Car had been sitting a long time.

So I am draining the tank. Before I run car too much.

this is first sample, really not much sediment but it sure is a rich color.

Rate my bad gas from 1-10 bad being 1 and fresh being a 10.

 

I'd put it about a 3. Or less. Just a WAG.

 

Does it pass the smell test?

If it smells like gasoline you can get away with blending it into fresh gasoline and burning it through your engine. If it smells like varnish dispose of it as best you can.

If it's ethanol and more than a few months old dispose of it as you would varnish.

 

I just put old gas in my company truck and run it. You'd be surprised how well new engine computer systems compensate for crappy gas

 

My 71 has old gas in it. I should drain it and get a pic like you did.

 

It smelled like an old man’s leather shoe filled with Skoal spit.


i knew it only had a few gallons in there so I thought it best to just remove it and start fresh.

Our town has a hazard waste recycling center that takes old gas so not a big deal to get rid of. It all fit in my 5 gallon gas can. I put a temp in-line clear filter just to see new fuel and it’s pumping clean fuel now to carb.

 

I started with that clear bottle just to see it better.
after that first quart I just sent the rest into my old red gas can.

i agree with VI Cutty I think mine was a 3-4…with a “1” being maple syrup mixed with tar heroin.
If yours is darker you will be the bad gas champion.

 

Eh. My car hibernates for the 5 months of blistering 110+ summer temps with E-10 in the tank and it fires up and runs fine come fall.

 

if your carbureted car sits a lot you need to use Sta-Bill Marine 360 additive..

 

You use any fuel stabilizer or ethanol treatment?

 

​​​​​​ Excellent! I don't have access to a recycling center where I live. Getting rid of used antifreeze is a fiasco.

https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...needed-120314/

​​​​​I guess if I drained the fuel tank in my 71 I'd burn the fuel in my mower. Either that or mix it with Waste Motor Oil and try to get rid of it in my diesel truck 🤔

 

Hard to tell without smelling it but I agree with previous posts.

 

No. Same for the lawn mower, chain saw, and gas can. Those sit forever and don’t have any issues. Maybe related to the gas formulation or the low humidity/high temperatures here in the desert?

 

That was going to be my next question.

 

It almost looks good enough to drink

 

I was thinking that also…looks just like some of my bottles of bourbon.

 

Cheers!

 

Take it from a Diesel mechanic.
That's a BAD idea.

 

I think that Ray nailed it here….

 

Hell, that's good weed killer there.

 

We leave E10 sit in the subarctic for 5 months of winter, bad things happen especially witb 2 strokes. Yeah, that looks like ***** 3 seems right.

 

Who cares? Put it back in the tank, add a few gallons of fresh gas to dilute it, and get on with life.

I think people spend way too much time worrying about old gas. Back in about 1994, my father and I helped my across-the-street neighbor, who was not a car guy at all, start his father-in-law's 1969 Cutlass S that really had been driven only to church on Sundays by a little old lady (his mother-in-law). His father-in-law, who was from the old country, never got a U.S. driver's license, so when his wife became too old to drive in 1986, the Cutlass was parked in their garage with no storage preparation at all and left untouched until we started working on it 8 years later. The car was a true barn-find in that, for then being 25 years old, it had only 7500 miles on it.

Anyway, we did pull the fuel inlet from the carburetor and cranked it to get whatever gas was in the tank to flow out. It flowed fine, and it looked and smelled just fine after 8 years of sitting. We eventually got the car started, and it actually ran pretty smoothly. I advised my neighbor to get some new gas and burn the old stuff through, but my point is that the old gas worked just fine

Generally I would say that if there are just a few gallons left in the tank, get a 5-gallon gas can, fill it, and pour it into the tank on the car. Start the engine and burn the old stuff through. Don't bother to try to siphon the old stuff out or have the tank drained in some way. Filling with fresh gas and using it up will clean the tank just fine. and it's a lot less trouble.