What to do with old gasoline?

I am about to try to revive a relative's car that has been sitting for four years or more. I presume there will be some stale gas to remove and replace with nice fresh gas. So, what does one do with the nasty old gas?

And, yes, I have seen those videos of a beer-chugging shirtless guy pouring gas on a brush pile and finding himself in the middle of a fireball. Not going there.

Put it in a container and use for cleaning parts.

In reply to Rusted_Busted_Spit:

This, I was going to say rust remover.

It is an excellent weed killer.

Make a big ass fire from some distance away?

I usually put old gas in a gas can and keep it around for starting fires in my fire pit.

you could mix it in to nearly full running cars to burn it up the way it was intended. Might take a little longer, depending on how much you have to store, but it gets rid of it in a fairly useful manner.

lawn mower

stafford1500 wrote: you could mix it in to nearly full running cars to burn it up the way it was intended. Might take a little longer, depending on how much you have to store, but it gets rid of it in a fairly useful manner.

This. Dilute it with normal gas, burn it in your lawnmower.

What kind of car, and how full is the tank? 4 years really isn't that long. I'd be inclined to just put more fuel in and then start it up.

Otherwise lawnmower/weedeater/snowblower or just mix it in a couple gallons at a time in your car.

EDIT: For reference, I've actually done this with a Buick Park Avenue with the 3800. Car had been sitting for about 3 years, and based on the tank (1/2 a tank) I would assume that the gas was at least 2 months old at the time the car started sitting.

I put in 2 gallons of new gasoline, put a new battery in it, and it started right up. Drove it to the gas station and filled it more, then to get the oil changed for $20. I ran it pretty close to dry, and filled it up again and used some of the Lucas tune-up in a bottle. It ran slightly better after that, although it was running well enough before that I'm not sure it wasn't placebo affect.

Now, I don't know that I would try this with a SAAB or Mercedes, but for most vehicles that I think of when I hear "relatives car has been sitting for 4 years" I'd assume it would be safe enough to try.

+1 for weed killer or dilute with good gas

I've found a SBC will burn just about anything it is fed.

SilverFleet wrote: I usually put old gas in a gas can and keep it around for starting fires in my fire pit.

Same here, though I usually mix some used motor oil in so it doesn't go "boom" quite so quickly.

I agree it depends on the car. IME, modern EFI systems are amazingly tolerant of crap gas. If anything, I'd toss in a bottle or two of FI Cleaner, top it off with new gas and drive it.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Sounds like blending should work well.

Fueled by Caffeine wrote: lawn mower

NO!!!

Single piston small engines hate old gas more than a car will

When I bought my first 944 it had 1/2-tank of 6-year-old gas. I started it and drove it to the gas station, filled up with 93. All this tank-draining for gas that's less than 10 years old is probably unnecessary effort.

When I drained 12 gallons out of the 924 (which had been sitting for a couple years), I just added it 4-5 gallons at a time to 15 gallons of fresh fuel in our Sequoia. Burned it off, the v8 had no issue with it...

+1 for burning it in the car it's in. 4 years isn't that old.

If it were race fuel, save a batch to burn/ huff over winter.

Plus one for adding castor bean oil.

If you can light a puddle of it with a match it will burn fine in a flathead mower engine.

Slowly put into car, run. Done.

Cars that have been sitting for a few years won't normally have many issues with the fuel in the tank. It's the possible water and/or dirt/rust that they may have problems with if any is present. Clogged fuel filters and injectors usually result. Newer cars have sealed fuel systems that keep the amount of water forming in a tank to a minimum. It also keeps the amount of fuel that can evaporate low as well. When gasoline evaporates it leaves that brown "varnish" that you see in a cars intake, etc.

That's why "old" cars which don't have sealed fuel systems can have issues from sitting. Water can form in the tank, rust appears, the fuel evaporates, and you then have a thick sludge that used to be gasoline to deal with.

gearheadmb wrote: It is an excellent weed killer.

It Kills Kudzu and any other weeds in the way. If you love your lawn Mower you won't use it in it. and then get Non-Ethanol gas for your mower.

jimbbski wrote: Cars that have been sitting for a few years won't normally have many issues with the fuel in the tank. It's the possible water and/or dirt/rust that they may have problems with if any is present. Clogged fuel filters and injectors usually result.

This. I siphon it out through a coffee filter, then add it back into gas tanks on top of new gas.

In reply to java230:

Ain't that the truth.