Will old gasoline clog a fuel filter?

[The motor guy]

Old diesel will clog a fuel filter pretty quick, but does the same thing occur to gasoline? Like say gas that's a year or more old?

 

[atikovi]

No. I've driven on 8 year old gas just fine. However, if it's that old, corrosion on the metal fuel pump, sender, pickup, etc can clog the filter.

 

[Kira]

Makes me wonder...
Microbes can grow into slime in diesel tanks. Does any of that happen in gasoline?

 

[The motor guy]

Makes me wonder...
Microbes can grow into slime in diesel tanks. Does any of that happen in gasoline?

You definitely get a lot of white residue from old gasoline. I'm also running it through a 10 micron filter, not one of those silver metal rock catchers they put on most vehicles

 

[Jetronic]

diesel filters are around 2-3 microns, if you ran gasoline through that it would likely clog the filter just as quick

 

[nwjones18]

One time I had 5 gallons of bad gas I needed to get rid of. My 88 F-150 holds 34 gallons so I thought to myself "I'll just pour 1/2 the jug in each tank and it will burn it no problem"... Well I honestly don't know how it occurred as the gas wasn't rusty or anything, but it clogged the fuel filter and ultimately clogged the injectors themselves which I had to pull and replace... Never again, especially on a fuel injected engine.

 

[zray1]

Old diesel will clog a fuel filter pretty quick, but does the same thing occur to gasoline? Like say gas that's a year or more old?

Take a look at what old pure gasoline, not ethanol, looks like after sitting for too long.

Thats your answer.

 

[oldhp]

I used a gas generator for 3 days this past June / July. Fresh Shell 87 octane as per manual. Dec 1st tried to start it. Nope. Empty tank fresh Circle K 87 octane gas, fired right up. So a couple of days over 5 months sitting in a 60° closed garage the gas goes bad. Kinda had varnish smell. Gas these days is hit and miss unless kept in a sealed fuel injection system.

 

[Dave9]

It can clog the filter to some extent and if not too badly to run the engine, fresh fuel "may" help clean it back out. The larger issues aren't the replaceable filter but rather gumming up a carb or injectors or even a pressure regulator. Again new fuel (or fuel system cleaner) may help to clean them out, but again the engine has to run well enough to get the fuel through to do that.

IMO, not worth the risk/bother unless it's hairy situation where you need to get out of dodge because the natural disaster +zombies are hot on your heels, and that's all the fuel you have.

 

[urman]

My car hasn't been used for over a year. then I drove 50 km on old gasoline and filled it with new one. Over the course of 5000 km I had rough engine idling until the engine warmed up. I filled in 7 PEA flushes, including Techron and BG, before engine performance stabilized.

 

[fantastic]

Not worth the risk of damage to equipment. If we're talking about 2 month old gas then throw it in but any much beyond that, without being treated w/stabil, I'd say no way.