What do you do with old gasoline?

[Guest Paterson Chris]

With the return of warm weather and longer days I've been thinking of pulling the old car out of the garage for some drive time. I last tanked up and drove it around July of last year. About a month later I added the recommended amount of gas preservative. I think the gas should still be okay? It's in a car from 1922. But if not, this then begs the question of; How do you dispose of 10 gallons of old fuel?

[MCHinson]

Drive it!

[Guest Dean_H.]

You'll be fine. Don't drain the gas, just drive it. A 1922 car sounds like a lot of fun.

If you ever need to get rid of old gas, I'd suggest checking with a waste oil place.

[Restorer32]

we burn it in our lawn tractor.

[1937hd45]

Your old gas is far better that the gas availabe the day the car was build, just drive it.

[JFranklin]

I would also drive it and refill at 1/2 empty. I would add a bit of top oil, Marval Mystry Oil, or such also.

[Guest rbl2]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: JFranklin</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I would also drive it and refill at 1/2 empty. I would add a bit of top oil, Marval Mystry Oil, or such also. </div></div>

That's pretty much what I do with my 26 Chevy. the longest I have let it set unstarted was 9 months while I searched for and replaced the rear. It ran fine once I got it back on the road.

I have a 56 Buick that runs quite well, I just rarely use it. I let it set 9 months once too. It took a few minutes to pick the gas up but once there was fuel in the carb it ran great.

[Guest rickomo1]

Old gas keeps the neighbors at bay, i usually drive it out but when you buy a car full of gas that has not run in 10 years put it in open containers and the nieghbors will relish the aronatic aroma! wise guy

[Shop Rat]

If it is r-e-a-l-ly old you can drain it and mix it with a little bit of used motor oil, or would that be engine oil ?, and it makes an <span style="font-weight: bold">amazing</span> penetrant for rusty/stuck parts.

Bill used that mix to unstick the pistons in our 1939 Dodge. Someone had dumped Coke (the kind you drink not the kind you snort ) into the gas tank several years before we bought the car. The previous owner, a young guy, had just had the engine redone and someone did that to it. He junked the car rather than fix it again.

Bill poured the mix onto the pistons and let them set for about a week. Then he took a round piece of tree branch the correct size and put that against the pistons. Each tap of the hammer let the mix a little further into the cylinder until the pistons ran free. Well.....all but one. Bill was tired and it was late and he gave it one last hit and it broke.

[R Walling]

Nine month old and ten year old gas has been mentioned above. What do I do with a full tank from my new purchace that was last driven 38 years ago?

[CarlLaFong]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Roger Walling</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> Nine month old and ten year old gas has been mentioned above. What do I do with a full tank from my new purchace that was last driven 38 years ago? </div></div>

Scoop it out and resurface your driveway with it ;-)

[addicted to cars]

This is a great question, I also have an old truck with 6+ year old gas in it, it will burn but runs terrible, I was thinking about draining it out and starting with fresh, I wonder if the local auto parts stores with oil recycling service would take it?? or maybe just mix it with new gas a little at a time until it is gone??

Darren

[Guest Hugh32]

About 30 years ago a friend of mine had an old 55 gallon drum full of used lacquer thinner and leftover paint from spray jobs. To avoid paying to have it picked up, he painted it a nice shiney black, put the cap from the new thinner drum on it and put it out in back of the shop. It only took two days for someone to steal it.

[TexRiv_63]

I had to drain the gas from my Pierce when I got it, not sure how old it was but it smelled BAD. I called the city and found out they have a special toxic chemical trash pickup service for household stuff like paint and pesticides and gasoline was on the list! I put it in sealed marked containers, put it by the back fence and they picked it up.

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Hugh32</div><div class="ubbcode-body">About 30 years ago a friend of mine had an old 55 gallon drum full of used lacquer thinner and leftover paint from spray jobs. To avoid paying to have it picked up, he painted it a nice shiney black, put the cap from the new thinner drum on it and put it out in back of the shop. It only took two days for someone to steal it. </div></div>

And now it's in the drinking water.

Seriously, Don's idea of using a city's household hazardous waste program is by far the best option. Individuals (as long as they're not making the waste in a for-profit activity) are exempt from Federal hazardous waste law, although state and local laws will likely limit disposal ability in many cases. In the absence of local limitations there's nothing to prevent a homeowner from putting leaking canisters of nerve gas out on the curb on pickup day, except a conscience.

30 years ago (as in Hugh32's case) there were no other options. Today it is important to handle this stuff responsibly. All of the re-use ideas on this thread are very good, and the relatively recent and preserved gas in the initial post would not be an item to be disposed as it's still quite useful as fuel. But if none of those are an option, the best bet for everyone is to use your municipality's household hazardous waste program (<span style="font-style: italic">or find a friend who has one, but you didn't hear that from me </span>). Most municipalities, even very small ones, have programs by now.

[Guest VeloMan]

If the gas looks really bad, and there's not too much, pour it in a flat pan, trashcan lid or the like and let it evaporate. If it still looks the right consistency, I would mix a couple quarts in with each fill-up and burn it that way.

Phil

[Mark Shaw]

It is great fire starter. When I lived outside the city, I used my old gas to start the fires to burn my spring brush piles. I agree that you should use hazardous waste programs to recycle it if you can...

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">If the gas looks really bad, and there's not too much, pour it in a flat pan, trashcan lid or the like and let it evaporate. </div></div>

And then it came back down in the rain, and now it's in the drinking water!

Seriously, this is dangerous both physically (fire/explosion/health hazard) and environmentally, and also is completely unnecessary. If the quantity is small enough that this is even possible, it's much safer and more convenient to mix the bad gas with some oil dry or vermiculite, bag it, and put it out with the trash. This is MUCH less desirable than using a household hazardous waste program, but it is legal (for individuals) in most locations. Letting it evaporate is legally defined as disposal in the atmosphere. The likelyhood that a homeowner would be cited for that is miniscule (<span style="font-style: italic">although if your neighbors complain about the odor all bets are off!</span>), but that doesn't make it a good idea (any more).

If quantities are VERY small (carb bowl contents for example), you could also blend the gas with waste crankcase oil for recycle. This stuff is refined into a fuel eventually anyway, so you're not wasting it. Just don't mix so much as to make a fire/explosion hazard, either in the container or for the hauler. Anybody taking waste oil that can detect any kind of fuel/solvent odor will refuse it, and then your stuck with an even bigger problem.

[Bhigdog]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">it's much safer and more convenient to mix the bad gas with some oil dry or vermiculite, bag it, and put it out with the trash. </div></div>

This is also a really fun way to get rid of the gas too. When the truck compacts your bag-o-gas and ruptures it, it will take awhile for the vapors to mix with air and fill the confined truck body. Somewhere down the road when the slinger throws a piece of steel in the back of the truck and strikes a spark it will be real hoot.

It's best to do this around the 4th of July when everyone is up for some REAL fireworks...........Bob

[Dave@Moon]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Bhigdog</div><div class="ubbcode-body"> This is also a really fun way to get rid of the gas too. When the truck compacts your bag-o-gas and ruptures it, it will take awhile for the vapors to mix with air and fill the confined truck body. Somewhere down the road when the slinger throws a piece of steel in the back of the truck and strikes a spark it will be real hoot.

It's best to do this around the 4th of July when everyone is up for some REAL fireworks...........Bob </div></div>

Bob, I was a Bureau of Waste Management inspector for the PA Dept. of Environmental Resources of almost 10 years. I've inspected hundreds of garbage trucks, and dozens of landfills/disposal facilities/transfer stations (with the number of inspections numbering in the MANY thousands). To the best of my knowledge (without googling it), this scenario has never happened. If enough oil dry is used, the fumes should NEVER each the ignition stage.

Now if you want to ask me about the high school teacher who through away a glass jar of calcium carbide on a rainy day , that's different story.

The procedure I described is exactly what we told people to do when they called into the office in the days before household hazardous waste programs.