Vehicle stored for 4 months

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I have a Nissan Xterra with the 4.0L that was stored for 4 months.

I pretreated the fuel (3/4s tank) with a bottle of Seafoam as a stabilizer and just in case also used premium (in case of octance decay due to loss of light fractions)..
Also the vehicle has been historically kept very clean in the fuel system (as u would expect of a BITOG member)

But since it had to go via ship had the keep the tank very low .. so it was run down to maybe 1/8th...so surface area was probably high for the fuel

Runs great... started right up after 4 months. topped up with quality non-ethanol gas... and have been doing about half a tank of driving (some of it at moderately high speed) since then.
... but I am worried about the deposits that a decaying fuel might have left.

At my foreign location I do not have access to MMO, Seafoam, BG44k or Techron, but i do have the full line of Gumout, Chemtool and STP products (and a Nissan dealer where I stopped by the other day just to say hello an get some help w/ something minor) , they sell a different product line of NIssans in this country but promised to be able to order any part my exotic, (to them) vehicle may need)

I put in a bottle of STP "complete fuel system cleaner" that has the amine cleaner in it... but my primary concern with aged fuel in the fuel lines is really the deposit of varnish is it not?(?)
Are the amine based cleaners any good at that?

As a Chemist I am skeptical but I am not a fuel chemist so who knows if my thinking is correct.

I believe Chemtool is solvent based rather than detergent based so might think of it as a better choice against varnish but I had a bad experiences with it once (in another Xterra) and my vehicle IS running perfect so I rather not use anything harsh.

Any thoughts to steer me in the right direction?
 
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4 months is not long at all. Nothing will have happened to your fuel lines in that time. Use whatever additive you want, but don't worry about the vehicle sitting for 4 months.
 
You're overthinking it. If the local fuel has any equivalent of Top Tier that should be fine.

Modern fuel systems with evaporative controls maintain fuel quality well. They're pressurized with fuel vapor and not atmospheric air. My wife's car sat for 9 months in the garage before we had the transmission replaced and it runs perfectly. Doesn't look great, but mechanically it's sound. And that was with a half full tank of E10.

That being said, I used a bottle of Chevron Pro-Gard (lower concentration Techron) and a maintenance dose of Red Line SI-1. They were sitting unused in my garage so I thought it was a good time.
 
Store a modern car for not even a complete winter. Runs fine, but still needs additives due to theoretical decaying premium fuel which most likely has no ethanol.

Pearl clutching.
 
If it runs great, I wouldn't worry. Not sure I understand what you're worried about.
 
OK fellas thanks!

I guess I needed that.. I tend to obsess about vehicles a bit...
probably not a rarity on this site..
blush.gif
 
Jeep had at most a 1/4 tank for about 3 years now. Fires up fine every time. No dry climate either.
 
Originally Posted by CT8
What problem are you trying to solve?

One that probably doesn't exist....
 
Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by CT8
What problem are you trying to solve?

One that probably doesn't exist....

Tons of people still think that gasoline degrades when it isn't used. But that's minimal with modern EVAP systems that purge any oxygen or water vapor in the tank and fuel system. A gas can (not sure about the new style we have in California) or small engine tanks that are vented might be different though. Haven't some people done tests on E10 that was stored in the tanks of cars for a couple of years and found they tested just fine with no varnish?
 
My dad's Ranger sits most of the year not driven with the same tank of fuel in it. Usually E-10 regular octane. It sits for 4-6 months at a time. No issues.
 
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