It’s been about three-and-a-half weeks now since I filled up a couple 5-gallon containers in anticipation of power outages during a winter storm. Since I’m a dumb dumb, I did not add stabilizer at the time, but I do have some Seafoam stabilizer on hand.
I understand fuel degrades over time and running degraded fuel can damage engine parts. Should I pour the fuel into my vehicle or will that gum up my car’s engine? Is it still worth adding stabilizer today so that I can continue to store it in my garage for a rainy day? The only other responsible alternative I can think of is taking it to a hazardous disposal site in my county. It’s octane rating 87, I believe it also has ethanol, in case that makes any difference.
It will be fine. If you’re worried about it, dilute it with fresh gasoline.
I once drained gas out of a car that had been sitting a few years. (I was fixing the car) I added it a couple of gallons at a time to my car’s gas tank and never had an issue.
The car is where the stale fuel goes…
Unless it’s a nice car.
Definitely fine. I fill up my car like…once a month, if that.
After big hurricanes and such, I’ve used stored gas that’s older than that. It’s not ideal, but it’s not that old, and it’s not like you’re doing it all the time.
What everybody has said here. I’ve got cans that have gas from years ago between the boat, weedeater, lawn mower motor cycle etc. I keep a little shy of 20 gallons on hand and cycle through it first in first out. That run just fine in anything I put it in. The 2 cycle mixed gas is the worst offender as I use so little of it it might take me years to make it through a gallon.
That said three weeks is nothing. The gas I put in the chainsaw two weeks ago had been in the can since the last administration, and it cranked up and ran without fail for hours, the only time it quit was when it ran out.
Yep same here.
Biggest thing to worry about is leaving gas that has ethanol in it, in the tank/carburetor of your small engine machines. It gunks up the carb and wreaks all kinds of havoc.
So I run rec gas only, in those machines, personally. There might be other solutions, but this has been simple and foolproof for me. Hasn’t failed me yet.
If I knew the ethanol gas would be replaced with rec gas in the next few months, I’d run it. But thus far I’ve not taken the risk.
Three-week-old fuel is brand new. I don’t even fill up my car that often.
No issue here.
Start worrying about it when it’s last years gas, you’re fine
Let’s say it is over a year old, what would happen if it’s used in a car?
It’d still probably be fine! First thing to go wrong is it picking up water, but that separates out in the bottom of the container, just don’t pour it in your car. If it was even older (like 2-3 years unstabilized) it’d start to smell bad (like thinner) and change colour a little (kinda yellowy). If you put that in your car, it’d miss occasionally unless you mixed it with some fresher gas like a bunch of people itt have suggested. More fresh stuff the worse it is. It’d dirty up your fuel system a little quicker too, but not enough to cause an immediate problem. The horror stories about old gas “gumming up” cars are from carburetor days and fuel aging in place in an open system, volatile bits evaporating away and remnants varnishing tiny holes in jets and slides closed
Please note that “gas” can be a lot of things worldwide that might act differently, this is a Best Coast take and still has to consider ethanol vs non. Ethanol fuel picks up water much quicker than non, I pretty much only use it in my car and only if I’m going to go through the tank relatively soon
I’ve used three-week-old fuel and I was fine, but I’m not sure about pushing it past that. If you’re a car too, you could possibly drink it to get your money’s worth. If you’d rather be safe than sorry and don’t want to risk causing harm to your engine, though, I’d just take the loss and dispose of it.
I’m guessing those tanks have been sealed from when you filled them?
Gas goes bad primarily from absorbing water from the air, oxidation, and evaporation. Since the tanks were kept closed, the gas will last for years.
Gas cans that are used frequently need stabilizer because every time you pour a little to fill a lawnmower, fresh air gets in to replace the volume poured out.
Correct, they’ve been sealed since I filled them three weeks ago. Thanks for explaining a little more around how gas degrades.
I dont know anything about this but in (yes fictional) apocalypse novels the gas in car tanks always goes bad after several months.
Nah, it might be a little less spicy after a year, but still plenty useful, even for years it can remain functional. Months is nothing.
Source: grew up on a farm. Own gas powered yard tools.
ChrisFix said once (in the first Mustang video at 7:40) that you try old gasoline in your lawnmower. If the lawnmower works, you can probably use it in a car.
If you are concerned about it, you can mix 5 gallons at a time in your car with the remainder being fresh gas. I.e. if you have a 15 gallon tank, use 10 gallons of new gas with 5 of old.
3 weeks isn’t all that long though, its probably fine as long as you didn’t leave the cap off.
What kind of car is it potentially going in?
Thanks for weighing in. It would be going into a Mazda 3 or a Honda CRV.
If they are non turbo, it should be fine. If they are turbo cars, run premium for the new fuel and use a minimum 3 to 1 ratio of new to old fuel just to be safe.
Really, 3 weeks is fine but I don’t want to lead you astray and cause problems here lol. I’d run it though.
3 weeks is fine. Add stabilizer now. It will be fine in a vehicle.
I just ran my snow blower on fuel bought in October… If I don’t use it all, it goes in the truck in March/April. It may have done 89 this season… But I’ve never had issues with 87. Except for 2cycles… Buy the canned/ethanol-free stuff or switch to electric.
Nah you’re good
Three weeks should be good to go, easily. Back when I had a gas lawnmower I was rarely refilling the big jug, though those little engines are a bit more forgiving. Some hybrids will keep gas in the tank for a year before they force a burn-off.
