FJWTK - Fuel use by date

[FJ Steve]

Quick question for the knowledgeable of you:

Situation:
Son has a car which has been sitting idle for approximately 12 months. Fuel tank has about 30 - 40 litres of fuel in it. Could the fuel be used (suitable strained/filtered) together with an Octane Booster?

Thoughts?
(Need to make a decision before 28th January 2012)

[Kaido]

Hey Steve, i have around 40L of BP98 in my Skyline for around 13-14months... it started first crank and ran fine!

Have also uses 6months old fuel in my cbr250rr (BP98) without a problem too

[FJ Steve]

Cheers Kaido.

Fuel is unknown octane. Been sitting in a (shudder) Silvia shell for 12 months. He's sourced a motor/gearbox to put in it. Unfortunately, it's an auto. So he's now found a manual box, mated it to the donk, and has that installed. He's currently re-wiring the car. Should have it ready to fire by 28/1...then get it tuned/sorted before he takes it down to Collie for it's first drift event.

Not a bad effort from a 1st year Sparky Apprentice.

***you may know him from silviawa.com***

[filbert]

i just fired up my falcon ute on 91 octane that has been sitting in a broken long range tank setup for nearly 12 months and it runs, but farts and pops and the exhaust stinks should be fine to get it running but if you're tuning you might want fresh fuel in it.

[darkfibre]

Open the cap and smell the fuel. If it smells like normal fuel you may be able to top it up and use it.
If it stinks (not a fuel smell stink) don't chance it. Hopefully there is no water rusting the bottom of the tank from condensation.

[FJ Steve]

If it stinks...then it'd still be no good to run thru a mower (for example)?

[Desmo]

If it smells like varnish, ditch it.
Just pour it down a storm water drain or something.

[FJ Steve]

If it smells like varnish, ditch it.
Just pour it down a storm water drain or something.

dump it oustide Cowgirl's window? (and drench CW at the same time)?

[chief wiggum]

not nice steve, not nice at all

[Para045]

If it stinks...then it'd still be no good to run thru a mower (for example)?

I had some I drained from a fuel tank on a vehicle I wrecked a few years back and it stunk to high heaven, I used some in my mower although it did run a bit rough and smelt a bit when burnt, the rest I used as degreaser when I was stripping an engine down for a rebuild

[FJ Steve]

well...we opened the tank outlet....and after letting it vent for about 30 minutes or so....she smells orright.

Just to be sure there are no layers of ethanol(?) and water over the top of the fuel...I was thinking of sending a plastic hose down into the tank and stirring it all up (by blowing) for a while to ensure she's mixed up enough to run.

Thoughts?

[filbert]

Put a litre or so of methylated spirits in there, it will mix with any water and make it combustible and mix with the fuel to pass through without any hassle
Water will be at the bottom the fuel floats on it and it won't mix in without the metho

[SS1]

We had a VL Calais turbo sitting about 18mths/ 2yrs, with 95, ran ok when started.
Think u can get some additive to rejuvenate (as such) the fuel (some add on tv, few weeks ago).
Maybe Repco or Coventry’s have it/ know about it?? (repco open on Sundays)

[Falcore]

I did the same with the 1098. Ran fine etc.

3 months later new fuel pump time an get the sludge out of the tank.

[MMiikkee]

If it's any help, we used to have to test our avgas after 12 months of production, if it still had the same bang it was good for another 12 (24 months total).

If there is any water in the tank it'll sit on the bottom (denser than fuel) so if you can get some from a low point and check it you should be fine. I'm assuming 30-40 litres is over 3/4 of a tank so if it's been undercover and the filler cap seal is alright it shouldn't have sucked in too much moisture.

My 2 cents anyway!

[=Stevo=]

The tanks in the Silvia's do tend to rust and I know mine had a whole bunch kicked up at one point and it ended up mauling everything from the fuel pump through to the injectors, resulting in a whole bunch more pulling apart and cleaning.

Save the effort and heartache, dump the fuel and replace it with a fresh batch. If you can drop the tank and check it out that would be even better.