but I forgot to drain the fuel last year.)
ice auger
generator
THe only things which run E-10 are my pickups, and snowsled for most of the winter. For the last few tanks I burn non-ethanol, then run them dry in spring.

I also have an antique snowsled, 1953 Ferguson TO35, and Ariens snowblower, all of which I need to get running because they were stored with fuel in them.

The best way that I've found to clean old tarnished fuel tanks is with paint stripper, followed by a pressure washer.

You are fortunate.
South of you, (in the Socialist People's Republic of Taxachusetts) non ethanol fuel can only be purchased in 5 gal. sealed containers, at $80 each.

 

[MossRoad]

He was quite a mechanic and superintendent manufacturing industrial gases... there was not anything he couldn't fix and in later years became good friends with Chuck Yeager who also came from Indiana?

Still remember the terrible smell from an old jeep he had picked up. The fuel tank had to be boiled out clean...

Yeager was from West Virginia.
Neil Armstrong was from Ohio, but went to Purdue.... Boiler UP! :laughing:
Gus Grissom was from Indiana.

 

[MossRoad]

I used to drive through Kokomo until they built the second bypass. Now I generally drive around it.

It used to take me 3:15 to get from South Bend to my sister's house on the northern side of Indy, near Meridian and 71st.
Last week, it took us 2:10 to get to the airport on the SW side!

Between the bypass around Kokomo and all the work they did eliminating the lights on the north side of Indy, it's really incredible.

 

[MossRoad]

When we were out in OK a couple weeks ago, I noticed certain chains of gas stations that had some interesting pump setups.

2 nozzles.

1 by itself that was 87 octane 10% ethanol. The one on the other end of the pump there was a 2nd nozzle with 3 grades of non-ethanol, 87, 89, 93 (I think).

The 10% ethanol was usually about 22 cents cheaper.

 

[Jstpssng]

When we were out in OK a couple weeks ago, I noticed certain chains of gas stations that had some interesting pump setups.

2 nozzles.

1 by itself that was 87 octane 10% ethanol. The one on the other end of the pump there was a 2nd nozzle with 3 grades of non-ethanol, 87, 89, 93 (I think).

The 10% ethanol was usually about 22 cents cheaper.

Yes, and your mileage drops accordingly. I don't mind running it in my vehicles so much, it hasn't caused any problems since I got rid of my '87 GMC "Toy Truck". Yet during the period we couldn't get the no ethanol I got rid of more stale gas in my burn pan than what little bit extra I pay now to keep my small engines running.

 

[MossRoad]

Yes, and your mileage drops accordingly. I don't mind running it in my vehicles so much, it hasn't caused any problems since I got rid of my '87 GMC "Toy Truck". Yet during the period we couldn't get the no ethanol I got rid of more stale gas in my burn pan than what little bit extra I pay now to keep my small engines running.

We drove about 2200 miles and averaged around 38mpg and 70mph in a full-sized family car. The fuel cost savings between e10 and non-ethanol are just not an issue for most. Maybe fleet use, but I seriously doubt it.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yeager was from West Virginia.
Neil Armstrong was from Ohio, but went to Purdue.... Boiler UP! :laughing:
Gus Grissom was from Indiana.

They both retired to Grass Valley CA and that is where they met...

 

[MossRoad]

They both retired to Grass Valley CA and that is where they met...

It's a small world, for sure.

 

[cqaigy2]

I guess that I've been lucky, we've only had it since around 2008. I bought a new Echo chainsaw that year, and the warranty clearly stated that it was voided if I ran gas with ethanol in it.

Gas definitely does go bad, but older engines were less susceptible to problems. I was snow blowing my driveway years ago in my pre-Kubota days and ran out of fuel. Rather than running to the store I noticed the gallon jug of last year's gas, with a little water which I has set aside until I decided what to do with it. The water was frozen, the gas even smelled stale but I dumped it in that old '70s vintage B&S engine, and gave it a tug. It didn't like the old gas and ran mean, but I was able to finish my driveway without going for more fuel.

Use of fuel containing over 10% Ethanol (E10), such as (E15, E20, E30, E50 and E85), or any fuels not meeting ECHO and
Shindaiwa requirements, are not approved for use in ECHO and Shindaiwa gasoline engines.