gasoline sitting for 18 months?

I was told that any gasoline older than one month has "turned to varnish". I'm sure that's an overstatement, but I don't know what the truth about gas is.

Ted Shoemaker

Depends how it was stored. If it was indoors it should be fine, though it'll stink when you get it running until you get fresh gas in it. Some of the thinner solvents will be gone from evaporation in the gas no matter how well it's been stored. Wisconsin winter gas (I'm in Fort Atkinson) would have had more of the thin stuff to evaporate since it's designed to be stored & used in cold temperatures. Summer gas has less solvents in it to make it less evaporative in summer heat. The old gas won't stop you from getting the van running all other things being the same, but it might make it harder to start or keep running decently if it's really marginal in the ignition or fuel delivery departments.

I'd throw in some injector cleaner to add some more thinning solvents to the old gas, and a can of HEET to get rid if some of the water that's probably condensed in the tank & fuel lines. Get a new fuel filter right off the bat too. If the ignition system is OK, that should be fine. Then make sure you use up that gas asap, and expect it to smell funny, get terrible mileage and run kinda crappy until you get something in there less than 18+ months old. ;)

Obviously, you're going to want to change the oil & filter as soon as you get it running since there's likely to be a bunch of water in the crankcase from condensation as well. The antifreeze should be OK for now, but maybe not for when it actually gets to below freezing around here.

Cheers, - JJ

I had a 1987 Nissan Stanza sit for 3 years with a nearly full tank of gas ...started it up, passed DEQ...no problems with the "old gas' whatsoever. I had a 1989 Dodge van sit for nearly two years, same result...with a 33 gal tank I had no interest in dumping the gas unless I had to. Now with my lawn mower or weed-whacker, if left sitting over the winter I happily dump the gas....Rod

Thanks, everyone, for good and friendly advice.

Ted Shoemaker

A little more information on old gas