Marine shelf life of gasoline

mitch · Post by **mitch** » Sun Jan 01, 2012 12:26 pm

There are many myths and misconceptions out there regarding the shelf-life of gasoline?

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:09 am

i honestly highly doubt that its any different then for cars... i just use the 3 month rule on the gasoline age before it starts breaking down

i however did manage to fire up a motor before with 2 year old gas after it just sitting there... and yes i know it isnt good for the engine however we just needed to see if she would fire and the closest gas station was like 20 miles away.

rooferdave · Post by **rooferdave** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:25 am

when I bought my boat both tanks were full with 5 year old gas, fired right and I used it all with no probs

ready123 · Post by **ready123** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:54 am

rooferdave wrote:when I bought my boat both tanks were full with 5 year old gas, fired right and I used it all with no probs

I add some octane boost.....
Dave our Canadian boat gas likely has little or no ethanol which can also be a problem for US boats left idle.

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 11:16 am

+1 on the octane boost. Then if she runs well, add new fuel. We're lucky that a lot of our marinas don't carry the ethnol but I would still expect water in the fuel just from condensation in a tank sitting idle for so long, so I'd be monitoring/changing the water separators often.

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:25 pm

i mean the water filters are just part of regular maintenance, i see no point of getting rid of loads of fuel just because of the reason especially if the boat runs just fine with it.... i personally just don't fill up all the way and take only what i know ill use to avoid the problem, especially with the price of gas sitting at $4 per gallon at the marina that im at, wasting fuel is not on my agenda

+1 on the octane boost btw

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 1:04 pm

Best thing to do is burn it , after all thats what a boats for . Using a boat solves a lots of problems .

Well its going to get cold here tonight so I need to turn on the block heaters , and when I am at boat burn some old fuel ( 2 days old

) and a short ride if the winds not to bad

smiller192 · Post by **smiller192** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 1:47 pm

When I bought my 11 meter 2 years ago, the tanks were full and the previous owner told me it was at least five years old. I hired a guy that did "Fuel Cleaning". He charged me $150.00 to recirculate the fuel through a filtration system he had constructed. He captured a lot of water and the octane test came back a little low. I added octane boost to the fuel and ran it through the boat. No problems other than I changed the filters a couple of times during the process. One plus is that non ethanol fuel is readily available in miami and that was what was in the boat. The fuel smelled fine and the guy who "cleaned" the fuel said it helped that the tanks were full or nearly full. I was uncertain about the wisdom of running old fuel through fresh engines. but the cost of paying $2.40 per gallon to dispose of 300 to 350 gallons and $4.11 to replace it made me look at alternatives. I also changed to Racor filters, the best in my opinion.

http://www.collegefair.org/11_meter_progress_page.htm

mitch · Post by **mitch** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 7:43 pm

Thank you all, for your comments.
Been worried about bad gas in my trojan,
Thanks again, Mitch

Torcan · Post by **Torcan** » Mon Jan 02, 2012 8:07 pm

Vitaliy wrote:especially with the price of gas sitting at $4 per gallon at the marina that im at, wasting fuel is not on my agenda

Vitalily.. is that price for regular unleaded?

Here in Canada the Regular gas can contain up to 15% ethanol, Bronze or Medium up to 10% and the Premium or Super is 0%

Super, or Premium is running at $1.60 per litre, translated to the American gallon that is 1.60 x 3.78 litres = $6.05CAD/US gallon
or.....$6.05 * 1.03 = $6.23US/USgallon

Reg gas is running at $1.20/liter..you do the math

I'll gladly pay $4/gallon if I could find it.

I only put the premium in my tank, why take the chance?

Vitaliy · Post by **Vitaliy** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:05 pm

Torcan wrote:
Vitaliy wrote:especially with the price of gas sitting at $4 per gallon at the marina that im at, wasting fuel is not on my agenda
Before i left Virginia i filled up at $3.11 per gallon of regular on my car and now in New York city gas price for regular is $3.89, marine fuel in Virginia was $3.99 when i left and in NY its $4.57... soo yea.... all these prices are for regular gas at 10% ethanol.

Vitalily.. is that price for regular unleaded?

Here in Canada the Regular gas can contain up to 15% ethanol, Bronze or Medium up to 10% and the Premium or Super is 0%

Super, or Premium is running at $1.60 per litre, translated to the American gallon that is 1.60 x 3.78 litres = $6.05CAD/US gallon
or.....$6.05 * 1.03 = $6.23US/USgallon

Reg gas is running at $1.20/liter..you do the math

I'll gladly pay $4/gallon if I could find it.

I only put the premium in my tank, why take the chance?

gettaway · Post by **gettaway** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:41 pm

LETS RECAP... the general consensus is that it's ok to run "old" fuel id the engines run ok?

I am in the same prediciment with my boat. the fuel in my boat is about 1 year old and I treated it with Lucas fuel treatment and sta-bil.

Now that the new engines are almost ready to run, I have had a few late night worries about the fuel.

alexander38 · Post by **alexander38** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:13 pm

gettaway wrote:LETS RECAP... the general consensus is that it's ok to run "old" fuel id the engines run ok?

I am in the same prediciment with my boat. the fuel in my boat is about 1 year old and I treated it with Lucas fuel treatment and sta-bil.

Now that the new engines are almost ready to run, I have had a few late night worries about the fuel.

how much you got in those tanks...seems EZ if you're worried I'd drain them and run it through the wife's engine...

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:46 pm

Hows the fuel smell ? can you check for water at the bottom of the tank ? if there both ok , go boating

rossjo · Post by **rossjo** » Wed Jan 04, 2012 9:39 pm

gettaway wrote:LETS RECAP... the general consensus is that it's ok to run "old" fuel id the engines run ok?

I am in the same prediciment with my boat. the fuel in my boat is about 1 year old and I treated it with Lucas fuel treatment and sta-bil.

Now that the new engines are almost ready to run, I have had a few late night worries about the fuel.

Why not use a small, portable tank with good, fresh 100% Gasoline for initial startup and break-iin. Then use up the old stuff (might add some octane booster as well).