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MG MGB Technical - Old gas

Hello, I was going to start this with a thread title of "Bad Gas" but I was afraid of being directed to Net MD. Anyhow. I am starting to work on a 80 MGB LE, and the PO let me have the car with a full tank of gas. Well and good, however, the gas is 13 years old and almost up to the filler neck. It has an odor of something like kerosene. Needless to say, I have to remove the gas before I proceed much further. Anyone have any recommendations for disposal of the "old gas"? Also, the exterior of the tank is very rusty. I am concerned the interior is as bad as the exterior. I feel that to eliminate the fuel as a problem all together I am going to replace the tank, fuel pump and lines up to the carb. Any thoughts?

Regards,
Ed
Edward Bullard

I would put it gas containers and turn it in at your local household waste turn-in site. This stuff sounds to old for your mower. If the tank is full, it probably hasn't rusted. The fuel pump may be OK if it will run. Replace the filter and rebuild the carb. Might be a good time to put on those twin SUs.
Leland Bradley

I have a suggestion, I know of somebody who collects (military) tanks. When one of the motoring organisations are called out to empty out a petrol tank that's been filled with diesel (or vice versa) they take the mixed up fuel to him, because tanks are designed to run on virtually anything.
Regards... Phil
Phil

My 71 B had a full tank of gas and had been setting for 10+ years. I put the gas in my 75B and it ran better than ever! My guess was that is was leaded so I did not want to run it is a car wit a cat. convt.
Bob Ritter
Ribert Ritter

Thanks for your comments. This weekend I am going to buy containers to get the gas out of the tank. I will remove the tank, fuel pump and carb and review. I will have to figure out what to do with the old gas later.

Cheers,
Ed
Edward Bullard

Ed,
Maybe add a half-gallon or so at a time to a new tank of gas and burn it up that way?

Joe
Joe Ullman

I have a 77'B that is in much the similar situation as Edwards. I was wondering if the old gas was not good enough to make my car run when I try to get it started later on this month. Also, what would the potential problems be if I did try to start it or run it? Is there any way to tell if it is still good? And what is the recommended method of getting it out of the tank...I was thinking of using a shop vac....
David Quigley

The old gas in my 'B was about 3 years old, so I drained it into a container and added a couple of gallons a week to the fresh fuel in my '71 Chevy pickup until it was used up. I filtered out a little sediment, and I never noticed any adverse affects on the Chevy.

Jerry
Jerry Causey

David,
No shop vac please; the motors can/will spark and this is a VERY dangerous situation. Almost sure to cause you grief.

Joe
Joe Ullman

If your fuel pump still works, disconnect the fuel line at/near the carb, add a length of rubber hose and pump it out into a catch can.
Ken Lessig

It looks like I will try the fuel pump on the B to start with. If it is bad, I will buy a inexpensive one to pump the fuel through the system, (including the filter) into a catch can, as Ken mentioned, and use it up in my van, truck and jeep. One gallon per tank full until I get rid of it as Jerry mentioned. This is what advise I really like getting on this BBS. It sounds like a good plan. Thanks everyone................

Cheers,
Ed
Edward Bullard

I think I will do the same thing...but I am wondering what that will do to my battery (and or fuel pump)?
David Quigley

David,

Your fuel pump doesn't care, it's doing what it was designed to do, pump fuel. The battery should not be affected too much either, as the pump will not be working against any backpressure, and therefore should be a fairly quick operation. You can always recharge the battery with a trickle charger ONLY AFTER you have completed the fuel pumping evolution and removed the old fuel container(s) from the area (Old gas + hydrogen + electricity = BOOM!!).
Paul Konkle

To remove the old gas from the tank:

In a larger hardware store if you go to the kerosene tank and heater department they have cheap plastic pump/siphons for a couple of dollars. Since they're made for kerosene, the gasoline won't melt the plastic. This worked nicely when I emptied my tank recently.

BTW, if you decide not to use the old gas, you can probably take it to any place they gather waste motor oil. I would think petroleum is petroleum in the case of recycling.


Matt K.
Matt Kulka

Does anybody know if/when they stopped putting a drain plug on the bottom of the tank. Both my '67 and '70 have had one. Although I seem to recall reading that they discontinued it sometime, probably due to a BL cost-saving measure. If your car has the plug, it should drain faster than the pump could.
Jared Snider

Jared,
That drain all the gunk out of the tank instead pumping it into the tank strainer, pump, etc.
What fun is that? ;-)
Leland Bradley

This thread was discussed between 12/02/2002 and 13/02/2002

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