Old Petrol

yes and 4 years is one hell of a long time :)

Someones already said yes....

The old 4 star petrol could apparantly last about 2 years, unleaded could last about 6 months before it started going off, or stale as it's usually called, (it'll smell like varnish when it's gon really bad.. the diesel in your mix may mask this smell tho)

If you leave petrol in an engine with a carb for too long, the fuel evaporates from the carb's float bowl and leaves varnish like deposits behind, making the bugger hadr to start.. add very old go juice, and you got double the problems.

Even diesel goes off, but not in the same way, an algi like substance begins to grow in it, it'll do this faster if you keep it in non opaque containers as the sun helps the process along.. like the garden pond in summer.

diesel has a fungiside type addetive in it, but this only lasts for so long, longer than it takes for petrol to go off, but people in america who were convinced the world would end in the year 2000, and started hoarding things like food, water, fuel for the genny etc, found out the algi growth problem in their bulk storage tanks they had installed to last them a few years of the thermo nuclear winter that was going to happen :)

Maybe bio diesel has even more of an algi growth problem, or maybe bio diesel is added in small ammounts to regular diesel (not that you can get regular diesel anymore in englans, just that shitty ultra low sulphur stuff that takes off a couple of mpg, and reduces engine power a bit.. fill your diesel vehicle up in france and you'll notice the differance.. they still get 'real' diesel.

You can buy fuel stabilizer, most lawnmower repair type shops stock it in small quantaties, for putting into the 5 litre can and small fuel tank on the mower, this can keep the fuel fresh for a couple of years (aimed at unleaded, most new mowers come with a warning that unleaded shouldent be stored for more than 6 months.. unless you buy the manafactures brand of fuel stabilizer) But the stabilizer needs to be put in the fuel before it's stored,

No guarentees, but maybe mixing some fresh petrol with your ancient stuff may help bring the flash point back in the normal range of petrol, for a while, otherwise sell it to the local kids to make molotov coctails with? doubt it's any good for sniffing anymore :)

Get some octane booster put in it and that should help it along, the stuff from halfords does about 250 litres so I would tip the whole lot in and hope it brings the octane rating back up enough to use for a while.

Yes, unleaded does - theoretically after a month.

In practice a 5 litre can of fuel bought in Spring runs my mower OK for the season, but won't work the following year. Draining and refilling with fresh petrol worked like magic!

Just run some fresh high octane through it, if it runs at the moment odds are that'll fix it

what woulkd be the best way to clean the carb out......providing I start using this years fuel.

so not only is their fuel cheaper, it goes further!

Considering the above it is amazing anything is working with this old fuel, on Sunday past, I cut up about ½ton logs using this stuff....took half an hour and a lot of swearing to get the chainsaw fired up though!

Think I may advertise the remaining 5 gallons on Ebay!!!

Vintage "Jan99" 13:1 Petrol Diesel mix....Rocket Fuel for Big Bore Cherrybombed Nova's, "you'll never of heard it so LOUD" This specialised fuel is guaranteed to get folk looking at you!

offers over £33