Old fuel

[Andy from the block]

Im going to start a car that has been siting around for about 14 months
soon and Ive heard that the fuel may have gone flat and may need to be
replaced with new fuel in order to start it.
I still have to get some things done to the car before starting it, so was wondering
if anyone has any other thoughts about this in the meantime?
If the fuel needs to be replaced, what would be the best way to go about it?
cheers

[Lloyd]

Undo the bung bolt in the bottom of the tank, drain and refill. I think 6 months is the general sort of age after which the fuel will go stale so I'm pretty sure you'll want a bit of new stuff in there instead

[Jazza]

5 month old 91 didnt like my boat motor. Definately change it.

[Leon]

my silvertop started ran and drove quite happily on 11 month old fuel. I grannied it though!

[johntramp]

would it be enough to fill a tank with new high octane fuel rather than draining the old stuff?

[Grrrrrrr!]

I depends on a few factors, but i had no hesititation starting a car that had been sitting for near on a year and driving it to the local petrol station to top it up. Can't see it doing any damage, just nana it to the servo and top up with fresh fuel. (just dont go trying to fit into any tiny gaps just incase the car does decide to die on you)

[barryogen]

I had a lawn mower start on petrol atleast 22 years old, ran like a dream, no exhaust and big blue flames out the bottom of the engine(we sat it on a metal frame thingy)

[~SlideWays~]

I had a lawn mower start on petrol atleast 22 years old, ran like a dream, no exhaust and big blue flames out the bottom of the engine(we sat it on a metal frame thingy)

Wouldn't that have been leaded then? Clean out the grandparents garage or something?!

[barryogen]

I had a lawn mower start on petrol atleast 22 years old, ran like a dream, no exhaust and big blue flames out the bottom of the engine(we sat it on a metal frame thingy)

Wouldn't that have been leaded then? Clean out the grandparents garage or something?!

it was on my folks farm, the engine was in the loft of one of the sheds from when they bought it in 1982, no-one knew it was there til I went exploring one weekend... found a heap of home brew aswell, all a little foul smelling though, didn't have a drink, I value my eye site.

indeed it would have been leaded, the engine now powers my sisters mower, hers was low on oil and she thought it would be fine for a while like that

[Crucible]

Im going to start a car that has been siting around for about 14 months
soon and Ive heard that the fuel may have gone flat

Like HRT says.

Ive been to callouts where cars have been sitting for a few months, had spark and fuel but no go, as soon as you give it a squirt of EITHER they seem to fire up and run on the stale fuel but just initially firing them up on stale gas seems to be a problem - weird?

tnt

[Andy from the block]

hey guys thanks for the advice.
I fired up the car today after over 14 months and guess what...
It started first time ..god bless Toyota
Havent driven it yet though, idle sounds fine.
On such old fuel (half tank full) would it harm the engine to thrash it?
Or am I better off using up this fuel first/emptying it and replace with new fuel?
Cheers

[solitaire]

My AE92 Red top which is tuned with an easychip for 98octane started first time after a year... topped up half the tank with bp ultimate and it didnt miss a beat... try that sh!t in a honda