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What to do about old fuel?

J

jlblau

Member
My boat has been stranded on the boatlift for over a year due to low lake levels. I've always kept the tank near full, and have used Stabil gas treatment for all new fuel added. I've run my BF150 regularly on muffs, and it seems to start and run well, but admittedly it's not under load.

I don't detect any water in the plastic bowl of my Racor, but the fuel drained out of the filter is very dark.

Will I do any harm to the motor by continuing to run this old fuel through it? Should I just bite the bullet and drain the old out (ouch--50+ gallons, and then what do I do with it?). All fuel has been purchased at local gas stations, so I'm sure it has ethanol in it.

Any advice would be appreciated.
 
I don't like the sound of it -- I have had enough carb / fuel issues to be ultra-picky about only the cleanest fuel in my honda. If it were me, I would pump it out. Carb rebuilds are expensive.

That said, when I faced the same predicament with an Atomic 4 sailboat engine (lots of questionable fuel) -- I pumped out the brownish fuel and slowly added it to my car, which didnt have any problem with it. So you dont necessarily have to waste it.
 
I agree with NOT using the fuel in your outboard. OR CAR...if it's a late model. The Honda outboard is nothing much more than a modified Honda car engine so the fuel would be equally bad for both engines. Putting it in ANY fuel injected engine is sort of asking for a problem. The injector systems do have good filtration though so, if you decide you want to try it, be prepared to do some quick filter changes.

The fuel may still be very viable for lawnmowers and older, 60's vintage carbureted trucks and cars. I would probably go ahead and put it in my 66 Ford pickup. But, even then, I would still probably dilute it some with fresh gas.
 
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