Winter sends many classics into long-term storage. How well those cars emerge from stasis, however, can depend on the fuel in the tank.
Winter sends many classics into long-term storage. How well those cars emerge from stasis, however, can depend on the fuel in the tank.
Good, short, straightforward info, but you left out aviation fuel that has a long storage life. I'm still amazed at how many collectors whine at the price of specialty fuels, yet don't consider the damage to the fuel system that pump gas can do. The fact is collector cars don't use enough fuel in the course of a year to be a significant cost.
In reply to Bardan :
Thank you. We actually covered aviation gas in its own piece: Why Not Avgas in Your Car? While it doesn't contain ethanol, our expert at Sunoco cautions that avgas contains some unnecessary additives.
I know we are talking about storage fuels but the owner of that Z car should also consider a good cleaning before putting it to bed!
I'd like to hear more about the effects of ethanol on water contamination. I'm starting to see more and more claims that, while ethanol isn't so great for other reasons, water contamination isn't one of them, and that it may actually be advantageous. Also the claim that ethanol "absorbs water out of the air" is not true. The primary mechanism for water in fuel is from condensation in the fuel tank.
https://www.theautochannel.com/news/2016/03/18/209988-ethanol-does-not-suck-water-out-air.html
https://cropwatch.unl.edu/documents/Ethanol%20and%20Water%20Contamination%2009052014.pdf
This one is particularly interesting, since it shows how water reacts to gasoline with and without ethanol.
I've heard pros and cons about Stabil. What do you think?
In reply to rhart6 :
Yes, someone please answer the question-- does Stabil really work, or is it all a marketing ploy? I've used it a few times but admit that most of the time I don't and haven't had a problem yet that I know of. For my TR-6, I try to remember to fill the tank with premium to leave a minimum amount of air at the top of the tank. But I keep the car ready to go, and will use it occasionally in the winter when there's no snow/salt on the road here in New England.
I don't use Stabil in my lawnmowers, snowblowers, or boat (tho after running the boat I always shut off the fuel supply and run the engine out of gas to minimize varnish and gum buildup. Haven't ever had a starting problem (yet). Last week I started the 35- y.o. snowblower with last year's fuel still in it--started on the second pull.
For cars without catalytic converters, you can use Sunoco Surge. Has some lead.
So, what's in StaBil and does it work?
Let's go to the safety data sheet, the document that tells all.
What's a safety data sheet? It's a standardized doc that, in theory, tells all about a chemical compound. You can read a bit more about them here: Do fuel additives actually work? | Fuel Tips.
Section 3 of the SDS will list the ingredients.
You can usually find the SDS via some googling. If there's a spill, ingestion or other emergency, those involved will need that info asap.
So, I found this one for StaBil.
For helping on breaking down the details, see if this helps: Fuel Tips: Antioxidants, Fuel Stabilizers, and You
The TL;DR: There are antioxidants in StaBil, and that's good for your gasoline.
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