old gas

[thebicman]

Filled up the roadster last year and never put any mileage on it. Now with everything that has happens this year haven't even driven the cobra 5 miles. What's the easiest way to drain out the old fuel? It's fuel injected using a mustang tank. Thanks for everyone's help on this.

[GoDadGo]

Where is your fuel pump located?

Simply disconnect the line between the pump and the injectors and turn the key on to start pumping.
A piece of hose and three (3) five (5) gallon portable gas tanks should make the job an Easy Peasy Task!

Just do the drain outside and not inside of your garage.

[GTBradley]

You could buy the hand pump from Harbor Freight and transfer directly to your other car. Not as easy but clean and no tools required.

[davekp]

Siphon the tank.
But the old gas may be OK.

[frankb]

Add some Sta-Bil (available at most marinas) and drive the car. One year is not enough to ruin gasoline in a "closed" tank.

[chmhasy]

During this pandemic the roadster seen more miles than my daily driver.

[rich grsc]

Add some Sta-Bil (available at most marinas) and drive the car. One year is not enough to ruin gasoline in a "closed" tank.
I agree, it will be fine.

[Old Timer]

Depends if it has alcohol in it. The alcohol will deteriorate and cause problems.
If you had put StaBil in it last year, It would probably be OK.
I would connect a hose to the pump output, and pump it into gas can's and use it
in your daily drivers.
If it's 100% gas you should be OK, just add StaBil and go drive it!

Another way to keep gas good, is buy some 100 low lead from your airport.
It will stay good for up to 10 years. It runs great also!

I keep it in my portable generators, then have regular gas in cans if needed.
After 5 years my generator will fire right up.

[Mag]

Why in the world would anyone advise to put Stabil in it now? The damage is already done.
Old Timer is right, if it has ethanol, dump it. If it's pure gas drive it! The easiest way to pump
out the old fuel is to use the fuel pump in the vehicle. I did it this way after my fuel set about
a year and a half due to my paint and body taking way longer than expected. It was ethanol
gas that I treated with Stabil, but I didn't want to take any chances. My fuel system is not
"sealed". There is a tank vent that lets in outside air along with moisture that is absorbed by
the ethanol.

[NAZ]

If you want to drain it, use the method recommended by Go Dad Go. I drain the race fuel out of my race car after a race and store it back in the original containers. I use the electric fuel pump to drain the tank.

However, if you plan on driving the car soon and the fuel in the tank has been there for a year, I'd drive the car and not worry about it. This is based on my experience and some knowledge about fuels. Yes, gasoline starts to degrade rather quickly when stored in the tank and how fast depends on many factors. As mentioned above, any alcohol in the fuel will tend to pull moisture out of the air but unless you have a tank full of E85, I wouldn't be too concerned with roughly a year's storage. The lighter volatiles will start to evaporate out the tank vent as soon as you fill the tank and the gas in your tank today is now a different formulation than when you filled the tank because of the loss of some of the constituents. But will that be enough to cause an issue with a typical mild street car? In my experience, no.

But here's some info that might make you decide to drain the tank:
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-maintenance/how-to-keep-gas-fresh-and-protect-car-during-coronavirus/
https://www.livescience.com/58117-does-gasoline-go-bad.html

[johnnybgoode]

Hey Bert. Long time no talk, hope you are well. I've had pretty good luck with the local premium gas keeping for over a year (run it in all my yard equipment as well), the regular not so much. A friend of mine in the fuel business told me at some point in time that the local 94 and 87 had ethanol in them but the premium did not. Take Care. Scott