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diesel fuel - 5+ years in tractor

WI Dan

WI Dan

Well-known Member
Location
Northern Wisconsin, Price County
We have a British Leyland 270 tractor in the shed. It gets started and run a dozen times a year, for the past two years since dad passed away.
I don't know when the last time was it got filled with fuel. We baled hay in 2016 and he sure would have filled it then.

So, my question is: are we safe to keep using the tractor with this fuel? Could it cause damage to the engine?

(Dad was religious about using Sta-Bil in the gasoline. I don't know if he used any treatment in the diesel.)
 
If there is no indication of bacterial infestation, (glop, or plugged filters) i would actually run it doing something with it untill it needed fuel.
Then refill and run it untill the new fuel was in the system. Jim
 
I don't see any aging problems with diesel.

Keep it full to prevent condensation. Supposedly mold can't grow in the dark.
 
I have run generators with fuel older than that. Might smoke a little but you should be fine. Just check for water before you run it.
 
WIDan,


With a little knowledge of long term diesel storage, you may be in luck. Wisconsin diesel may not have any bio in it. That is where I have seen many diesel fuel storage go bad. Water, along with the sludge/algae from the bio component make thhings worse.

As with others, drain any accumulated water out, run her until she is out of fuel, then top it off.

D.
 
I always use Sta-bil additive in my fuel for things that don't get run very often. By
posting this, I will start an argument here as to whether Sea-Foam or Sta-bil are
better, or whether such additives even work at all, but I've used it for years and I
don't seem to have problems. The alcohol in gasoline is another story.
 
I bought a David Brown 885 diesel last year it had been sitting in a shed for 10 years with diesel in it,turned over about 3 times and fired right up.Put in 5 gal more fuel and a half can of Seafoam been running ever since
 
I bought a Ford 3000 diesel for the
engine once.
The guy used it for haying and had put a
brand new crate motor in it.
A year later he got cancer and that put
the kibosh on his haying operation.
He beat the cancer and retired.
13 years later was cleaning up his place
and selling off all his equipment. By
then it had all sat outside so long that
most of it was scrap.
He was going to scrap the tractor too but
his son said since that nearly new engine
was loose they should try pull starting
it.
They pulled it and the engine started up
and ran just fine.
When I bought it we pull started it and
though the tires were mostly rotted off
it fired right up and I drove it onto my
trailer.
I put that nice engine into a different
tractor. The tank was nearly full of fuel
when I got it. I drained some into a
clear orange juice jug. It was clean. So
I used all but the last gallon or so in
the tractor. By then that fuel was 14 or
15 years old.
That affair is one of the reasons I have
gone entirely to diesel tractors too.


cvphoto48936.jpg
 
That long ago the fuel would not of had any biodiesel in it, I think that has causes more problems. I use a little biocide in my fuel, a I don't use very much. Last year I had 5 gallons that set over winter, without biocide, and it plugged the screen in my funnel.
 
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