preparing to start car with 2-3 year old E10 in it

[nealoc187]

One of my cars has a completely full tank of mixed 2 and 3 year old E10 in it. No Stabil or any other additives were added.

1) Car was parked in April 2011 with 1/3 tank of E10 - no additives.

2) Started and drove car for half an hour in Summer/Fall 2012 (gas was on the order of 14-16 months old at this point). Car ran like a top. I drove it to the gas station and filled it up the rest of the way. I do not know for sure if the gas station that I used had E10 at the time, but I would assume so (I know what gas station it was, and it's not listed on pure-gas now so I am assuming E10). Again, car ran perfectly fine with 14-18 month old E10 in it. But now it has a mix of 3 year old gas and 1.5-2ish year old gas.

3) Fast forward to now, I plan on getting the car started this weekend. I am mostly worried about fuel injector and fuel rail clogging. Siphoning and/or otherwise removing the gas from the tank is not a big deal, and I'll do a fuel filter on it and observe (both by sight and smell) what comes out of the fuel line/siphon line but I am worried about the condition of the fuel rail and injectors at this point (worried about gumming/varnish/whatever else). Fuel rail and injectors were brand new essentially at the time the car was parked.

Any advise on other steps that should be taken, or whether I need to be worried at all. Most of the car people (I'm one of them, but I've never dealt with old gas before) I've posed this question to have basically told me they wouldn't be worried about prepping, try to start it and see what happens. If it starts and runs fine then I'm good to go.

 

[toneydoc]

Give it a try and see how she runs first.

 

[Texan4Life]

Quote:
wouldn't be worried about prepping, try to start it and see what happens. If it starts and runs fine then I'm good to go.


+1

I have started several FI cars on original fuel up to about 5 years old... biggest problems were battery related.

maybe i'm lucky i dunno

 

[OneEyeJack]

Can you get something like Chevron ProGuard into the fuel system between the tank and the engine and crank the engine after you change the fuel filter(s)? We used to do that for generators that sat for a long time without running. And we use a fuel stabilizer in the tank before starting and did what we could to mix it up. You're being smart about thinking this thru before driving off.

 

[yvon_la]

Ethanol gas form a film everywhere it was around 3month old ,that film dry up .and the risk is that this film to disloge and go create blockage.would marvel mystery oil help here?might be worth a shot?

 

[901Memphis]

Just give it a go and run it low, refill with some premium Pure gas from a top tier company and add some Techron or Gumout Regane with it.

 

[eljefino]

Look for mouse nests in the air filter before you hit it.

 

[fdcg27]

You seem to be over-thinking this.
Start the car and drive it. Repeat in normal use until the car is very low on fuel and then refill with fresh.
I think you'll be just fine.
Really not much else you can do.

 

[dave5358]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Look for mouse nests in the air filter before you hit it.

Look for them everywhere, including the cabin air filter box, next to the battery, under seats, etc. The little critters get around.

 

[nealoc187]

Originally Posted By: fdcg27
You seem to be over-thinking this.
Start the car and drive it. Repeat in normal use until the car is very low on fuel and then refill with fresh.
I think you'll be just fine.
Really not much else you can do.


I over-think everything.

There's a lot I could do, if necessary. I could replace the whole fuel system - lines, rails, pump, injectors -in a few hours if I had to but I'm just wondering what's necessary/what experiences people have had with non-Stabil'd 3 year old E10, since I've had none. Hopefully it'll just start right up and run like it did last time and I won't have to do squat. But I worked hard to get this engine in this car and it's a no joke to build another one, so i'd rather keep this one intact instead of doing some serious damage by running it lean.

 

[fdcg27]

The fuel isn't going to hurt the engine and it shouldn't make it run lean.
Anyway, a little lean running in moderate use shouldn't hurt anything.
If the whole fuel system is that easy to R&R, then you'll have no trouble doing it should it be needed.
I don't think it will be.
We've had E10 here for decades and I've never had a problem wih it in anything that's been sitting for a time.
I think that a lot of the evils you hear attributed to E10 are no more than the modern day fables that we find online.
I've never known Stabil to actually do anything either when I've tried it.
Anyway, what engine in what car is this?
I'm guessing that it must be something pretty special.

 

[JR]

Start and go. use a additive at first fill-up. check for mouse problems before starting, they like to make nests in aircleaners and etc. i have started and drove cars stored over five years.

ken

 

[spasm3]

I might consider a can of berrymans b-12.

 

[nealoc187]

update:

went to change the fuel filter and the gas came out of there smelling and looking 100% normal. also car only has 1/4 tank in it. i must have gone crazy, i swear i filled it up when i drove it around the block 2 years ago, but apparently not. So it's only got the 3 year old stuff in it.

thing fired up like i had it running yesterday. no hesitation or anything other than normal smooth operation. good to go.

 

[TiredTrucker]

And to hear the folks with a bias against ethanol, you would think the fuel system would have been deteriorated beyond functioning and your engine would have seized up shortly after you started it.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: JR
Start and go. use a additive at first fill-up. check for mouse problems before starting, they like to make nests in aircleaners and etc. i have started and drove cars stored over five years.

ken


That's what I'd do. First I'd check for mice, etc. as mentioned. If I was really concerned about the fuel I'd drain the tank and fill it partially with fresh fuel. Get to a gas station add a bottle of Red Line FI cleaner fill it up and drive. The only problem then would be disposal of the bad gas.

 

[another Todd]

If it's a modern vehicle with a sealed fuel system it should be no problem at all. If it is an older vehicle with a vented fuel system it could by big problems, depending on location and exposure to elements.