Just caught Horsepower TV showing their "Fogger" - spray into carb until engine dies, and into combustion chamber through plug holes!
Supposed to eliminate rust, completely!
New product - just to mention - - -

 

Standard procedure for storing gas inboard boat motors. Spray the fogging oil into the carb 'tll it smokes out the exhaust and stalls. Pull the plugs and spray each cylinder. Fogging oil is available at most marine stores and online.

 

I always wondered about this stabil product. They claim gas can go bad in 2 months. My experience is after 2 years, it goes bad. I have burned lots of year old gas, both in my 86 Cutlass as well as 6-8 month old gas in small portions in lawn equipment. Maybe it lasts longer here in the south when stored in closed tanks in a garage?

A friend of mine had a little bit of 2-3 year old gas in his project car and while it would not start on it, it ran on it. Luckily we burned it all and put in some fresh. Starts on its own now!

Any comments on gas longevity? I myself do not buy into the stabil marketing, at least where I live.

 

I'm with Rob and don't think gas goes bad like milk. More about the storage conditions in my opinion. If left open to the elements, gas can evaporate leaving deposits and/or absorb moisture (esp with ethanol). That said, I throw a little Stabil in the Cutlass, boat and lawn equipment as cheap insurance but really don't think it is necessary for <1yr storage. Do you think all the government stockpiles are useless?

 

My car sat outside the first winter, now is inside a pre fab wood building. I've never added stabil. I start the car every once and a while, never had a problem. Once every three weeks, let it run for twenty minutes or something, no problems.

In massachusetts.

 

Ethanol is proven to be a moisture attractor, it's documented. If you are going to store your vehicle for an extended period of time I recommend a fuel stabilizer on top of a full tank. It's cheap insurance!

 

Gas in the good old days lasted years. I remember sending a car to Maine for body and paint. It was stored inside, but 3 years later it started and ran fine.
Todays gas has no MBTE or tetraethyl lead and has 10% ethanol. Ethanol is hydroscopic and will absorb condensation that happens inside the fuel tank. When the ethanol reaches it's water saturation point it will phase separate out of the gas and become a layer of water laden ethanol, often on top of the gas.
The best way to avoid this is to store the vehicle with a full tank in a temperature stabile location as temperature swings cause condensation and the greater the air space in the tank the more condensation can form.
If you have a car with 10 or 20 gallons of bad gas its not a disaster, but the boat I live on all sumer has two 110 gallon tanks that would be a real headache to drain and clean, which is why I have an interest in the subject.
I have always used Stabil in the gas and try to end the season with fairly full tanks. Fortunately in 1965 they made fuel tanks out of Monel (like stainless with extra copper) and not fiberglass which in some formulations is attacked by the E10 gas