Fuel age limit

[scottyboy]

How long does it take for super unleaded to start losing its octane in a sealed container ? And how long before it is un usable in a sealed container i.e stale??

[Burty]

i think Jay smith told me 2 months but i'm not so sure now

[Rupert Munro]

Dont know about you but my fuel doesnt last long enough to find out!

[FabFour]

It depends on the seal!

Specific high octane race fuel used in motorsport last over a year, we have used it in a high compression turbo engine 18 months after purchace without issue.

In your boat tank you loose octane on the same day you add it.

In a plastic tin you would loose high octane after a week, low octane after 4 weeks.

In a steal tin jerry can about 3 times longer.

The higher the octane the faster it looses the edge. You need to decide how quickly the octane becomes an issue for your engine.

Also the fuel you get from the pump is 5% up or ( usually ) down in octane from what the description is.

[Matt]

An Eskimo's snowmobile goes on the fritz. He takes it to a mechanic, who, after examining the vehicle, says, "I think you've blown a seal."

To which the Eskimo replies, "No, that's just a little ice on my mustache."

[Toffy]

Originally Posted by Matt

An Eskimo's snowmobile goes on the fritz. He takes it to a mechanic, who, after examining the vehicle, says, "I think you've blown a seal."

To which the Eskimo replies, "No, that's just a little ice on my mustache."

Yup, it depends on the seal !

[Burnett]

On a similar topic, what's the approved method for disposing of old stale fuel in the tanks after a long lay-up?
I'm thinking of replacing my Ring's steel bow tank with a nice shiny plastic one which will incorporate a sender for the gauge, but there will still be a few gallons of old 2 stroke swilling around in the old one.
Even if I keep the old one I still intend to drain the fuel system and replace the old line and bulb as a precaution before I start to use it regularly.

[The Docta]

Why on earth would you want to waste money replacing the tank??

There's nothing wrong with it and youd struggle to find a decent 100 litre plastic one that would fit well in the bow!

Plus the tank is stainless steel so if you want a shiney one - just polish the one thats in there?

[Burty]

if you have a petrol car just stick 3 litres of boat fuel in with a full tank and you wont notice a difference. thats a good way to use it up

[Matt]

I've used 2yr old fuel on "low performance" motors loadsa times. The ultima, right now, has 2+ year old fuel in - although I wouldn't nail it until it had some fresh fuel, it starts & runs fine.
You can smell when fuel has started to go sour. Water contamination, particularly on boats, is a bigger issue than fuel age. First time the formula ran this year was with 18 month old fuel.

[Burnett]

Originally Posted by The Docta

Why on earth would you want to waste money replacing the tank??

There's nothing wrong with it and youd struggle to find a decent 100 litre plastic one that would fit well in the bow!

Plus the tank is stainless steel so if you want a shiney one - just polish the one thats in there?

Easy Tiger!

I only said I was considering it! Just looking at general upgrades, that's all. I haven't had the chance to thoroughly check out all of that yet, and I was just curious as to what was involved. I'd certainly like to fit a fuel gauge sender unit in at some point so that I can fit the new gauge along with the new set of white faced Teleflex dials that are waiting to go into it in the warmer weather.
A definte upgrade will be a bigger battery though, or maybe two batteries in parallel. You can never have too much spare capacity!

One of Gav's Alien cowls is on the way some point, so while i'm playing with the powerhead I'll strip and clean the carbs and check the reed valves for damage. See if I can cure that stalling problem.

Actually, while you're here - What's the score with the sacks of ballast? I'd like to take them out if I can. The thought of them bursting at speed doesn't really appeal! Does it really need all that extra weight in the bows? If so, I'd like to find a neater solution, probably a tank with a pump that I can fill/empty with water. Any thoughts?

I'll post some pics on here when it's all finished so you can see what you think.

How's that 21 of yours coming along anyway?

[The Docta]

sorry bud - didn't mean to come accross as fierce

Sounds like your making some significant upgrades!

We were going to take the ballast out and just didnt get round to it. The 200 is not that heavy and I dont think that your boat needs it. It did keep the bow nice and low though which hlpd when it was calm and kept her very level but she tended to "stuff" in the rough - which was not nice and a little scary!

As long as you have a bow ful tank and keep plenty of juice in their though i think it will be fine.

Cheers

[Burnett]

No worries dude!

So, what might be a good move then would be to remove the ballast, then fit one decent sized gel battery either side of the tank. means I can free up some storage space behind the rear bench (I can fit a storage box for odds and sods, etc where the old battery was) Should help the weight distribution and give more reserve electrical power at the same time. Job's a good 'un!

Right. That's the end of my bit of thread hijacking! Back on topic again.

So, I should be okay to run out the bit of fuel that's in there as long as I dilute it with some fresh stuff. Thanks for that guys!