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What to do with Old Gas??

post #1 of 11
3/20/07 at 8:16pm
Thread Starter 
I realized while prepping the boat the other day that I forgot to add stabilizer to the gas before storage. The gas is about 4 months old now and I am debating either just adding fresh gas to it and using it or dumping it out completely. It is in a 100gallon alluminum tank and not sure exactly the amount I have in there at the moment without hooking up the batteries.

Can the old gas hurt anything? Is 4 months too long or should I be safe?

If there is anyway this gas can hurt I will dump it, then the next question is where do you get rid of old gas???
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post #2 of 11
3/20/07 at 9:37pm
You could pump it into smaller containers and mix a few gallons at a time when you re-fuel. If you have a 4 stroke(no oil mixed in), you could even do the same thing using your car to dispose of it. Just don't do more than 2 gallons of old for every 20 gallons of new and it'll be fine. I seem to remember that gasoline starts to break down after 3 months, so at 4 it shouldn't be that bad yet that you'd have to dump it.
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post #3 of 11
3/21/07 at 11:10pm
I let my old suburban sit for a year so I could get tabs without an emissions test. Started up just fine and pulled my new 20ft hardtop to the water and back.
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post #4 of 11
3/21/07 at 11:35pm
Use it in you lawn mower or snow blower, or other gas-powered tools. Just make sure it doesn't have any water mixed into it (I know, this may sound silly, but my brother put about ten gallons of water-tained old gas into his truck and wondered why it wasn't running right).

Then again, sell it on the side for a profit. Just make sure no one can trace it back to you once their engine dies or something.
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post #5 of 11
3/22/07 at 12:21am
I would just top off the tank with fresh gas and put in some Star Tron it will keep the gas stabilized for up to a year.

Plus it does a few other things to keep you running good.
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post #6 of 11
3/22/07 at 7:23am
Everything said is good advice. However, if you truly still don't trust the gas and would prefer to dispose of it, remember that it's considered hazardous waste and you can't just go in your back yard and dump it. In the town where I live, they have either one or two hazardous waste days a year where you can bring your hazardous waste to a designated area and the authorities will dispose of it for you. But don't do it on your own.
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post #7 of 11
3/22/07 at 7:05pm
Thread Starter 
I figured I couldn't just dump it considering I am on a lagoon and it would go right into the water.

I am going to top it off and see what happens and add my usual fuel treatment (ring free). If the engine blows up I will be sure to report back and tell all of my mistakes

The only engines I have head of having problems with old gas was small 3cyl merc's from the 80's. Appearently if the octane got too low the engines messed up a little and burnt up, but that is just from what I have heard, it could have been from other problems and I don't know why old gas was specified on those engines-
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post #8 of 11
3/22/07 at 8:07pm
As long as you've got good fuel filters you should be good. The big issue is when it breaks down it turns to shellac and gets chunky. I made the same mistake once for a longer period of time and wound up having to pull my carbs apart and clean them out at the dock while on vacation. If it was e10 you might have to worry about separation as well. A boat mechanic once told me that the lower the octane rating the quicker it will break down.
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post #9 of 11
3/22/07 at 9:49pm
have some fun with it
525
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post #10 of 11
3/23/07 at 12:53pm
I think that MD100 is supposed to make any water or gunk that has formed go back into the gas. If you add some fresh and treatment, seems like it would be fine.
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post #11 of 11
3/25/07 at 10:48am
Thread Starter 
MD100- I will look into it

Yeah, I guess one way to get rid of it would to burn it haha
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