Disposing of Stale Petrol

[Talbot]

My Tohatsu 10HP 2 stroke has been great up until this year. I suspect it is on strike due to the weather!

Once it is running (clean plugs and energetic work on the cord!) it runs fine at high throttle, but when reduced to slow, one cylinder appears to oil up and then cut-out. I suspect it is stale petrol and mix and want to get rid of what I have and start afresh. My local council (Brighton) will not accept petrol (or even oil ) at their local dump sites, and the council advice is to go to a garage to dispose of it. None of the garages I have tried will accept old petrol (especially with a bit of 2stroke mix in it). So any ideas anyone.

I do not have a car, so cant just add it bit by bit to the fuel tank!

 

[Cymrogwyllt]

bucket of sand and a match.

 

[yachtorion]

Neighbour with lawn mower? Bonfire night starter?

 

[sarabande]

bucket of sand and a match.

ah, the Benghazi cooker !


Yes, it can be apain to recycle, but if you add old engine oil to the can, most tips will accept it as "engine oil" but not as petrol. It all gets filtered anyway and clever additives put in and is sold as diesel.

 

[Yngmar]

The boatyard has a big used oil container. Ask Pingo if you can put it in there.

 

[Talbot]

bucket of sand and a match.

I useful idea if you have a small amount of fuel and a metal bucket - and somewhere you can do this away from the Elf and Saf crowd around our marina (not even allowed to use our BBQs)

But not very useful if you have a quantity (abt 4 gallons)

 

[prv]

I've emptied a litre or two onto the gravel behind my shed before, and let it evaporate. But I probably wouldn't want to try that with four gallons of the stuff.

Pete

 

[PaulRainbow]

I've emptied a litre or two onto the gravel behind my shed before, and let it evaporate. But I probably wouldn't want to try that with four gallons of the stuff.

Pete

With four gallons it's best to use the neighbors gravel.

 

[Hoolie]

Use it to light your barbecue. At least it worked on "men behaving badly"

 

[VicS]

Use it to light your barbecue. At least it worked on "men behaving badly"

 

[GrahamHR]

My Tohatsu 10HP 2 stroke has been great up until this year. I suspect it is on strike due to the weather!

Once it is running (clean plugs and energetic work on the cord!) it runs fine at high throttle, but when reduced to slow, one cylinder appears to oil up and then cut-out. I suspect it is stale petrol and mix and want to get rid of what I have and start afresh. My local council (Brighton) will not accept petrol (or even oil ) at their local dump sites, and the council advice is to go to a garage to dispose of it. None of the garages I have tried will accept old petrol (especially with a bit of 2stroke mix in it). So any ideas anyone.

I do not have a car, so cant just add it bit by bit to the fuel tank!

Don't be so sure that what's in the tank is the issue. Petrol in the carbs of small 2 strokes evaporates leaving a deposit/ oil on the internal orifices/ jets etc; which are very small indeed. Especially so for the idle/ low speed circuitry. It doesn't take much to block them ( as I found with my 2 stroke brush cutter)

 

[nigelmercier]

Hire a car. I do this every year.

 

[ex-Gladys]

if it's say 5-10 litres add it to a nearly full car petrol tank... The oil won't make a difference, as lots of cars have to use fully synthetic these days, and they appear to use a bit all the time...

 

[ghostlymoron]

I would use it in my petrol mower or give it to a friend with a petrol mower or car. Anything else seems a waste.

 

[johnalison]

My late MIL found it lit a bonfire very well. This wasn't the cause of her demise.

 

[davidej]

if it's say 5-10 litres add it to a nearly full car petrol tank... The oil won't make a difference, as lots of cars have to use fully synthetic these days, and they appear to use a bit all the time...

+1

 

[James_Calvert]

Buy another tank or decant fuel into some spare cans so you can try the outboard out with fresh fuel.

If it runs ok with the fresh stuff great.

If it doesn't, you need to get it fixed.

Ask your mechanic what to do with the old fuel. If it's really unusable there'll be a local solution he knows about.

I'd be quite happy to put it in my car as I've done for the past 20 years with my old fuel. Same car, same catalytic converter.

 

[Birdseye]

My Tohatsu 10HP 2 stroke has been great up until this year. I suspect it is on strike due to the weather!

Once it is running (clean plugs and energetic work on the cord!) it runs fine at high throttle, but when reduced to slow, one cylinder appears to oil up and then cut-out. I suspect it is stale petrol and mix and want to get rid of what I have and start afresh. My local council (Brighton) will not accept petrol (or even oil ) at their local dump sites, and the council advice is to go to a garage to dispose of it. None of the garages I have tried will accept old petrol (especially with a bit of 2stroke mix in it). So any ideas anyone.

I do not have a car, so cant just add it bit by bit to the fuel tank!

The fact that it runs OK at high throttle but not at low suggests it isnt the petrol at fault but the carburretor. The symptoms you describe are the classic ones of a carb with the slow running jet blocked up. This often happens with engines in store because modern petrols evaporate to a sort of gum / varnish that clogs fine jets like idle jets. So hand on to the petrol for the moment and strip down the carb. You can try it yourself with carb cleaner or alternatively if there is a big garden machnery servicing place nearby, take it there and the can ultrasonically clean it for you.

 

[Zing]

Keep it and put it in with new at 30% - motor will still run fine. Or a car will take it too. If you don't have a car then put it in the boat diesel tank. At a high dilution rate it also won't be noticed. 5% or less to be safe. Can go much higher in a non common rail. Used to be done to clean engines.

 

[reginaldon]

Bring it to me , my outboard loves it!