Effects of one year old gas [Merged 3-7] bad stale outdated

[eXploitedGST]

so i took my car up the block a day ago and was reving it up to about 4000-5000 rpm when i was driving then the car would start jerking really really badly like it would slow down and accerate very fast but like over and over. i dont know if its my gas. i think it becuase my gas is over 2 months old in my tank. because i havent driven it much yet. which really sucks because its my only car. anyways i was wondering if the bad gas would cause my car to jerk like that and not be able to rev over like 5000 rpm..... about a week ago it did fine revving high. my car also dies after the engine is heated up. so im guessing its the gas going very bad.

 

[seth98es]

Sounds good. I will go ahead and drain it, didnt think to disconnect it at the filter. The engine is just a used JDM 6gvr4 motor and its a 1998 Galant, not a 6gvr4.

Thanks for the input guys, I really appriciate it

 

[Tsi_User]

I don't mean to jack this thread, but my 1st gen has been sitting for 8 months without running. I is finally starting up again, but the idle is quite erratic and it's not the ISC or the BISS. Could it be bad gas?

 

[Rice Over Wheat]

I just took my car out of long-term storage after a year two weeks ago and I had left it with maybe a gallon or so. I put about 5 more gallons in, added half a bottle of STP fuel system cleaner, and took the car to have a fuel system tune up the next day. I had the fuel filter replaced. Then I filled the rest of the tank up and added the last half of the STP. The next tank I ran just gas, then the 3rd tank I added another bottle of STP.

 

[GVR4592]

I've hear of people getting a bad tank of gas before but I have enver experienced it until today. I filled up at the same place I always do. 13 gallons of 92 octane. My car has had the same tune for about 5 months. Tuned for 0 knock at 21 psi on a big 16g. A/f is between 11.3-11.7 at wot. I get about 21 degrees of timing at 6000 rpms. So today I fill up I get on I-5 and I as i'm accelerating I notice that the car sounds a little weird and it's not pulling as strong as it should, I was about 1/3 throttle. I immediately let off the accelerator and turned on the datalogger. I brought the boost up to about 10 psi and instantly 30 counts of knock on the pocketlogger.

So I babied until the next exit and I pulled over and checked everything. Fuel pressure was fine, 02 readings are exactly the same as they have always been at wot. Af is the same. I couldnt find anything wrong. I started the car back up and i let it idle for a few seconds then I noticed the smell of the fuel. It smelled very very strange. Just for safety I richened it up about 5 points on the safc2 and drove it again and it knocked exactly the same. At that point i was 99% sure it was bad gas. Not more than 5 mintues before I got gas the car was running perfect. I was ripping around on some back roads, not beating on it just mild 1/2 to 3/4 throttle and some twisties that I drive on everyday. Air temps were fine, everything on the datalogger was normal. So i drove back to the gas station to try to talk to the people that worked there but they were closed. Which was kind of strange because it was lik 7:30 pm and I had just left there about 10 minutes before that.

So is there something that I'm missing here. I mean i've tuned so many dsm's with the pocketlogger safc combo, a few aem ems setups, a supra with safc and wideband, a 3rd gen rx7 with apexi power fc and wideband. I have never had a problem like this. An almost instantaneous switch between running perfect and then running very poorly. I am going to drain the fuel out tomorrow morning and try a different gas station and see what happens. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Maybe I'm having a dumbass attack and it's right in front of my face

 

[GVR4592]

Sorry this is so long, I usually dont ask questions on here because I rarely come across something I cant figure out on my own. So bear with me guys and hopefully somebody will have some input.

I found out that 80% of the gas stations in western washington get their fuel from conoco phillips no matter what their brand is, 76, chevron, shell, etc... So I have been in contact with conoco phillips and they are taking care of the situation for almost everybody. They said that a heavy polymer was accidentally mixed in with the gas and it causes fuel injectors to clog up. If somebody thinks they may have bad gas they take their car to a dealer and if the dealer confirms that it is actually bad gas the repairs are free.

Now in my case things are a little different. I wasnt aware of the "bad gas recall" so I changed the injectors and filter myself because the gas station I purchased the fuel from was closed and I had to go to work in the morning. I did contact the gas station but it was after I changed the injectors. After I changed the injectors and the filter the car ran way better but it was still knocking significantly (15+ counts). So I changed the fuel pump and the knocking went down even more but it was still noticeable (10 counts). So I replaced the fpr and it went down again (5-6 counts). Conoco phillips says that the problem would only affect the injectors, and that kinda makes sense to me because of how small the spray orifices are in the injectors. But changing out the pump and regulator made a significant difference. I cut the fuel filter apart and I found small granules that look almost like sand but they are very dark. This fuel filter had about 800 miles on it because I had just changed it.

Now the problem is the car now seems to be running a little rich and if I lower the safc settings at all I get more knock, so I don't think it's rich knock. I'm kinda at a loss on what my next course of action should be. I've been in contact with conoco phillips from the beginning of this situation and they are very reluctant to help me out since I changed the injectors myself. I offered to send them the injectors, pump, regulator, filter, and a small sample of the fuel at my expense and they declined. Since I'm not ASE certified I'm not qualified to work on my own vehicle

So now I don't know what is causing this knock. 5 counts is pretty minimal but it's 5 counts higher than it was last week, and thats with the safc settings 5 points higher. I pulled my plugs and they look fine, no discoloration, no aluminum specks, gap is .028". I don't know what else could have been affected by this fuel that would cause my engine to continue knocking.

I've even changed out my knock sensor with 3 different sensors, I performed a boost leak test, checked my intake pipe for leaks, no cel's, although my barometric pressure sensor reading seems to be a little high on the pocketlogger (120?). I dont know how much of an affect that would have on knock, and it would be completely unrelated to the bad gas. Just so everybody knows I didnt go out and buy all of the parts I replaced on my car. I had them lying around from other projects.

I know this is really long but I just wanted to include as much info as possible so if anybody has suggestions feel free to contribute.

 

[Merciless]

I put a tank of bad gas in my old car (blown 99 Cobra) last winter. Same thing happened, less than five minutes after filling up the car started running like total shit.
I didn't have any kind of datalogger, and I couldn't hear any knock, but the car bogged and missed and sputtered like I just put kerosene in it.
I had been getting gas from the same place for a while, and the car had been running crappy the whole time I was getting gas from there, but I figured it was just a tuning issue since I was still dialing-in the blower setup. Then one night when the car was running perfectly, I took it to that same gas station, and five minutes after I left it ran like the Beverly Hillbillies truck.

After a few tanks of fresh gas from another station the car ran better, but was not 100%. I ran a can of sea foam through it and it ran a little smoother. And from then on, if I let it get below a quarter-tank of gas, the car would start bucking and generally running like crap again. I'm guessing that whatever was in the bad gas had become sediment at the bottom of the fuel tank, and was being circulated through the fuel system whenever I let the gas get low enough to churn it up.
I never got around to it, but I was planning on dropping the tank and cleaning it all out completely. Maybe you should try that?

 

[DakotaPSI]

I just finished my build, and the car seems to idle funny. The gas in my car is 7 months old, i put some HEET in it. There gueage says its empty so i dont have a whole lot. The question i have is how much will gas that bad mess with idle??? And what would it idle if it did infact have bad gas?

 

[Siral3x]

Please read my reply for the POST "Car won't start (420a)" , do that test and you should be fine.
good luck!

 

[mattn]

My gsx has been sitting for about 8 months with 3/4 tank of gas in it... So far I have syphoned out all but 1/4 tank of gas. What would you guys recommend for getting the car started and running good? I have already let the lines going into the fuel pump drain out...

If anybody has any suggestions or has had experience doing this to one of our cars before I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

 

[GVR4592]

I don't know about 2g's but on some 1g cars there is a drain bolt in the bottom of the tank. You could also disconnect a fuel line and turn the fuel pump on to drain the gas into a container.

 

[Talesin]

I'd just disconnect the feed line from the fuel rail, then turn on the fuel pump check connector. Let it all pump out into a bucket or something. Shouldn't take long.

 

[WikedSicc]

Having the fuel pump run with no gas is not good for the pump at all. I would not recommend disconnecting a line and turning the pump on, but if you do, exercise caution.

 

[DGajre777]

Take the fuel tank off...

Just kidding, disconnect the line and let it run out.

 

[napkinthief]

Everyone is saying disconnect the lin and its getting a little confusing.
There is 2 ways to approach this.

1. Take off the pump > fuel rail line at the pump, get another line to reach into a container, and turn the key into the ON position. Wait until no more fuel comes out and turn the car off.

2. This is the way I used. Disconnect the return line to the tank at the pump, turn the car on and have the return line aimed into a container. Car will automatically turn off after the fuel is done.

 

[spyderturbo007]

Truthfully, I wouldn't worry about it. I store my Spyder with a full tank of gas over the winter, from about September thru May and haven't had any problems.

 

[turbo8765]

I wouldn't worry so much about the gas in the tank becuase, as I understand it, the problem occurs when fuel crystalizes in the fuel system somewhere distal to the pump. Any small tube/orifice can be a problem. I wouldn't go for 100% agressive tune on old fuel but I bet it will run OK...

 

[1fast97gsx]

Don't worry about it and don't beat on the car till the tank is almost empty and then refilled.

 

[mattn]

Won't have to worry about beating on it anyways... I just installed a new act 2100 and xact flywheel so i was going to take it easy anyways of course

 

[L2RTSiAWD]

Thread moved. This is not advanced nor has anything to do with fuel management or tuning. Old gas and fuel management are far from the same thing.

 

[JayRolla]

Cant you buy fuel additives for old fuel to make it better?

 

[Siral3x]

Ok..i think the easiest way is to get "some" gas out of the tank is dissconecting the feed line at the fuel rail and prime the fuel pump just a couple of times...
I would not worry abt it much, just get some fresh V-Power gas in it or maybe 1-2gal or racing fuel. If you really want to do deplet it ALL...why not take the gas tank off and flush it....that way you're not gonna clogg the fuel filter when you try to get the gas out with method 1.

 

[Siral3x]

also another good method is to start the car..and let it just idle to burn the old gas left...then when the low fuel light is on..drive to the pump and put some good stuff in it.
I would not drive it hard with old gas in it.

 

[Toshima]

Dont even worry about it i had my 1g set for 3 years and it started up and ran fine then on the 5 year is when i had to drain the bad gas. Just fill it up with the best gas you can find then take it easys on it untill you have to refill it again.

 

[MoparTurbo]

Hey... I wonder why noone knows this, but the 2g has a drain hole in the bottom of the tankalready. Look infront of the passenger side rear tire and you will see a 10mm bolt. Jack the car up on the drivers side to make the fuel run to the passenger side, then just pull the plug!

 

[DSM_TSI_95]

Put some gas treatment in the tank then drive to a gas station and fill up. I would use something like slick 50. Your car should be just fine so dont worry about it to much.