David G

Well-known Member
I am picking up a car from my sister tomorrow, it is a 2002 Civic that ran when left, but has sat inside for 3-5 years. She got a replacement car and stopped driving it, the car is a gift to my son for the work we did for her son on the tiny house. I am planning to trailer it home, but am wondering about the fuel when we start working on it. Do you think it is OK to siphon out when we can, dump in can of sea foam and refill, or drop wash tank and blow out lines?
 
I just smell the gas,if it doesn t make me sick I run it. E-10 has a neck of a kick when it goes bad.
 
David, the first thing to do is pull the cap and take a sniff. I believe the more that was in the tank the less chance of it goingbad. I'd siphon as much out as you can, put in fresh and give it a go. The fuel rail is full of old fuel as is the fuel lines pump and filter. It will probably be fine. It being inside helps a bunch with very little evaporation and condensation. have a safe trip, secure your load, then run it by yt dot to be sure. lol gobble
 
You can tell if the gas has gone completely bad by the smell. It's unmistakable. If it still smells like gas I would just drain as much as you can get out and replace it with premium gas for the first tank. If it truly is bad I would remove the tank and rinse it out with alcohol and blow alcohol through the lines.
 
Recently, I have dealt with a 1995 Camaro that "ran when parked" and sat for 4 or 5 years, and a Dorf Exploder and a Chevy Suburban that each sat for about 3 years.

All three required a replacement gas tank and "fuel module" to get them operational.

The rot, stink, and destruction in the tanks was ugly.

All three turned ouy OK with no fuel line or injector issues (much to my surprise).

Seems the gas rots in the tank when the surface area is exposed to oxygen and moisture, but not as quickly in the confines of the fuel lines and injectors.

I hope you have better luck!
 
I had a truck siting in the yard for three years. It fired and ran on the old gas. 5 years I would not bet on.
Would be nice if your tank had a drain plug. It does not.
I would be tempted to really compound my problem. How full is the tank? Hmm. Top it off with premium and give it a shot of ether. It will at least bark on ether. If it keeps running, that gas wasn't bad enough. Run it to temp, stays running? Now you get to drive off the rotten gas in the tank. PS. After that tank is gone, you might also get to change out the filter.
That would be the lazy way of doing it after everything else is done.
 
When the wife came "up north" she left her old car down at her dads. By the time we got back down to get it 5 years had passed. Put a fresh battery in it and the car fired right up. Didn't have to worry about any bugs in that township for a while. Smoked like a steam engine but it ran....
 
I'd run it with what is in it. If you are really worried about it. If you could get the line off at the engine you could just let the pump push it out. Then with some new fuel in it would flush the lines also that way. Wouls also show whether the filter is about plugged by the flow of fuel out the end of the line. Easier than pulling tank.
 
I agree with others. Smell it. But i wouldn't want that stuff going through my injectors. It will probably run though.
 

It all depends on how much gasoline is in the tank. If the tank is 1/4 full or more, I would siphon out as much as possible. Under 1/4 tank I would do the sniff test, and if it isn't too bad, fill 'er up with E-10.
 
(quoted from post at 03:56:11 03/16/19) You can tell if the gas has gone completely bad by the smell. It's unmistakable. If it still smells like gas I would just drain as much as you can get out and replace it with premium gas for the first tank. If it truly is bad I would remove the tank and rinse it out with alcohol and blow alcohol through the lines.

Regular gas starts easier than premium.
 
You're rolling the dice.

These days gasoline is trouble free for only about six months. Three years is much too long. Most likely, the gasoline in the tank has ethanol in it, making matters worse.

Ideally, you would remove the tank, have it cleaned and flush the lines before attempting to start, but this is time consuming and expensive. If the car is not too valuable, remove as much of the old gasoline as possible, fill the tank with new ethanol free gasoline (if possible) and roll the dice. You may well get away with it.

If it starts and runs, drive it for a FEW days before changing the fuel filter and tank screen (again, probably not easy). If things continue to work properly, change the filter(s) again after a FEW weeks.

Good luck.

Dean
 
If it was running when parked and it cranks up when you get there i would drive it to the store add some fresh premium gas and a can of some kind of gas additive and roll on. I wouldn't bother taken the gas out if it cranks up which it probably will. Dont over think it
 
If it will start take it and put fresh gas in it and take her for a good ride .
do not try to take old gas out only as a last resort
we run into this a lot here at my dealership .
 
My Dad started commuting with honda cars in 1976. said the fuel savings made the car payment. ALL of the honda cars that I have worked on for him had a drain plug in the gas tank. might be worth some digging online or otherwise if you eventually need to drain the tank. Those sure were convenient for me.
 
If it were easy, I would dump the gas and add some E85 for the ride home. Then drain it again and add fresh gas with the sea foam.
 

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