Old Fuel

[Mortblanc]

(17 September 2021, 15:45)Pete Grey Wrote: An acquaintance of ours has a speed boat, I have not seen it and do not know what make or type of engine is fitted. The boat has been parked up in his garage for at least five years. He tells me he fitted a new battery and it fired up on the third try, this should give us all encouragement on how long petrol lasts, as no fuel additives had been used.

I had the same experience a couple of years back with my Jeep Cherokee.

I filled the tank and then had the computer die. Since it was a backup vehicle I let it sit for a year before repairing it. When the repair was completed it fired up as normal after the fuel had sit for a year.

While sitting the brakes lines and hoses had dissolved(23 year old parts) and I let it sit for another year as I did a complete brake replacement over the course of a second year.

This was using the E10 fuel we get over here. I note that many myths are being forecast about the use of E10 in GB at the moment.

I can affirm that it will last for at least 2 years in the tank and work fine.

I also have, at this very moment, one scooter that is half full of E10 w/fuel stabilizer left over from storage last winter. I have not ridden that scooter but 50-75 miles this season so it is on 11 month old gas. It still fires up and runs fine.

All of the motorbikes got a full tank and a splash of stabilizer last fall and there were zero fuel related problems this past spring. They did not even run strangely with the additives added.

For short term storage, of less than 2 years, I would not even worry with the additives.

Small engines and carbureted devices(gen-sets, chain saws, mowers, weed whackers and such) I would add the stabilizers since the E10 might have more effect on the small passages in the carbs of those devices. I generally drain the tanks of small engine tools completely and let the engines run themselves dry.