Old gas? For a snowblower/lawnmower

[uclaLabrat]

What exactly in the gas gets oxidized, the corrosion inhibitors?

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: uclaLabrat
What exactly in the gas gets oxidized, the corrosion inhibitors?

There are a lot of processes happening, oxidation is just one.

One of the biggest problems is that the lighter hydrocarbons will just plain evaporate.

Its actually the hydrocarbons that oxidize though. Coupled with the evaporation of the lighter hydrocarbons, oxidized HCs tend to produce gums and varnish.

Edit: It really depends on the storage conditions how long the fuel will last.

I suppose it would be better to say that 6 months would be about the limit in moderately unfavorable storage conditions.

Gasoline is still liquid after a year, certainly. It will even still burn. But if you smell it, it will be dull and sour.. not sweet and aromatic like fresh gasoline.

A tank of it probably wouldn't be a big deal. Fresh gasoline would clean things up. But if you ran it consistently, the degraded gasoline would eventually start to leave deposits and gunk things up, decreasing overall engine life.