Parked car - old gas
 

I've got a vehicle, it's been parked for about a year and a half. I put fuel stabilizer in it and ran it for a few hours(forgot it was running lol), that was about a year ago. I've got a can of Sea Foam liquid, should I pour that in and run it again for a while, or use fuel stabilizer again? Or do I really need to just drain it all out, and what should I do with the gas if I do?

The battery has been on a battery minder, so it should be fine.

Edit - it's the 2001 Neon

I've had about the same experience with my old Avenger - old gas, with stabilizer in it. If it was me, I'd throw the seafoam in, run it till almost empty, add more fuel stabilizer, then top up the tank with fresh gas, and run that just a bit to get fresh gas thru the system.

I unfortunately let my avenger sit a little too long - the fill pipe from the gas cap down got pretty rusty. So check for that.

Are you going to store it or use it as a daily driver?

Probably store it, but might sell it. It's on non-op status.

If it was stored with a completely full tank of gas, that gas may still be good. Most times when gas goes bad it will have that "bad" gas rotten kind of smell to it. Anyway to get out a sample and give it a good smell test ?

Now, if it was stored with a less than full tank, then another problem may be lurking. Condensation in the tank that will lead to water in the gas. Any empty space in the tank will be filled with air. Over time and the heating and cooling of that air space, the water gets pulled from that air and winds up in the bottom of the tank.
If the tank was less than half full when stored, then I would drain the tank.

If your going to store it put fresh gas in it and run it once a month for say 1/2 to 1 hour. Run it up high and low in the RPM's (Don't blow it up! lol)
You'll be fine.

Finally got back around to this project today. Put the battery back in from the BatteryMinder, the fuel gauge showed 3/4 tank (9-10 gals). When I had gone to get Sea Foam(turns out I had used what I had in the HHR), I noticed another product on the shelf called Star Tron. I was intrigued, so I checked it out online, gets pretty good reviews.

So I just put 4 oz. in the tank and bounced the rear of the car up and down for a bit to mix it in the tank. Then I disconnected the fuel line from the fuel rail and routed the hose into a quart jar. I cranked until the jar was nearly full, twice. Didn't smell very good at all.

Hooked the fuel line back up and started the engine. Started right up and is purring! It just now got to operating temp, so I ran it up to 3500 RPM for about a minute. I figure I'll let it run for maybe another 45 minutes to make sure all the fuel in the engine is treated fuel.

IMO you are pretty fortunate with that fuel. If it were me, I would consider the fuel at the absolute end of its life, & get rid of it now, before it can do any damage.

Revisited the fuel in the Neon again today. I'm not taking any chances this time. I pumped it out with the fuel pump, about 6 gallons worth(1/2 tank). I'll get some techron or something to put in the new fuel, as well as putting some more StarTron in. Then run it for an hour or so.

The old fuel was pretty nasty, not clear at all. Kinda yellowish. I really should sell this car, maybe this summer, no time right now.

I guess I'm an exception; I routinely keep gas in my lawn equipment and snow blower 12 months a year and keep gas in a container all winter. Never had a problem with bad gas, except the time I stored a can for 3 years.

Well, it's been 2 1/2 years for this tank of gas, I've stabilized it twice. But yeah, I'm glad I changed it. Adding to the problem is this special blend of gas we have here in California. It eats up certain types of rubber. My dad had to change out the priming bulb on his weedeater every season due to rot, even though he ran it out of fuel after each season.

If I read this right he was close,, about 2 1/2 years before he pumped 1/2 out,, I would got all I could out and refilled with fresh stabilizer, hope ya have no problems next year??? Ya I wouldn't leave it empty, stabalizer should be good for the trimmer over winter even with the cali gas.

I know a lot of folks that use fuel stabilizer.

I have never used fuel stabilizer except in my Ski Doo. When the snow melted that year I put in Sta-bil fuel stabilizer and left the sled sit all summer. In the fall when snow fell again I figured I'd just get the sled out and go.

There was some kind of whitish goop in the tank and the fresh fuel could not flow. I built a fire in the garage and took the tank off the sled and hung it upside down to get the crap out.

I am not sure if it was lining the tank or just the Sta-bil and gas mix or what but whatever it was it burned well. Gave off a plastic smell when it did and quite a bit of smoke.

Never used Sta-bil again and never had problems with the sled when I did break it out for the season.

In the summer of 2004 I went to the local gas station and filled my MGB, was planning on taking my daughter for a spin. We didn't get out of the gas station before I had a small electrical fire. The starter had stuck and burned up a bunch of the wiring, I have never fixed it.

I have been using the gas I put in the tank since then, mostly in yard equipment but I did put 2 gallons in our Sonic last summer and it seemed to burn fine.

A lot of "Bad Gas" problems arise just from your location, RJ being in California where they muck with the formulation of Pump Gas on a whim, is known for crappy fuel that "goes off" quickly.

Here in the South, as Don mentioned, we don't suffer from as much Federal/State mandated fuel blending, so gas in a sealed container will last a good while.

The biggest issue is the chemical components seperating, or in the case of Ethanol Blends, their Hygroscopic qualities which suck moisture from the air.

I still go to a neighboring County to buy "Pure Gas" from one particular Shell® station, they refuse to sell the 10% Ethanol Blend fuel, despite the State leaning on them more every year.

5.25 oz. Lucas deep clean fuel system cleaner, 1/2 bottle of Seafoam, and about 1 oz. of StarTron, in a full tank of gas. Idled for about 40 minutes. Then 2K RPM for a minute, then 3K RPM for a minute. I'll run it a little more tomorrow. It ran really good, smooth.

I agree Bob, I think I got it just in time, glad I didn't wait til summer. But this Cali gas is bad. My dad mowed my yard last year while I was gone for the summer, but he forgot to run it til empty. I had(relatively) a lot of work to get it started the next season, even with the stabilizer in.

I took the HHR to fill the gas cans. I rarely have the DIC set to anything but coolant temp. Well this time it was set to avg mpg. As I drove away, the mpg was at 10 and dropping fast. I didn't know why, until I looked in the side mirror and saw my gas door open and the cap dangling. There's a first time for everything. Filling the cans distracted me from the routine of filling the car up!