When does gasoline get old?

[Richard Beels]

I had a (plastic) can of gas that sat for a few years and when I used it,
it ran fine in the lawn mower.  I have a can for the weed whacker (mixed
with oil) that's 4 years old and it's still the original gallon and it runs
fine when I use it.  I had a scooter that sat for 3 years in a shed and it
fired up right after we charged the battery.  After sitting the next
winter, it was all clogged up.

I think the problem is not when it sits in a container, but when it's "in
the system" and there's not a whole big mess of it at a steady state but in
all the lines and floats and such.  Also, the gasoline itself has something
to do with it too.

Now...  I put sta-bil in all the gas cans when I fill them and just don't
worry about it.  These are for everything except the cars (lawn tractor,
mower, weed whacker, etc...) but I did use treated gas in the Honda
once.  Just start the car up every once in a while to flush the gas in the
lines/pump and bring in "fresh" gas from the tank.  Of course, Hannu's been
sitting in the driveway for about 18 months now....  :-O



At 17:30 02/06/2002,  Tony Lum was inspired to say:
>Hi gang,
>
>Anybody know how old gasoline can sit around before it goes bad?  Reason I
>ask it that I let my 5kcstq sit at work since August 2001 because I been
>busy with other affairs (mainly my urq) and I just fired it up yesterday
>and it started right away.  Had to charge the battery before I turned the
>key, but basically it started like I've been driving it every day.  Of
>course the extreme case has to be when I left my '80 5ks sitting in my
>driveway for 9 years or so (got busy at work).  I had to replace the fuel
>pump AND the gas tank in that case.
>
>Regards,
>
>- Tony
>lots of I-5 Audis
>


Cheers!