Stale Petrol ? Myth? I reckon so.

i do believe unleaded in a fuel tank of a vehicle does go off,in a sealed container it survives for much longer. i once bought a statesman from the auctions which had been sitting for some extended period of time, when we got it going it ran like a pig. we thought it may have been low fuel pressure. we removed the line at the injectiion rail and run the pump and found it had plenty of pressure but it was a dark brown colour and smelt odd. we drained it,refilled with fresh fuel and it ran fine. i was talking to a mechanic friend of mine about it and he says he has seen this before with cars sitting for some time. yet in a container at home the unleaded looked fine and still in the mowers and chainsaws it ran them OK but also we are mixing oil with them so that also may make some difference.

Surprised the Kipor started at all. Had 2 of them, never again, one of the biggest pieces of junk to be ever called a Generator.

Hi Jim,

while on our trip in WA in 2008, we were camped out at Hawks Nest outside Laverton. We had the opposite happen, I fired up the Kipor (1000w) after no sun for a few days, and ran like a hairy goat.( The fuel in it had been in there for ages too), whacked in some new fuel and bingo, all well again...go figure?




cheers ....Unc

If it was stored in am airtight container which was almost full in a cool shaded area its quite possible.

If it was not sealed the more volitile fractions could evaporate in warm temperatures; if well sealed the more volitile fractions evaporating would raise the pressure in the container stopping more evaporation.

In a petrol tank of a car, my experience is about 5 months before the fuel has all the oompf of a tank of diesel and you have to empty about half to top it up with enough fresh fuel to get it to run in an almost normal manner

We used to have the same with unleaded in NZ
My wifes car had gas as well and she never remembered to change it to petrol every week or so.

Result it stuffed a $600 fuel pump in a Toyota Corona.

Fuel turned into varnish in about 4 months.

Lots of other LPG users had similar problems.

In the finish I removed the single point injector so it couldnt try to suck the stuff back up

With the small amount of fuel these jiggas take i refill with fresh fuel all the time...Although i go months without using them too. (Honda Gen,Stihl Chainsaw etc etc

Cheers

Best off Road,
make the most of your stale unleaded, because recently i read an article from trailer boat magazine saying that as of July this year we will only be able to buy premium and E10,some great plan of the government.The worst part is apparently E10 only takes about 3 weeks to start to separate and then the ethanol which is heavier sinks to the bottom of the tank and when you go to start it you are running it on straight ethanol, and that's the end of that.Apparently some boat motor companies are warning against it's use as it will void the warranty on their motors.
Cheers
John.

In motorbikes, the additives in Shell juice can cause gelling as metal tanks heat up in the sun.

About 12 months ago went to start the outboard, which hadn't been started for some 18 months, and nothing happened, called in the mechanic and after some time we decided that the petrol was no good, put some fresh in and bingo.
Cheers

Baz

Well....just to buck the trend. Had 3 year old fuel sitting in my old EH wagon. Threw in a battery and she fired first time and ran like a dream. Example 1.

Example 2. Had a near death motorbike accident last year (bloody dirt bikes) and so the Softail didn't even get started for 9 months. Charged up the battery, started her up and she didn't miss a beat.

Might add that in both cases, the fuel was BP premium.

On the flip side...I once put Caltex Vortex or whatever they call their premium fuel in the Harley, and she'd stall at every set of lights (EFI too mind you), down on power and ran like a dog.

Fab.

NSW Fire Brigade provide Fire Pumps to Community Fire Units. These pumps may sit unused for years between fires if they don't do pump training.

It's absolutely essential that these pumps start when needed.

Never once have the trainers suggested that fuel needs to be drained or changed to make sure the pump will start when needed.