Old gas in 2 stroke weed wacker and 4 stroke lawn mower

[Blackjack200]

So I have a house that I moved out of but rented out back in March. I have a lawn mower and weed wacker that I left in a locked shed. I know you're supposed to empty the gas out and let them run dry. I didn't do that. Any chance they're okay? What's my best course here? Pull the cord and hope for the best?

 

[Homerboy]

Pull the cord and let them run out.
If they don't run out, tip them on their side and let it pour out onto the concrete.

/screw mother nature.


It's not nice to eff with mother nature. It's also illegal in most places, and ignorant and immoral in all places.

Perknose
Forum Director

 

[swanysto]

Get some engine start fluid. Spray into the carburetor. Start mower. You can use the mower or let it burn the gas out. Either way, you might need to spray more engine start in if it shuts off. You can then put clean gas into the mower. It might not be a bad idea to get some carburetor cleaner to put in the gas. This should burn off all the crap your carburetor accumulated burning bad gas.

 

[Markbnj]

In March? I wouldn't worry about it. They'll run fine. If they don't put some startron additive in the existing fuel and try it again. If they still don't then drain that fuel and put fresh fuel in. You could do that to begin with but four months isn't that big a deal. I think they'll be fine.

 

[alkemyst]

Don't dump gasoline into the ground, it's ILLEGAL and if you have well systems in your area could contaminate someone's drinking water.

The normal thing with really old gas that you want to salvage is to mix the old gas into 3-4 parts of new gas.

It's not even been a year though so I wouldn't sweat this. Not running for a this length of time may have other things that need addressing like the carbs.

 

[highland145]

Hire some nice South American gentleman to take care of it.

 

[eldorado99]

If its only been since March I'm sure it is fine. I have started small engines with 3 and 4 year old gas before and they run, not well mind you. One time I started a Mercedes with 7 year old gas once and it ran as well!

 

[Blackjack200]

Forgot to mention that I wasn't mowing the lawn in the winter so it really has been a year. I probalby woudn't be worried if it was only six months.

 

[alkemyst]

So March 2013...still probably not a huge deal with the gas. Your carbs may need maintenance though. I'd dump the gas into something and then mix it back with fresh gas 3 or 4 to one if you must or just take it by your local hazardous waste dump. Many places have them and most don't know about them.

Mine is right down the street and all self service.

 

[Blackjack200]

Hire some nice South American gentleman to take care of it.

That's probably the long term plan. The backstory here is that I did the ice bucket challenge with a friend last night and posted it to Facebook. My old neighbor (now the tenant's neighbor) posted a snide comment about how he challenges me to get my tenants to cut the grass and the 6ft tall weeds in the backyard.

He has my cell phone number and could have told me about it and I would have taken care of it, but he decided to put it out on facebook instead. Well, the rules of the challenge are that I need to complete it within 24 hours, and he posted it at about 7:30 this morning. I hope he like waking up at 6AM Saturday Morning to the sound of a two-stroke.

 

[Brainonska511]

He has my cell phone number and could have told me about it and I would have taken care of it, but he decided to put it out on facebook instead. Well, the rules of the challenge are that I need to complete it within 24 hours, and he posted it at about 7:30 this morning. I hope he like waking up at 6AM Saturday Morning to the sound of a two-stroke.

Who's responsible for mowing the lawn of the home you're renting out (eg: what's in the lease) - the tenants or the landlord (you)?

If it's the tenants, why not call them and tell them to mow the damn lawn? If it's you - why have you been not mowing it?

As for doing it at 6AM - kind of a douche move and you could be in violation of town ordinances on noise.

 

[dank69]

Who's responsible for mowing the lawn of the home you're renting out (eg: what's in the lease) - the tenants or the landlord (you)?

If it's the tenants, why not call them and tell them to mow the damn lawn? If it's you - why have you been not mowing it?

As for doing it at 6AM - kind of a douche move and you could be in violation of town ordinances on noise.

Nobody is going to call the town over a single incident.

 

[jagec]

As for doing it at 6AM - kind of a douche move and you could be in violation of town ordinances on noise.

As long as only the one neighbor will be annoyed by it, no big deal.

Like he said, the rules of the challenge are that it has to be done within 24 hours, and posting something like that on Facebook is asking for it IMHO.

 

[alkemyst]

Nobody is going to call the town over a single incident.

That's usually when most people call that can't handle neighbors.

My neighbor cut his lawn at 6am a couple weeks ago. He was going out of town. I was a little annoyed by that (he could have hired someone that weekend or just let it go a week), but I just messed around in bed until he was done and slept in.

Then it started raining early afternoon through out the day and Sunday and I couldnt cut my grass

Edit, 7am is technically the earliest for lawn care here. Any kind of construction/work needs to be between 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m...after 11pm all noise must be subdued until 6am.

 

[Blackjack200]

Who's responsible for mowing the lawn of the home you're renting out (eg: what's in the lease) - the tenants or the landlord (you)?

If it's the tenants, why not call them and tell them to mow the damn lawn? If it's you - why have you been not mowing it?

It's the tenant's responsibility, and I'm going to talk to him about it. I told him when he moved in, but when there's three inches of snow on the ground March 1, you're not really thinking about grass.

So my plan is to mow it tomorrow morning and put the pictures on facebook, and then tell him where to shove it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

If the gas has no ethanol treatment added, then it's likely no good anymore. If it's treated then it may just fire up.

If the gas is bad, empty it into an approved container and dispose of it properly. Since mowers and whackers don't really have big tanks, i've kept some old gas that went bad to start controlled fires in our little fire pit.

for future reference, adding something like Star Tron to the gas will help it last longer in the container and in the equipment.

 

[Mandres]

I would dump out the old gas, put in a little fresh (don't forget to mix oil for the 2-stroke) and see if they start. If not you'll probably need to clean the tank, fuel lines and carbs.

 

[boomhower]

It should be fine. I forgot to run mine empty last year and in the spring my mower fired right up. Just changed the plugs and oil prior too.