water in the gas tank

Willit Stop

Willit Stop

Well-known member
Last week I took my secondary ride for a drive and it was a little low on fuel so I decided to add a few gallons as I don't have much faith in the gauge. Shortly after pumping about 4 gallons of gas from the gas station it started sputtering but I was able to nurse it back to my garage. I drained and cleaned the tank, blew out the fuel lines, cleaned the pump,filter and carb and poured in 5 gallons of fresh gas (from another station). It runs fine now. The old gas has been sitting in 5 gallon covered buckets for a few days so any remaining water should be at the bottom of the buckets. By the way, I use a stabilizer faithfully. My question is, would it be advisable to reuse the old gas (less the bottom 1 inch in the buckets)? The old gas is just a tiny bit darker than new gas but doesn't smell bad. I really don't want to throw out nine gallons of gas at $5.59 per gallon. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
Thanks Kurt. I tried that. I got a long song and dance about how clean and monitored their operation is. "It must have come from somewhere else."
Right..... They won't see me again.
 
First question, is whatever the cost of the gasoline greater than any repairs you might need to do if things get fouled up?


If you do decide to proceed, the old cure for water in "old school" gasoline was to dilute with alcohol (usually methanol... but ethanol or even isopropanol will do the same). So using some alcohol additive (such as HEET) will both dissolve the water, and dissolve into the gasoline. Tricky chemistry eh? Then to be safe use at least 1/2 "known good" gasoline with the reclaimed stuff. GOOD LUCK.


Also see this article regarding using junkyard gasoline (from wrecked cars) being sold as "new". https://thebronconation.com/general...fornians-sold-junkyard-gas-for-years-t.20133/
 
Water at the gas pumps used to be big deal before they ripped all the old metal tanks out and installed double fiberglass tanks with filters and water monitors in the 1980s. The pump covers on the pavement for the tanks are supposed to be O-ring sealed but you'll see them throw rubber floor mats over them when it's going to rain. They are monitored over the phone by an outside firm for water and leakage. At least they did that here in CA.

Every once in a while, I used to get a bad tank of fuel but not since they upgraded all the tanks here. Even the vehicles fuel filters hardly get plugged up anymore unless it's a really old car with rust and junk in the tank like my dad's '32 roadster. I just pulled the tank and found all kinds of junk in the tank including six popoff beer bottle caps.
 
Sorry not trying to be smart here!Can't you just use in your lawn mower and see how it does?
 
A local V8er has an OLD 2 cyl Tractor that will run on any thing. We all take our old gas to him- he's gratefull for it even. Newc
 
I put it in my beater '99 F150 a couple of gallons at a time when I have at least half a tank in it. You gotta burn it somewhere, so find where it will go the easiest and fastest.
 
cas3: Thanks. That's what I did after filtering it.Please see post #2.
And... thanks to everyone else for the suggestions.
 
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