Old Gas in lawn mower

bandaidman

bandaidman

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The prior owner of my house "gifted" me two 5 gallon jerry cans of gas,

My 12 year old Honda mower is on its last legs, no longer self propels etc. I will replace this year irregardless.I have replaced most things that can be fixed.

This gas is minimum 18 mos old. Any way to safely burn up this gas in the mower? Its a shame to waste 80 bucks of gas and I don't want the hassle of disposing of it

I have some techron and sea foam in the garage. Will adding either of these make it more "usable"???
 
Should work just fine without sea foam or techron.

Might be a bit more difficult to turn over, that's it.
 
that sea foam is your best friend for all this stuff, I would use the gas personally, worst thing that can happen is it is bad gas and gunks it up. in which case you are buying a new lawnmower anyways it seems like. therefore I wouldn't be to worried about it. or like the other person said, put it in your car with a bit of octane booster.
 
You pay $8 for a gallon of gas?

As far as bad gas goes, my brother generally just mixes it with with used motor oil and burns it in a wood stove, recycles it or sometimes gives the mix to people who burn waste oil for heat.
 
First, agitate each can and then pour a cup or so into a glass jar with a tight lid. Cover tightly and let stand overnight. Look for any separation which would be water. The water will be a distinct layer on the bottom. If you see no water, then put the stuff through the mower.
 
Well...math error on my part. only 45 bucks of gas. But its still free and I dont have to worry about disposing of it :)

Mower running fine on old gas. I think the fact it was in metal jerry cans with a robust lid/gasket thingy helped.

Thanks for the advice
 
Man, I wish I could find some old jerry cans like that

We the Jerry cans metal?

I want I find some, but last i heard, they weren't available to the public anymore, only plastic ones.....though there are still some sources
 
I found a 2 year old jerrry can of gas deep in the corner of my shed this past winter. It was full, sealed well, still smelled like gas so I used it. I poured it into the snowmobile and used the rest in the generator with no problems. I mixed it some with new gas, and then just tried it straight and it was fine. One can tell by smell when gas goes off as it will gradually turn to varnish with time and exposure to air, this is more of a problem with half empty gas cans than with full ones. It rarely happens but I had some old gas go off and I used it for cleaning.
 
Gollnick said:
First, agitate each can and then pour a cup or so into a glass jar with a tight lid. Cover tightly and let stand overnight. Look for any separation which would be water. The water will be a distinct layer on the bottom. If you see no water, then put the stuff through the mower.
Click to expand...

what he said.. water is your worst nightmare. i always put a few shots (2oz-3oz) of seafoam or marvels mystery oil in my 5 gallon gas tank each time i fill up. they both work as a fuel stabilizer. old gas will eventually gunk up your intake. believe me. its ok to do it just try not to do it often. again check for water or you may regret it
 
crazyengineer said:
Man, I wish I could find some old jerry cans like that

We the Jerry cans metal?

I want I find some, but last i heard, they weren't available to the public anymore, only plastic ones.....though there are still some sources
Click to expand...

yep plastic with a stupid ass safety nozzle.. sucks hard core!!! tempted to find older cans bc the new ones suck so much ass they probably smell like a stagnant fart
 
I like hanging onto the older cans too. The new ones with all the child proof (read seniors and older people proof) often cause me to skin my my knuckles when opening, hard to tighten and often have gas spilling out from the poor seals.

The first thing I do when I pull up to fill a brand new gas can is to cut away all the childproofing and then file and sand off the remaining sharp edges to make it at least accessible to fill and use.
 
I picked up several Eagle 5 gal metal cans from my local tractor store for 40 bucks and they are real nice. I finally sprung for 'em after 30 years of fooling around with those cheap plastic ones, always spilling gas on me and my clothes and gettin aggravated, so worth every penny.

Being you're in the market for a lawn mower you might be interested; got me a Honda 160cc, self-propelled, rear wheel drive, 3 in 1,(mulches, bags, or rear discharges),dual blades, paid 399 at home supply store just last week. A lot of mower for the price and I really like it so far. Out of the box, I unfolded the handles, put in some 10w-30, pulled the starter and it fired up on the very first pull. It was a about a hunert bucks more than some similar mowers of other brands, but the Honda is a little ahead in quality I think.
 
Honda mowers are so wicked.

The one we got is about 21 yrs old, havent had any issues with it and still fires on the first pull.
 
I've used gas up to 3 years old with no problem. Everyone says you shouldn't, but I guess I've been lucky so far. My last mower lasted 22 years, my snowblower is going on 17, and my new mower is 8 years. I refuse to use a $20k car to protect a $500 mower. Burn it in the mower!
 
My POS hand me down John Deere started on the first pull today with at least 18 month old gas in the tank.

Bruceter
 
Meanwhile my two year old Toro wouldn't start till it took a steel toe to the side and then it started like a champ.
 
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