question for old fuels

garycorbett · #1 02-13-2009, 08:08 PM

when i lay my boat up for the summer here in florida - i am up north for May-Dec - i think i will drain all the gas - 30 gal - instead of filling the tanks and treating with stabil - in case i don't get down next winter. Tanks are aluminum. I find that the old gas don't run good in my motor so i end up syphoning it off and burning it in my ford 460 motor anyway.

reelapeelin · #2 02-13-2009, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garycorbett

when i lay my boat up for the summer here in florida - i am up north for May-Dec - i think i will drain all the gas - 30 gal - instead of filling the tanks and treating with stabil - in case i don't get down next winter. Tanks are aluminum. I find that the old gas don't run good in my motor so i end up syphoning it off and burning it in my ford 460 motor anyway.

My only concern is from what I've HEARD (as opposed to what I've experienced) and that's condensation building up inside an empty tank...FL can be a HUMID environment and ya might be openin' up a bigger can of worms than fillin' it and addin' Stabil...

chumbucket · #3 02-13-2009, 08:50 PM

Whew! I thought the title of this thread was; question for old fools. I hate being put on the spot.

garycorbett · #4 02-13-2009, 11:26 PM

a bit of a pun

cfelton · #5 02-14-2009, 08:07 PM

Ive got 2 twenty gallon saddle tanks and I keep them almost full and add Stabil. I occasionally run mine and add new fuel during the cold months. Havent had any trouble yet! I do change my spin on gas filter a couple a times a year.

Steplift 72' · #6 02-15-2009, 05:02 PM

One point folks miss is that summer gas ain't winter gas. In the winter more lighter hydrocarbons are added to allow the motor to fire off on a cold day.

My 2 cents is to keep fuel tanks full with fuel stabilizer. I always added the old OMC 2+4 and never had problems.....except trying to run winter gas through the anti-siphon valve. In the south refiners start to add butane in November, when a vacuum is pulled by the fuel pump, it often vapor locks. I had a Grady White that would vapor lock on the main tank and the aux tank ran fine. Finally I took the spring and ball out of the anti-siphon valve, no more problems.

garycorbett · #7 02-15-2009, 05:55 PM

I wonder if the aluminum tanks would corrode if they were empty?

I find that the old summer gas don't run good after a layup of 8-9 months; the engine misfires (rough and rpm drops) a little til I get to the point where the new gas is getting through. So i siphon it out and run it in my truck. I don't like misfires offshore - it's worrisom.

Steplift 72' · #8 02-16-2009, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garycorbett

I wonder if the aluminum tanks would corrode if they were empty?

I find that the old summer gas don't run good after a layup of 8-9 months; the engine misfires (rough and rpm drops) a little til I get to the point where the new gas is getting through. So i siphon it out and run it in my truck. I don't like misfires offshore - it's worrisom.

Completely empty the aluminum tanks shouldn't corrode. I've had aluminum tanks corrode through, but from the outside where salt water and air was present.

spareparts · #9 02-16-2009, 07:29 PM

In my personal experiance, I have not seen filling the tank reduce the amount of water in the fuel. The best thing to do, is reduce the amount of fuel you have stored, add fuel stabilizer to it, run the engine long enough for the stabilized fuel to reach the engine, then in the spring, Dilute to left over gas with fresh gas from the pump

reelapeelin · #10 02-16-2009, 08:23 PM

[quote=garycorbett;136271I find that the old summer gas don't run good after a layup of 8-9 months; the engine misfires (rough and rpm drops) [/quote]

...and that is WITH a fuel stabilizer?...