Shelf life of gasoline?

[Brettboat]

What's the real shelf life of gasoline? I keep going going back and forth between getting an 80s F350 and dropping the EDO4 or or 4 speed with a ZF5 and putting a 12V Cummins bolted up to it. But that's about a $4,000 swap.

That all being said, I'm considering picking up a F350 with a 460 big block and a 4 speed mounted up to it. Sending off the tranny for a rebuild and pulling the engine and rebuilding it at my buddys shop. Putting all the money I save into a good lift, tires and an additional bed mounted 98 gallon auxiliary fuel tank, tires, offroad tube steel bumpers, etc... Given with 38-40 inch tires and a rebuilt big block I'll probly get a solid 5 MPG.

All this being said, I know diesel has a great shelf life. But last year I started a pontiac grand prix EFI that had not been ran in 3 years, tank half fuel, same fuel in it since it had been sitting. Had to put in a new battery, but after letting it prime I got it started...

My bugout plan involves about a 600 mile trip, I'd like to have twice that at hand. At a guess of around 5MPG, I'd like to have 600 gallons in an above ground tank at my house, so what is the real shelf life of gas?

Just a note, the gas in the car was E10 gas, not ethanol free gas (though I can still find that around).

[gumbydood]

stabilized fuel is supposed to be good for about a year... but the product actually lowers the power available in the fuel, so you might only get 4mpg with stabilized fuel.

[Brettboat]

Well unstabilized gas last for atleast two years. lol. I dont think anyone knows hahahaha.

[TDFbound]

Shelf life of gasoline is not long enough. I know several people that have above-ground diesel storage tanks that have diesel older than 15 years old in it. It runs (not very well, but runs) in their trucks and tractors, but dewatering, filtering, and adding some basic fuel additives has it getting the same MPG as the new stuff. You can store the fuel additives long term in a stable low temperature and out of the sunlight. I say go with the Cummins swap. My next big SHTF purchase is a Dodge 2500 with Cummins 12v.

[bighanded]

had a 1995 dodge conversion van that we simply quit driving..let it sit for every bit of 11 months..figured I'd have a mess on my hands with the old fuel...charged the battery...cranked a bit..and she fired up...ran fine...guy paid me cash and drove it home that day...I was very surprised as it was not stabilized.

on the other hand, i fill my boat up each Fall as part of winterizing.. i do stabil it and it holds 60gals...used to consider that gas a part of my emergency reserve plans...the boat typically sits from Nov - end of Jan and sometimes we get those rare 70degree late Jan days...in which case I try to make time to head to the lake and run the boat..else she stays covered up til early April.
They fuel is always fine for that 5 to 6 months..seems like gas in a tank..mostly full does better on water than it does in my 5 gal plastic cans... I really have to watch my rotation on those else I get crummy gas fast.


on your OP topic.. I recently retired the old chevy 327 gasser for a shiney new duramax 6.6..so my gas storage strategies will have to change now a bit.. I'll keep gas in the boat and cans on hand for my other gas trucks, but also keep some diesel on hand as well...btw..my 3500 gets right at 15mpg whether I'm pulling my travel trailer or 22 ft boat or work cargo trailers or just running empty to the grocer store...was hoping to see much better mileage from it when not pulling, but i guess I'll have to get a tuner to adjust her..but your 5mpg?! holy crud!!

[cj06]

gas has different additives depending on what part of the country you are in !
out here in AZ had gas set for 3 month and eat up ( corrode ) the carbs on several generators , gas in one of are 1 ton trucks ate the intake fuel pump up within 4 months !

MY OPINION ON FUEL STORAGE = PROPANE FOR GAS POWERED ENGINES OR DIESEL !

[Brettboat]

I've put thought into propane before but I always wanted to know how many pounds of propane it burns. Say you get 10MPG running gas, how many gallons of propane will you burn? I'd like to have as much range as i can honestly.

[Preacherboy]

If you are considering spending $4,000 on either a Cummins engine swap or a big block/lift/40 in tire build, I'd scrap the project and get a m35a2 which can run off of gas or diesel. You will already have a heavy duty truck with 39" tires which gets 10mpg stock.

Back to your original question, I've seen weedwackers get clogged up and all the gas did was sit there over the winter. "Newer" gas doesn't seem to last as long as older gas, even from just a few short years ago.

If you got 3 years out of gas you were on borrowed time...for "survival" purposes I wouldn't bank on gas much longer than 1 year; however diesel I would trust for an unlimited amount of time, especially with a non-computer controlled diesel like an early 90's Cummins.

There are probably serious scientific studies out there, but it will all depend on conditions as to how long the gas will actually last.

My fuel storage contigencies for my m35a2 include saving up all my friend's and realitives used motor oil! It is free and lasts forever!

[Brettboat]

LOL, M35... lol, guess I could do that but those things sure do like to sink in that mud.

May just do propane.

[Savinkov]

I *think* aviation gas will store indefinitely, in a closed container. But I'd look into it before believing that rumor.

I store lots of gas in 5 gallon cans, to run my various gas powered implements, and to run my generator when the power goes out for 3 or 4 days which happens whenever we get an ice storm. I keep the cans lined
up in order of purchase and cycle through it, oldest gas first. I spend the
extra money for the alcohol-free gas that's now available after the LegiSluts woke up and changed the law last session so it's become available here.
(More on that below...)

I've never used gas stabilizer, but I *do* use OMC 2+4 conditioner in the first tankful of gas that I put in anything that's been sitting around over the winter. It's great stuff for clearing out varnish and crud from gas left in sitting the fuel system until the gas evaporates.

The "Stabil" gas stabilizer is notorious for *causing* problems where there weren't any before... maybe some of the other ones work; I dunno... The military has probably infestigated gas stability at great length, and the information is probably in the public domain.

That all said... there have been *huge* problems with alcohol in the gas nowadays (Thanks, Carter... I'll look you up when I get to Hell, you SOB.) After having it corrode the BRAND NEW dual carbs on my vintage VW bug when it sat for a year (NEVER used to be a problem) and thinking about it while scraping out the corrosion one molecule at a time with a needle file, I think I know what's going on. The alcohol in the gas causes water to dissolve in the gas, of curse. Then, because the alcohol is more volatile than the gas, over time it evaporates out. When that happens, the water again separates out and sinks to the bottom of the gas tank/carburetor/whatever. Then, corrosion proceeds forthwith... So if something is left sitting with "Gasohol" in it for long enough... look out, y'all (and people will blame the gas for going bad, instead of fruity leftist Democrats for contaminating it with alcohol...)

[Preacherboy]

I would most certainly recommend that you do what you want, just offerred an opinion.

Your truck might approach the weight of a 13,000 pound m35a2 with your big tires, heavy steel bumpers, big block engine, 98 gallon gas tank, and whatever else you have planned (must be more if you anticipate 5 mpg). It will probably sink in the mud even worse than a deuce since it will be sitting on 4 tires instead of 6 (or 10 if you keep the m35a2 dualed out).

[hitech_hick]

Originally Posted by Brettboat

Well unstabilized gas last for atleast two years. lol. I dont think anyone knows hahahaha.

Through personal experience, after about a year untreated gas will have a noticeable performance difference. While the vehicle will still run, you know it isn't quite running right. I have some gas that I treated 3 years ago with stabil, and it still works well, although I do still mix it with fresh gas before I put it in my jeep just in case.


hick

[AZSrvr]

Originally Posted by Brettboat

LOL, M35... lol, guess I could do that but those things sure do like to sink in that mud.

May just do propane.

i was curious about the propane thing, sounds like from what i read it wont save anything cost or mpg (might even hurt a little) but u can store it better. Ive thought of doing a set up so i can have propane as a backup on my suburban with a 454tbi

[Brettboat]

Propane is supost to be good forever (what it's stored in, not soo much). You loose 10% MPG, get a slight proformance gain, and it cost a hair under 87 unleaded. It's supost to burn super clean, so that's a plus. They way I look at it, I can probly put 200 gallons of propane fuel (that's like 6, 100LBS tanks ruffly) in the bed of my truck... Swap my EFI F150 to carb, get the kit, loose a few MPG but still probly be able to get ATLEAST 8-9 MPG with a lift, tires and new gears. I already have a camper top that used to be on the truck sitting down by my shop, so I dont have to worry about the cans getting rusty and what have you...

I've been wanting to swap my inline 6 300 over to carb anyways so I can put a decent cam, rocker arms, etc in there. Maybe get it up to 200 HP, 300+ Ft. Lbs. Tq. below 3000 RPM? That's fairly beastly for a 1/2 ton.

[Savinkov]

A buddy of mine who used to be a small engine mechanic warned me about propane. I was thinking of converting my generator to propane, but he says it burns too hot and will burn the lubrication out of the cylinders and they will fail sooner than if it's run with gasoline, even though it runs cleaner. (There's reason to believe him; he's taken a lot of them apart for repair over the years.)

Also, if you're planning on running on propane while surviving Obamageddon, remember, in a pinch you can kill a meth-snorting dirtbag and steal all his gasoline, but he probably won't *have* any propane for you to expropriate. I.e., having stuff that runs on gasoline might be a whole lot more "practical In The Event.

[Brettboat]

Originally Posted by Savinkov

A buddy of mine who used to be a small engine mechanic warned me about propane. I was thinking of converting my generator to propane, but he says it burns too hot and will burn the lubrication out of the cylinders and they will fail sooner than if it's run with gasoline, even though it runs cleaner. (There's reason to believe him; he's taken a lot of them apart for repair over the years.)

Also, if you're planning on running on propane while surviving Obamageddon, remember, in a pinch you can kill a meth-snorting dirtbag and steal all his gasoline, but he probably won't *have* any propane for you to expropriate. I.e., having stuff that runs on gasoline might be a whole lot more "practical In The Event.

You can run off both though? Turn your propane off and turn your fuel pump on.

[Boost Addicted]

Many threads out there 'bout this...

E10's shelf life is 3 months.

[joes]

Diesel and gas should be stabilized if not using for over a year....I called Stabil co and their tech says use double the recommended dose and expect 2 years for gas.....I always try to use pure 91 octane gas no ethynol and i use Stabil.....For my diesel machinery i use Diesel Kleen which has a stabilizer for storage.............

[Brettboat]

Originally Posted by joes

Diesel and gas should be stabilized if not using for over a year....I called Stabil co and their tech says use double the recommended dose and expect 2 years for gas.....I always try to use pure 91 octane gas no ethynol and i use Stabil.....For my diesel machinery i use Diesel Kleen which has a stabilizer for storage.............

Have you ever seen those surplus WW2 diesel 55 gallon barrels? They show up from time to time with the diesel still in them... It's still good to use.

[AZSrvr]

u guys think it would do any good to keep some of those octane boosters on hand for the old gasoline, not sure if that would make up for some of the loss (thats if it doesnt rust through ur tank or lines)