Why hasn't my gas gone bad?

Maintenance/Repairs
41

Quoth GeorgeSanJose,'I’m still left wondering how the OP keeps the battery charged’
I disconnect it. I also use an external battery for the first start after a long time. This most recent start took 40 seconds of cranking. After that it started without delay. Maybe it was the old gas. I should probably prime the carburetor with starting fluid.

Quoth Yosemite, 'I had left gas in a pressure washer over the winter a few years back.'
It wouldn’t surprise me if lawnmowers, generators, chainsaws, pressure washers… have a different experience, especially 2-strokes in which one mixes oil and gas. This is cartalk, not small-enginetalk.

Quoth Yosemite, 'The OP is the kind that just wants to see people argue over his threads.'
I wanted to start a discussion. I didn’t expect everyone to agree. I don’t think my experience is the experience everyone will have.

Quoth Yosemite, '“I made it home on bald tires all winter in Upper Michigan…what’s your problem”'
Bald tires are obviously dangerous. The alleged problems of old gas aren’t. I didn’t write on the basis of one experience but 10 years.

Quoth dagosa, 'How do you know it hasn’t gone bad ?'
Because the car ran well and passed an emissions test with numbers as good as the day it was made. The compression is the same as the shop manual says it’s supposed to be.

Quoth dagosa, 'there are those of us who believe that the ability of a gasoline to delay combustion by it’s higher octane content can allow the motor to extract more enegy per volume when the computer in most cars makes the necessary adjustments.'
That may be the case for some engines. Lots of people with ordinary engines the manufacturers of which recommend regular think it makes a difference in their cars when it doesn’t.

Quoth the same mountainbike, 'RT, I accept your explanation’
Thanks. You seem like a good guy from what I read in this forum.

Quoth the same mountainbike, 'I also have to point out that the terminology you use and the way you describe others shows distain and disrespect for them.'
2 were former neighbors who had run their own pickups into the ground with their poor maintenance. One of them owned 2, one of which never ran (he had it towed away) and had its bed filled with old tires; the other took minutes to start, backfiring, missing, shrieking, belching smog. The other always needed someone else’s help to start, often mine; it also ran poorly. The third was a guy working on a home in the neighborhood; his pickup looked roughly-handled.

Quoth the same mountainbike, 'As to your assertion that gas doesn’t go bad, that there’s no such thing as “bad gas” anymore’
I didn’t say that. I offered my experience as a datum that it’s probably blamed for a lot more problems than it causes.

42

So, in summary, to answer the original question, your gas hasn’t gone bad because:

  1. You live in a cool, dry climate.

  2. You fill your tank, on average, every 6 months.

43

@Random Troll , why get so defensive that not everyone here agree’s with your suggestion that using old gas can lead to problems. Just because you have not had any problems with the one vehicle that you mention.

As you said in your second post.

Quote: I posted this comment in response to dozens of problems blamed on (and warnings made against) bad gas, both by I Fratelli Magliozzi and people in this forum. Mr texases rehearses them. I’m not going to drive around just to use up gas or buy an unnecessary additive. I may drive sometime next month.

Sounds a little argumentative to me!!!
Fine it works on your vehicle. Go ahead and keep using it.

But as you say…it is Car talk…and everyone’s opinion should be allowed to be voiced, on any subject. People here are mostly saying that it is not a safe practice to use old gas and you could be looking at high repair bills.
You can ignore all these people, or continue as you are. It’s your choice and no one is trying to twist your arm.

If you don’t care to hear the opinions of others then start your own site called
"Random Troll Says" and you can ban anyone who doesn’t agree with you.

No need to post your new site We’ll find you if we want!!!

Yosemite

44

Quoth RandomTroll: I offered my experience as a datum that it’s probably blamed for a lot more problems than it causes.

An example of one is almost meaningless.

I’m 45 years old. I have smoked non-filter cigarettes for 30 years. I have no lung ailments, no high blood pressure, no heart attacks or cancer, and feel fine. I offer my experience as datum that cigarettes are probably blamed for a lot more problems than they really cause.

45

“There used to be bad gas. Gas pumps used to have glass bulbs at the top through which gas was pumped so customers could see for themselves that it wasn’t dirty. Gas used to lack detergents. ‘Bad gas’ is an out-dated complaint.”

RT, cherry-picking words so that your opinion can’t be nailed down cannot hide the underlying theme that gas does not go bad. You appear to have backed off from your original contention from bad gas being a fallacy to bad gas not being responsible for as many problems as it gets blamed for. Your final conclusion I agree with; “bad gas” is too often used as an excuse by people that are unable to diagnose problems to their root causes.

To then extrapolate that to say that gas doesn’t go bad, which is a different statement, goes against all of the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Gas does go bad. How long it takes is subject to a number of variables including but not limited to whether it’s stored in a vented container or a sealed container. How much of a difference it makes is subject to a huge number of variables and highly dependent upon an individual vehicle. Some vehicles are less tolerant of old gas than others. Some vehicles start much more readily than others even when the vehicle and the gas are both brand new and in excellent shape. The reasons could probably fill a book, with chapters on the effects of compression on spark, the effects of sparkplug temperature ratings on spark, the effects of various types of fuel metering, the effects of intake manifold design, the benefits and tradeoffs of different ignition systems, and a half-dozen other factors.

Gas does go bad. How fast depends on a number of factors. How much it affects engine performance depends on a large number of additional variables.

46
Gas pumps used to have glass bulbs at the top through which gas was pumped so customers could see for themselves that it wasn't dirty.

I always thought it was more for measuring the gas, the glass “bulb” was marked like a big beaker. Gas was hand pumped up into the “bulb” and you could see how much was dispensed, as the level went down.

47

He’s talking about the small glass bulb with the turning blades or colored balls bouncing around as the gas flows through.

48
turning blades or colored balls bouncing around as the gas flows

Weren’t those just to prove to the customer that there was gas flowing to the car. I guess i was thinking too far back on the pump design, sorry.

49

@PvtPublic, are you saying you actually used the hand-pump type? I do remember the bouncing balls.

;-]

50

I was quite young but I did use the hand pump to raise gas up to the level in the glass container on the top of the pump. My parents would tell me how much they wanted to buy.

51

You all might enjoy this link. Clearly RT made statements without doing any research.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=early+gas+pump+designs&qpvt=early+gas+pump+designs&qpvt=early+gas+pump+designs&FORM=IGRE

52

As I see it, @Random Troll wants to come here and ask our opinion on a subject.
Then when the vast majority voice the opposite opinion that he has, he wants to argue the point…trying to convince us all that he is right.
No one has really insisted that he is wrong, they have only referred to their own experiences and data that they understand to be true. Yet he want’s everyone to believe that his one experience negates any other anecdotes or researched facts.

That’s not much of a “Give and take” discussion to me.

As I stated originally, he just wants to have someone to argue with. I’ll send my wife…she’ll make him see the light.

Yosemite

53

Aarrgh. How hard is this? Gas goes bad. Fruit goes bad. People go bad. Everything wears out and crumbles, except for perhaps subatomic particles that are moving at the speed of light, as they effectively do not experience time. Entropy is progressing in the universe and eventually all the stars will burn out. Humanity will likely be a long forgotten footnote at that point, if anyone is even keeping track.

Maybe gas doesn’t go bad as fast as fast for some folks if it is purchased from a vendor that uses a decent additive package, or is stored better, or they just have good karma. I have had gas last a long time in cans and in cars. I wouldn’t push my luck though. Fortune smiles upon some and evacuates its bowels upon others. Have a nice day :slight_smile:

54

@insightful,

No, not quiet that ancient. My father had a friend who would collect anything having to do with gas stations. He had maybe a dozen pumps ranging from glass beaker on top, to mechanical rolling digits with a max of 99.9 cents/gal.