I'm not sure what this is properly called, you know, the gas mixed with oil that you use in things like chainsaws.
I'm wondering if it has a "shelf life". Is there a period of time, after it's been mixed, that it's not really good to use any more?
gas/oil mix
Yes.
I'm pretty sure the oil will remain good, but the gasoline will age. Old gas will evaporate and leave a hardened "shellac"-like verneer on any parts it was be in contact with. This "shellac" must be removed. Also, "old" gas jes doesn't work as well as fresh gas. Gasoline older than a couple months should be replaced, if it hasn't already evaporated.
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....or "pre-mix". I fergot about that one. ;)
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I add Stabil and it is good for a long time. I replace it after a year or so though. Just dump it into the car gas tank. The little bit of oil diluted by 15 gallons of gas will not harm anything.
Tip from my small engine repair guy. Use premium (without ethanol if you can find it) if you mix your own 2-cycle fuel. Rather than Sta-Bil use "Sea Foam" gasoline additive.
If you only need 2-cycle fuel for occasional use with chain saws, hedge trimmers, etc your best bet is the pre-mixed quarts available from the major manufacturers of tools using 2-cycle mix. Their pre-mixed fuel is high octane, alcohol free, is the perfect ratio of oil:gas AND has additives to keep the tool running properly. Shelf life - after opening the sealed can - is ~ 2 years.
But you're wrong notbob . Gas that has had a stabilizer added and has been kept tightly capped will keep for a year or more - depending on temperature variations where it's stored . I just finished off the last of last summer's stores , worked just fine in the generator and Rusty Tractor . The chainsaw/weedeater gas is fresh as of about 3 weeks ago ... until then it was also last summer's gas . One thing - all my gas for portable equipment is non-ethanol , it's bad enough we have to burn that shit in our cars , I will not abuse my small engines that way . Corn should be drunk , not burned .
Most pharmacies will give/sell you a 10cc syringe and that is perfect for mixing up a half liter of gas (50:1) (a water bottle, thoroughly dried) If you are just using a chain saw occasionally to trim a tree or something that is about a tank of gas. I would burn the rest in your car or just throw it away. Run the saw dry before you put it away. Rec90 may last a year or so but E10 starts going bad in 3-4 months. I am sure someone will come in with a story about their 3 year old gas being fine but there will be far more stories about old gas causing all manner of problems.
When I traded in my old 2 cycle mower for a new 4 cycle, the mower guy told me not to pour the old 2 cycle gas into any 4 cycle engine. I had Stabil in it and used most of it up over a maybe 4-5 year period in 2 cycle chain saw and weed wacker before it went bad. Regular gas with Stabil is put in my car with no problem after 2 years.
To be expected. Hell, I'm only 67.
Gas that has had a stabilizer added......
....is no longer gasoline! It's now gasoline plus stabilizer.
Duh.
I'm so sick of hearing about how "ethanol fuel" ruins engines. It's all a myth.
I ran it in both my vehicles, a Dodge w/ a 318CID V8 and a Honda in-line 4 banger. They both ran better and longer with ethanol. It improved the V8's pre-ignition probs and the Honda had 250K trouble-free miles on it when I sold it and the engine was the only thing still working perfectly.
The problem has been portable gas driven equipment (chain saws, leaf-blowers, weed-eaters), which are jes plain cheaply made junk, anymore.
BTW, ethanol is still in most of today's fuel supplies. In Brazil, the auto petrol is almost pure ethanol.
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I've got a couple of bikes sitting out in the driveway that haven't ran since the end of October. When I put the batteries in, I expect they'll start and run fine like they have every year. Sometimes I use StaBil, sometimes not. The pickup is semi-retired, gets one the road once or twice a year, and it will start too. I honestly can't remember the last time I filled it up.
ymmv, but that's been my experience.
It's not so much evaporation as oxidation - and both the oil and gasoline will oxidize. It is much worse if moisture is present. If you mix oil and etanol free gas, and put it in a tightly sealed container in a cool location, it will last many months to a few years. Mix ethanol gas with oil and put it into a vented plastic gas gan in your garden shed in the summer, a few months is pushing things.
You jes put two completely different gasoline mixtures in two completely different vessels/environments. One in plastic, one in ????. One with ethanol (+stablizer?), one not. One "vented", one not. One in "cool" location, one in ¿hot? Summer location. With all those variables, how you settle on the problem being the ethanol is a puzzlement. ;)
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There's a small-engine repair shop near here, that has a sign on the door telling people to try it with fresh gas first (by 'fresh' they mean less than a month old). I keep gas for up to a year and haven't had any trouble with it.
BTW, it's not wasted after a year. I put it in my truck.
I seem to remember hearing that the net energy (from ethanol from corn) is negative. Consider all the diesel fuel used for growing it.
Why would you want to put high octane gas in a low compression engine?
Does this mean if you have a car sat unused for 3 months, then run it on its full tank of fuel, you'll bugger the engine?
I thought it had a name.
Because the ethanol free is most often the high octane gas. I have had bad luck over the years with the ethanol type in a 5 kw generator , but not now that I only use the ethanol free gas not.
Some people seems to think "high octane" means "better".
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