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Old Gas?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by fsae0607, Feb 2, 2013.

  1. fsae0607
    Joined: Apr 3, 2012
    Posts: 872

    fsae0607
    Member

    Hello Hambers!

    Question: Just popped the sending unit out of my '61 and took a peek inside the tank. It's half-full of gas, but the gasoline is dark. It doesn't look thick or sludgy, still liquid. My dad parked the truck back in the early 90's before they put that ethanol crap in gas.

    Is there some kind of fuel treatment in a bottle that I can put in along with fresh gas to hopefully burn off the old gas in the tank? Any suggestions?

    Thanks!
     
  2. mustang6147
    Joined: Feb 26, 2010
    Posts: 1,847

    mustang6147
    Member
    from Kent, Ohio

    Not for gas that old.... I would drain it completly, then pray the carb aint gummed up..... When you fill it, You might add a bunch of sea foam to the fresh gas to help with the carb.... I bet the fuel filter, if it has one is probably toast as well...
     
  3. bgaro
    Joined: Sep 3, 2010
    Posts: 1,189

    bgaro
    Member

    drain it out, and start over. after u get it out if there's sludge u can get a radiator shop to boil that crud outta there.
     
  4. ol55
    Joined: Oct 1, 2008
    Posts: 499

    ol55
    Member
    from Virginia

    I would drain and check out the tank.

    I bent pushrods twice trying to start a 235 that had been sitting "five years".

    Then again, maybe you will have better luck...
     

  5. fsae0607
    Joined: Apr 3, 2012
    Posts: 872

    fsae0607
    Member

    I haven't sent that old gas to the carb. When I fired up the engine last week I used fresh gas from a container.

    Cool I'll drain it and go from there. Thanks again!
     
  6. Drain the old gas. Also flush the lines and tank. Now what to do with the old gas? Just ration it out a couple gallons per full tank of fresh gas to use it up. Disposing old gas is more trouble than you can imagine, just burn it by diluting with fresh gas while driving.
     
  7. CharlieLed
    Joined: Feb 21, 2003
    Posts: 2,463

    CharlieLed
    Member

    Good move, never mess with old gas.

    I had to look up Winnetka, never heard of such a place in SoCal...learn something new every day!
     
  8. CharlieLed
    Joined: Feb 21, 2003
    Posts: 2,463

    CharlieLed
    Member

    Good point about disposing of the old gas, especially here in SoCal. Just last month my neighbor drained the gas from his ski boat, it had been sitting for a couple of years and the gas was shot. He put the old gas in a couple of plastic 5 gal cans next to his garage and was trying to decide what he would have to do with it to appease the environmetalists. While he was doing his research he noticed that one morning the cans were gone...seems like somebody was stealing recyclables from our neighborhood and thought they hit the jackpot when they got away with a couple of full cans of gas! Neighbor felt like it was worth the price of the cans to have some idiots dump 10 gallons of bad gas into their car and relieve him of the burdon of finding a proper dumping place for it.
     
  9. fsae0607
    Joined: Apr 3, 2012
    Posts: 872

    fsae0607
    Member

    I could also use it in my lawnmower.

    Yeah I don't want to run that murky gas through my freshly rebuilt carb.
     
  10. Pete1
    Joined: Aug 23, 2004
    Posts: 2,254

    Pete1
    Member
    from Wa.

    Bob Haggart and Ray Baudac wrote a famous song about Winetka.
    "Big noise From Winetka".
    Came out in about 1939.
     
  11. Try not to spill any on your yard. I did that once and it polluted a good size spot in front of my garage. My old gas was over 10 years old. Nothing grows there still and it stunk to high heaven for about 3 years. Old gas is nasty stuff.
     
  12. fsae0607
    Joined: Apr 3, 2012
    Posts: 872

    fsae0607
    Member

    Oh wow, gotta check that out! Then again it could be referring to Winnetka, KS. I guess the Winnetka I'm in was named after that town, when cities all over the San Fernando valley were "seceding" from main cities here.

    Aw hell, my driveway is has oil and coolant stains from side work I've done. My truck has left her mark, too!
     
  13. davo461
    Joined: May 13, 2007
    Posts: 345

    davo461
    Member

    Ray Bauduc,(Drummer) played on the Bass strings, using his sticks, and Bob Haggart operated the fingerboard. A drummer and I performed this trick in the early sixties.
    Davo.
     
  14. USA Tires Sign Joe
    Joined: Aug 13, 2006
    Posts: 1,072

    USA Tires Sign Joe
    Member
    from Western NJ

    Start over with fresh gas in the tank do not fool with old gas through your fuel delivery system. Your County health dept should have info on a free hazmat collection day.
     
  15. supervert
    Joined: Mar 8, 2009
    Posts: 433

    supervert
    Member

    If you have a diesel, you can run a little at a time in it.
     
  16. carbking
    Joined: Dec 20, 2008
    Posts: 3,715

    carbking
    Member

    I am going to respectfully and politely disagree with some of the opinions in this thread.

    I would suggest:

    (A) Drain the tank!
    (B) Install a modern inline filter just before the carburetor
    (C) Buy at least one extra filter. Carry it and the necessary tools to change it in your glove box.
    (D) When you change the filter, repeat "C" above. We once did not have anyone locally that could steamclean a tank, and we repeated 'C" and "D" 7 times before the fresh fuel moved all the garbage forward. We did drain the tank, and flush with fresh fuel, but the dried stuff kept breaking loose.
    (E) IF POSSIBLE, drop the tank and have it steamcleaned.

    As to the drained gas, DO NOT TRY TO BURN IT IN ANYTHING. It will leave a varnish-like substance in your carburetor. Call to see if there is a hazardous waste day in your area.

    Should you ignore the above sentence, I know a good source for carburetor rebuilding kits ;)

    Jon.
     
  17. Puddin Head
    Joined: Feb 22, 2008
    Posts: 68

    Puddin Head
    Member
    from Mason, Oh

    Sending unit didn't work when I bought this 66' wagon and had trouble getting it started. Got a new sending unit, dropped the tank. Old unit was frozen solid from rust and no float. It had disintegrated and was part of the crude in the tank. Sent the tank to be cleaned, rebuilt the carb, plenty of crap in there as well, new fuel lines and two new filters. As for the gas, I ran it through a paint strainer, then put it in my truck after fill up. Dirty tank and gas are nothing but long term trouble.
     
  18. Pete1
    Joined: Aug 23, 2004
    Posts: 2,254

    Pete1
    Member
    from Wa.

    Been there, done that also.. Bob Haggart was one of my heros along with Babe Ruth except I never got to shake hands with Haggart.

    If people would learn to store their cars with av gas in the tank instead of street gas, Seafoam and StaBil would be out of business.
     
  19. billsill45
    Joined: Jul 15, 2009
    Posts: 784

    billsill45
    Member
    from SoCal


    Probably referring to Winnetka, IL (north side of Chicago) ... I don't know that Winnetka, CA had much of a music scene !!
     
  20. fsae0607
    Joined: Apr 3, 2012
    Posts: 872

    fsae0607
    Member


    No music scene in my city, but Weber's Place in Reseda had kickass Rockabilly Friday Nights a while back. Sadly, no more :(


    Thanks for all the advice, guys! I borrowed an electric pump from my dad, so I'm going to drain the tank and have another peek to make sure there's no rust and crap in there. I'm keeping the stock canister-style filter on the frame rail as my primary and the glass-bowl filter up by the carb as a secondary/"for looks" filter.

    I think there's a hazmat collection every few months or so here. I'll dump it there.
     
  21. chuckekelly
    Joined: Jan 6, 2008
    Posts: 18

    chuckekelly
    Member

    There is a WINNETKA IN IL. I have adaughter who lives there
     
  22. agree with all the above comments about removing it but, nothing works better with old gas, maybe not that old, as Seafoam. I have been trying to help thin out my uncle's heard and he has quite a few that have just sat for a few years now and that Seafoam actually works. Couldn't tell how it works or why it works but, it does work.
     
  23. junk yard kid
    Joined: Nov 11, 2007
    Posts: 2,718

    junk yard kid
    Member

    Someone was stealing the gas for my grandpas ski boat back in the '50's. So he mixed in a bunch of sugar or something. Next week neighbors motor blew. Ive heard sugar does nothing tho so who knows.
     
  24. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    Someone was stealing the gas for my grandpas ski boat back in the '50's. So he mixed in a bunch of sugar or something. Next week neighbors motor blew. Ive heard sugar does nothing tho so who knows.
    __________________
    Tell that to the few customers I had from a particular neighborhood.
    Someone 'sweetened' their tanks, and I got 4 big jobs to do. The least trouble was boiling the tank, flushing the fuel system, replacing pump, & rebuilding carb.

    The others siezed pistons, bent pushrods, galled valve stems, and instituted a major police exercise!
    There was an informant, and the juvenile responsible was reprimanded. (his folks paid for damages after a large insurance suit)
     
  25. 327Eric
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,116

    327Eric
    Member

    Don't run the the old gas in anything you like. . Use it to treat fence posts, or kill poison oak. Or take it to a local houshould toxic waste disposal day. It will kill a good engine quickly.
     
  26. Well I know that gas is not cheap but it is easy to drain, why not just drain the tank and fill it with fresh gas?
     
  27. fsae0607
    Joined: Apr 3, 2012
    Posts: 872

    fsae0607
    Member


    I am. My dad made a contraption with a piece of hard line, fuel filter, electric self-priming fuel pump and soft line. The hard line acts like a "wand" so I can suck the crud form the bottom of the tank. I'm going to drain it and fill with fresh gas, if there's no major rust or sludge that is.

    Plan B is to boil out the tank at a local rad shop by my house. ALready called and they said they could do it for $100.
     
  28. chopolds
    Joined: Oct 22, 2001
    Posts: 6,208

    chopolds
    Member
    from howell, nj
    1. Kustom Painters

    If you're going to do that, I would seriously consider putting a BIG inline fule filter in your system, before the fuel pump.
    The varnish inside the system, not just the tank, but lines as well, WILL break free with the fresh gas, as modern gas does have a lot of detergency (to keep injectors clean). It will also absorb any water in the system ( the MTBE or alcohol does that), so be sure to fill it up to dilute the effects of any moisture. A good, large filter will trap most, if not all the gunk before it hits the fuel pump and carb, to plug them up.
    I use an 86 BMW 325 fuel filter on most of my builds ( has a 5/16" barb fitting on both ends, and is for fuel inj. so it filters out very small particles). Use one, and change it out once or twice in the next 6 months to a year, if you don't boil the tank out.
    DO NOT TRUST those aftermarket small inline filters to clean this problem up! They barely filter out small rocks in your gas!
     
  29. black 62
    Joined: Jul 12, 2012
    Posts: 1,895

    black 62
    Member
    from arkansas

    allow me to ramble---in the late 50's and early 60's i knew a man who had an encyclopedic knowledge of where old fords could be found and bought---went with him to retrieve model A's and T's from old sheds and fields--he would take a military gas can dump the contents into the tank and some in the carb and drive them home---sometimes they smelled like old paint but most times they just ran like an old 4 banger should---i've had the same experience with several old cars myself ---could you do it with today's crappie gas ---i doubt it---called him up once and asked where i could find a 40 sedan delivery----drove it home 60 miles for two hundred dollars after airing the tires and filling the tank---hadn't been driven in years---my experience says dilute it and use it maybe add a filter...
     
  30. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    You could do that with gas then but you can't do it with gas made in the past 20 years. A lot of those old rigs didn't/don't have enough compression to worry too much about the quality of what they burn either.

    I can't see going through the hassles that one would have to go through after trying to use old gas including pulling the head because the valves carboned up and stuck and it won't start after setting overnight. Hell, give to the neighbor or your brother in law to pour on the stump they want to burn out but why risk and engine, carb or fuel pump because you think you can save 30 bucks or so by running the gas and end up spending a few hundred to fix the problems it causes.
     

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