Have received a tip to discard bad lawnmower gas into my truck to burn it off. I don’t want to dump it anywhere. Right now it is in a bucket evaporating in the driveway. Is this ‘tip’ a good one? It’s about 1 liter of bad gas. My truck is an 06 Nissan Frontier 6 cyl. Thanks.
What makes you call it ‘bad’, or is it just a little bit naughty? Is it a gas oil mix, or just a bit old? Sitting in a bucket in the driveway isn’t going to make it any better.
No, it’s bad and straight gas no mix. I drained it out of my mower because it sat in the mower for 4 months and the mower wouldn’t start. I drained the mower and put new gas in and then it finally started. The old gas is sitting in a pan in the driveway…just wondering if I should just let it sit and evaporate or burn it off in my truck. ?? I don’t like the idea of dumping it in the backyard as I don’t want it getting into the water table.
To reiterate, will this 1 liter of bad gas hurt my truck?
No it won’t hurt your truck. It’s going to be diluted with so much fresh gas that your engine won’t even know it’s there.
How long was it in the bucket. How much is there? You don’t want it to be a high % of what is in the fuel tank of your truck, but burning it in the truck is a good idea. Remember not to put too much in at a time. If it you only a quart or two and the truck tank if near full and it has not been evaporating too long it should be fine.
Right out of the mower and into a tank at least half full would have been safe. That is what I do with the lawn mower gas each year. Of course I don’t use my car as it is a diesel. I use the other car.
Maybe in 1/2 liter/application in a near full truck tank its likely no risk. I would mostly be wary about what’s floating in the gas can (mine is filthy).
Act quickly, because the gasoline sitting in an open bucket is spoiling quickly. This sitting around is also bad for the environment. If your Nissan has at least half a tank of gas, you may safely add this additional liter without any ill effects.
The reason that lawnmowers can be impossible to start when they have last year’s gas in them is because gasoline is not one single chemical. It’s a mixture of a whole bunch of hydrocarbons, each one has a different vapor pressure or boiling point. When gas sits in a tank, the high vapor pressure hydrocarbons evaporate first leaving behind the stuff that doesn’t evaporate so readily. But, those low vapor pressure hydrocarbons were in that gas all along.
When you add this to your car’s gas tank, you are slightly altering the mix. One quart of old gas mixed with 10 gallons of fresh gas and you can’t even tell it’s in there.
I have also gotten rid of two stroke gas/oil mix by putting it in my car. A quart of that mixed with 10 gallons of fresh gas and the amount of oil in the gas is almost insignificant.
If its been sitting in your drive way exposed to rain,snow,etc. then i would say to take it to a toxic waste facility if that fits your description of “bad”. Otherwise dump it in your truck.