Can stabilized gas be re-stabilized?
 

We have a car in storage that has not been driven in one year. We filled the tank with fresh gas one year ago and added stabilizer, but will need to store it for 7 more months with this fuel in the tank. Is this safe to do? It is an MR2 so siphoning the gas isn't really an option. Anyone have advice?

Most fuel stablizers state they are good for up to one year. Why is removing the gas not an option because it is an MR2? I would not trust 19 month old gas, period.

alot has to do with the climate in which it is stored, restabilizing, don't think so, but should be ok. i just fired up my camaro after 2 years last week with fuel from fall of '10 untreated and it was ok, thought for sure it was junk, it still smelled normal but this was in a climate controlled low humidity garage, which was my savior, i know i'm a dumba**

Stabil and Sea foam did not prevent the gas in my Donzi from going sour in two years (in Florida). I Stuck a intake valve on # 6...end of story. Smelled the gas and it smelled sour but fired up and ran (1) hour. Shut it down and that was it. I thought as long as it was running I could burn it off and add some fresh.
BTW my grandson heard that if you aded fresh gas at 4 to 1 it was OK to use. He screwed up his truck ! I don't mess with old gas...better to pass it.

Today's gas is pure junk.
Stabilized gas, though, is much less likely to hurt anything.

What breaks down in gas is the volatiles evaporate out, and the detergents get saturated. This leaves gooey junk that doesn't burn well.

Your best bet is to siphon the gas out and sell it to a lawn service at 1/3 price. Then refill half tank with fresh unleaded (look HARD for some that does NOT have ethanol) and add stabilizer again.

Most 4 stroke lawn equipment will run just fine on 1 year old stabilized gas. I've actually run 5 yr old stabilized gas in lawn mowers with zero problems (but again, this gas contained no ethanol).

The dumbest thing you can do is to run an octane-sensitive motor on old gas and to run it hard on it.

Sticking valves, though, due to old fuel is a new one on me. Usually, the problems are isolated to detonation from deteriorated octane, and lean burning due to less burnable mixture in a given volume of fuel. I suppose running hard on old fuel could cause detonation, lean burning, and overheated valves which scored the guides and stuck - it's a longshot though. Like I said, the usual result is pinging and generally running like crap and surging and backfiring...

MC

Oh, and there's no such thing as "can't siphon it out". Some cars are more difficult than others, but even at the worst, you can pull the Schrader valve out of the fuel rail and hotwire the electric pump to do the work for you.

MC

Gasoline I have tested with and without stabilizers has zero octane loss after 3 1/2" years using test samples. Octane however is not proof that the gas is "good". As previously written many things go into a gallons of gasoline that may cause problems starting and engine damage. Age does not seem to be a factor for loss of octane, including fuels with 10% eth.

I use my leftover boat gas in my cars during the winter. This process worked without a hitch.

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