Stale gas? what damage could it have done?

amber.gumdrop, Mar 12, 11:36am
Hi I have been bad and not driven my hot rod for about a year, and when I went to do so, it ouled all the plugs on one side of the engine, and sounded like it was running on 7 cylinders. I think this could have been caused by stale gas. So all cleaned up now, but was wondering if there is anything else I should worry about, and also if it wasnt that what could cause all plugs to carbon up on one side of an engine! Any advice ta. would like to race this weekend.

budgel, Mar 12, 4:08pm
If it is running OK now it should be all right.

Check allleads where they go into the distributor and coil.

kazbanz, Mar 12, 4:14pm
Dump the gas,replace the plugs-with the lil motorbikes we huck out the carbs because the jets foul

supernova2, Mar 12, 4:34pm
I know that gas goes stale but I do wonder sometimes about the nay sayers.My elchepo chainsaw sits on the woodshed floor all year and I just pick it up off the floor and it starts first time every time on gas thats been in it for up to 12 months.

tazcsv, Mar 12, 5:57pm
My jetboat sat for 12months with approx 100L in the tank and it fired up 1st turn of the key and ran as good as it always does so i to dont think old fuel causes to many issues over that time frame.

meathead_timaru, Mar 12, 6:43pm
It depends on how highly strung the engine is. Try that 12-month old fuel with a 2-stroke, or sports 4-stroke, bike and it'll run like a bag of broken rrrrsoles. My 20+ year old McCulloch line trimmer hates stale fuel - I don't use it too much these days and last time I left it sitting for about 9 months it wouldn't start until I diluted the stale fuel with fresh - luckily the primer is a recirculation - then it started second or third pull. But the B&S mower doesn't care.

happylad3, Mar 12, 7:36pm
I have a 2L pinto in my Capri. Compression is up near 10.5-1. And I had some 98 sitting in the fuel tank for about 4 months. I went for a drive one day, and it starts to ping under load. About 5 minutes of cruising (running fine) it started to run really rough! After doing compression tests etc I'd found out that I'd blown the head gasket from detonation.

elect70, Mar 12, 9:44pm
Check floats oncarbsarentstuckresultiung inover rich mixture . If left to dry thestuff inpetrolturns into"varnish '. Iddrop the bowls&clean it all .

kazbanz, Mar 12, 11:01pm
The problem with our gas is that its full of volatile octane boosters. The octane boosters "flash off" slowly reducing the octane of the fuel

amber.gumdrop, Mar 13, 2:09pm
yep sounds like an idea. have got my trusty slave to clean plugs and will try it today.
Thanks for all your advice A