What makes bad gas, bad gas?

[probablecause]

No, not the intestinal kind. If I have not run my boat for a year and a half, people tell me the gas in the tank goes bad. I have a water/fuel separator but I have been told that once it is bad, it is bad. You mean I can't add a couple of gallons of race fuel to bring the half full tanks back to life? What can you do with 30 gallons of "bad" gas?

[pw_Tony]

You can water your plants with it....:devil: :D :D

[Saab]

I wouldnt run it in my boat. maybe put it in your lawn mower and offer free mowing to everyone on your street. I wouldnt run it, it can gel and make your boat run like crap, or clog up jets. there is some chart that says the octane rating goes down over a period of time, but aside from that I just wouldnt do it.

[502 JET]

I had 30 gallons of gas that was 1.5 years old in my tanks. I pumped them in to my truck and burned it.
I've heard gas looses octane over time.

[Ken F]

I siphoned mine out and ran it through the truck also. It had only been in the boat since last August. Seemed to do fine there, but I wasn't about to run it through my boat engine!!!
Ken F

[whiteworks]

I was told by a knowledageable source that gas will lose about 1 octane per month while stored in a vented tank.

[probablecause]

I was told by a knowledageable source that gas will lose about 1 octane per month while stored in a vented tank.
So it can be rejuvinated??

[lucky]

No, not the intestinal kind. If I have not run my boat for a year and a half, people tell me the gas in the tank goes bad. I have a water/fuel separator but I have been told that once it is bad, it is bad. You mean I can't add a couple of gallons of race fuel to bring the half full tanks back to life? What can you do with 30 gallons of "bad" gas?
sell it to exxon for 499 a gallon :idea:

[centerhill condor]

add some kind of additive and run it. You'll burn it real fast anyway!
Gasoline is made of many "fractions". Some fractions are designed to vaporize at lower temps and comes right out just sitting in the Summer. The heavier fractions are left behind. Winter gas goes bad faster than summer gas, etc.
It might gum up but if you drive the boat fast enough it'll blow out sooo fast it won't have time to cause a problem. At least that is my theory.
CC

[BUSBY]

The basic scoop:
The shelf life of gasoline depends on the type of gas and the storage conditions and can range from a couple months to a couple years. One wild card is that gas you buy at the pump may already have been in storage for anywhere from days to months.
What makes gas go stale? Usually the first thing that happens is the light hydrocarbons in it evaporate, leaving behind a heavier, less peppy product. Gasoline is an ideal motor vehicle fuel partly because it vaporizes readily to form a combustible mix with air. If it sits unused, however, its more volatile components waft away, leading to poorer engine performance. It's hard to tell how much punch your gas has lost without scientific testing, but don't worry–though your engine might start a little harder, it'll still run (assuming it ran before), and there's little risk in burning the fuel if this is all that's gone wrong.
The second cause of bad gas is oxidation–some of the hydrocarbons in the fuel react with oxygen to produce new compounds, almost all of them worse than what you started with. When oxidation becomes a problem, you'll know it without lab tests--the gasoline gives off a sour odor. If you pour some into a glass container, you'll see it's turned dark, and you might find small, solid particles of gum. Using oxidized gasoline is a bad idea, since the gum can clog your fuel filter/jets/etc, create deposits in your fuel system and generally hurt performance.

[JET-O-VATOR]

No, not the intestinal kind. If I have not run my boat for a year and a half, people tell me the gas in the tank goes bad. I have a water/fuel separator but I have been told that once it is bad, it is bad. You mean I can't add a couple of gallons of race fuel to bring the half full tanks back to life? What can you do with 30 gallons of "bad" gas?
My boat sat for less than a year.. the last time i took her out i was having major carb issues i.e back firing through the carb. acctually caught fire floating down river and scroched (sp) my face pretty good. anyways i put her on the anchor and she floated all weekend. well i took her home and parked her untill a few weeks ago. i bought a new carb.. and she was still doing the same thing so i drained the tanks and shes fine now.. well i think i acctually got bad gas out of the pump in mohave valley last year and that was my whole problem... now i have 22 gallons of unusable fuel in cans that i dont know what to do with.. i tried it in the mower and no run.. but this would acctually be the second time getting bad gas up there for me.. diferent stations.. the first time i filled the boat and the truck luckily the ford had two tanks and i only filled one and was able to limp home on one tank..

[BUSBY]

You can contact your county to find out where their haz mat collection facility is, they will dispose it for you ... of course there will be a fee just like at the regular dump / landfill ...
every county has one for old paints/oils/fuels/etc.
BB

[probablecause]

You can contact your county to find out where their haz mat collection facility is, they will dispose it for you ... of course there will be a fee just like at the regular dump / landfill ...
every county has one for old paints/oils/fuels/etc.
BB
I don't need Ron trying to tune up the boat with $hit gas

[probablecause]

You can contact your county to find out where their haz mat collection facility is, they will dispose it for you ... of course there will be a fee just like at the regular dump / landfill ...
every county has one for old paints/oils/fuels/etc.
BB
I don't need Ron trying to tune up the boat with $hit gas

[probablecause]

You can contact your county to find out where their haz mat collection facility is, they will dispose it for you ... of course there will be a fee just like at the regular dump / landfill ...
every county has one for old paints/oils/fuels/etc.
BB
I don't need Ron trying to tune up the boat with $hit gas