Bouncnig Gas Gauge

You might start by changing fuel filter if no change then a fuel pressure check. Gas gage is a seperate issue.

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Gas does go bad over time (it can happen in as little as a few months). It turns into a varnish/gum like substance. I would drain the old gas, put in fresh gas and fuel system cleaner and hope that solves your problem.

It does not turn very fast in a sealed container like a fuel tank and I would not bother drining it after only 2 years. He could freshen it up with some newer gas added to it.

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Well, about 5 years ago I had a car sit for about 12 months before I decided I wasn't going to get it running again for a while longer, so I drained the gas and being as cheap then as I am now, I put it into another car with about 1 part old gas to 2 parts fresh gas and noticed a performance (subjective) loss as well as an MPG (quantitave) loss. Once I had used all the old gas things seemed to go back to normal. The old gas had been in a tank about 2/3 full so some air for reaction was available. When I know I'm going to leave a vehicle parked for even a week I will leave it with a full tank of gas primarily to reduce the chance of rust in the tank (I know it's not a real problem, just something I learned when I was still taking flying leasons).

I am not saying that it does not degrade some just that it is likley not the case here. I have a old jeep in the barn that has not been on road for well over two years awaiting restoration. I start it up every

4 to 6 months and it runs fine like it has not been sitting at all. Granted it is pretty low tech (low compression with a carb) but gas age has not been a issue with it yet. I have a oilot license to and have for almost 30 years now and I remember the full tank issue. When I workid in flight test and they would sump aircraft tanks, sometimes they would get several gallons of water out of a 5,000 gallon fuel tank and it was considered quite normal. The biggest concern was that the water in tank raised holy heck with "capacitive" type fuel probes in tanks.

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But have you driven it around the block or put any kind of load on it as the OP did? If you have a clog in the fuel system it may not be evident while idling.

I have moved it around some and the 360 in it is not a fuel miser and it runs like it always did. I used to burn 86 octane in it when Sunoco still sold it years ago as it is not fussy and it is the only vehicle I own that I used less than 89 octane in.

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I'm glad to hear it. If it were my rig I would drain the gas, but, you're not experience problems, so...

I have some snomobiles that I never drain either but I do put fuel stabilizer in them because them may sit 10 months or longer and never get fired up sometimes.

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Now I'm confused. You have a Jeep in the barn with (at least) 2 year old gas that has no problems caused by old gas, yet you have snow mobiles that may sit for 10 months and you add stablizer to their fuel. Do the snow mobiles burn gasoline? Does starting the engine regularly somehow stabilize the gasoline?

Gas tends to evaporate with time and leave deposits and the carbs in

2cyl snomobile motors can be REALLY fussy about this so I always use a stabilizer with it. Also gas is made different in winter than summer and has a higher volatilty in winter and degrades a bit quicker plus snomobiles do not have sealed fuel system like car do which can let gas degraded quicker. WHn you do run it from time to time you do freshen the fuel in the corb system and wash out old gas that may not have evaporated fully and turned to "gum". FOr what it is worth it does not hurt to use fuel stabilzer in anything that is going to sit but you do want tank to be full or near full to prevent condesation in tank over time. It is not a bad idea to add a few bottles of dry gas to fuel tank if it has set for a while. BTW, I always add a few ounces of dry gas per gallon to snomobile fuel anyway and with snowblowers as well. I learned the hard way on this almost 30 years ago when I was snomobiling when it was 15 below I took it out of a semi heated shop and got about 1/4 of a mile before it quit and refused to run again. Hauled it back to shop and added a few ounces of dry gas per gallon after I found nothing wrong with it otherwise and i have never had a problem like it since. Some may say it is not needed but them I have never had running issues in extreme conditions either doing this. This practice has kept snoblowers alive and running in conditions that even amaze me sometimes.

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I've seen you mention dry gas before, what is it?

It is methyl alchol (methanol) sold under dry gas, heet and gasoline antifreeze. It is called dry gas because it can bind to water and then to fuel to get moisture out of tank (some are pushing isopropyl dry gas but it can bind too much water to fuel per volume and I do not recommand it generally) Methanol will not bind enough water to fuel to realy effect performance much while in theory isopropyl can if enough water is in tank. Granted it will take more methanol to get it all out but the water will be deluted more too. (higher alchol to water ratio) so less "problems" with high water content being removed.

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