Old fuel in tanks

[Clyde9]

From: kilroy75633  (Original Message)
Sent: 3/16/2008 7:14 PM

I have a 72 Winnebago "Indian", 413 engine.The fuel in the tanks is about 4 years old, it looks like Lamp oil and burns like lamp oil, a lot of soot and a very low flash point.I have a outboard motor tank I plumbed into the fuel pump to crank the engine periodically.My question is, would it be better to take the tanks off and empty them and rinse out with new gas or pump what I can out of them and fill them up with new gas.If I got enough of the "old fuel" out, would the new fuel mix with the old and make it to where it wouldn't mess up the carb.Or is there a chemical I can pour into the tanks to help this problem.



From: denisondc
Sent: 3/16/2008 9:30 PM

I would say your are safe to just pump out as much old fuel as you can, and put fresh fuel in. Then drive it around (assuming the brakes are still okay), but have a good fuel filter between the tanks and the fuel pump. This isn't because of the old fuel, but because of the rust and crud that will be drawn into the fuel system. I have driven a couple of cars that I bought having fuel that was 4 years old - and didn't throw out the old, but just mixed new with it. No problems.
I don't think I would want to do that in a car with fuel injection though - because it might gum up the injectors.



From: Slantsixness
Sent: 3/16/2008 10:32 PM

Got an old slant six truck or car laying around? It'll run on anything. just pump the old fuel into it and drive away....

Thats what I do. You can ask Kevin (ClydesdaleKevin)... he's been driving around for two weeks now on the rotten gas from his Astro van in my truck... and yes.. it smells a little funny, but what the heck... at 3.20 a gallon, I'll put mule pee in my tank if it'll run! (by the way... this fuel wont run in my lawnmower or weed whacker... but it will in the old truck!)



From: Im-still-Lefty
Sent: 3/16/2008 11:30 PM

I just got through spending two days cleaning the fuel tank on a vehicle at the body shop that has sat for about 3yrs.
I removed the tank after siphoning all the fuel out I could, then I poured about 1 gal of thinner into the tank. After sloshing it around a bit I siphoned that out and repeated 2 more times. Then I took the tank to the nearest car wash and used the high pressure soap to spray out the inside of the tank.
I then flushed it out with a garden hose to remove all the soap. Siphoned out all the remaining water, and then used clean paper towels to wipe out the interior.
Afterwards, I sprayed the interior with a good coating of WD-40 to prevent any new rusting from forming.
While not the best way, it did the job. And this was a tank that is irreplaceable as it it on a 1953 Cadillac Convertible.



From: ClydesdaleKevin
Sent: 3/17/2008 12:31 AM


LOL Tom! You bet that old gas was stinky!  But it does run in the Dodge slant six!  It ran in the Astro, but poorly, and smoked like Cheech and Chong...I siphoned it out and put it in Tom's Dodge, and filled the Astro with high test for its first clean run.  The Astro stopped smoking (for the most part...there is a whiff when you first start it of oil smoke, either from worn valve seals, or worn rings...it has over 200K on the motor...and the cat is gummed up beyond belief!), and while Tom's exhaust smelled really bad, it didn't really smoke coming out of the slant six.  Now its got new gas on top of it and the Dodge isn't stinky anymore...lol.

Kev