Stale Unleaded Petrol

Logistics and Transport
dazthechippy
Posts: 180
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2013 7:47 pm

Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by dazthechippy »

Hi Peeps,

A quick lessons learned on the topic of petrol going stale.

I bought about 3 gallons of unleaded in the normal small green plastic can for a new mower, all fine there. Mower started chugging and spluttering then refused to start about 3 weeks ago. I suspected petrol as the cause, took it to the service bloke anyway as its under warranty - he said stale petrol.

So drained it out, filled with new petrol and all's good.

Shelf life of new petrol the mower man told me is 4/6 weeks - i reckon a bit longer but say 8 weeks tops..

Some of you may have known this anyway

Cheers
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8736
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

Metal cans are better in terms of sealing


You can get fuel stabiliser


Honda mower by any chance?
If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
Yorkshire Andy
Posts: 8736
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:06 pm

Re: Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by Yorkshire Andy »

If your roughing it, Your doing it wrong ;)

Lack of planning on your part doesn't make it an emergency on mine
grenfell
Posts: 3952
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:55 pm

Re: Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by grenfell »

There must be varying qualities of petrol. I've got three petrol mowers and they commonly don't do much over winter but all have still started in the spring on the petrol remaining in the tanks.
Supposedly two stroke is worse than regular petrol.
'Course I could just be lucky.
bob the builder
Posts: 97
Joined: Tue Oct 01, 2013 1:32 pm

Re: Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by bob the builder »

grenfell wrote:There must be varying qualities of petrol. Ive got three petrol mowers they commonly don't do much over winter but all I have still started in the spring on the petrol remaining in the tanks.
Supposedly two stroke is worse than regular petrol.
'Course I could just be lucky.
I am the same my mower is fine on old petrol but my petrol strimmer runs like sh1t on it but my two stroke stuff is fine maybe running rich on oil helps then my jenny is a beach to start fresh or old fuel rich or lean oil mix
Not planning for the end of the world just to survive till normality resumes, while sticking to the scout moto be prepared!

Still considering do I want to survive the end of the world or deck chair on the front lawn with a cold beer?
User avatar
rik_uk3
Posts: 707
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:49 pm
Location: South Wales UK

Re: Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by rik_uk3 »

Diesel is much better for longer storage.
Richard
South Wales UK
Retired, spending the children's inheritance.
Fozzie
Posts: 34
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2014 2:02 pm

Re: Stale Unleaded Petrol

Post by Fozzie »

Has anyone tried the Motul fuel Stabiliser?

Here's a fact sheet for it http://motul.speclube.com/products/all- ... zer-0250l/

It's designed for: Gardening engines, boat engines, motorcycle or snowmobiles engines…

It seems available in 1-4 bottles from £13-£11 a bottle from lots of places on Ebay

I've never had issues running a Honda mower after the winter. I drain the tank though and run Shell 99 Octane or Tesco Momentum through it on the first mow. Seems happy to run
I've tried storing fuel as an experiment, I've gone up to 10 weels with momentum in a can and it's been fine running through the mower. I've gone so far 8 week old fuel untreated in a car with no noticeable changes in power or MPG (and my car is fussy on fuel)