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If old gas isn't desirable for a $50.00 mower why would I want to dispose of it by pouring it in a $50,000 dollar pickup truck.

if it has a modern engine with a computer controlled ignition it can burn almost anything
If it has a carburettor and a fixed ignition it can not .

Including the water and crud in the bottom of the gas container. That's a really smart computer. I'll take mine to a disposal.

you didn't mention water.. just old gas...

SeniorCitizen said:

Including the water and crud in the bottom of the gas container. That's a really smart computer. I'll take mine to a disposal.

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Sounds like E-10 gas with water present on bottom..

How old is it?

I use old gas for cleaning parts , starting fire pit or starting rubbish pile.

It's never smart to use old (untreated) gas in any engine. I seldom have much old gas because I buy gas frequently but I like the idea of using it to clean parts.

7394 said:

Sounds like E-10 gas with water present on bottom..

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Have you ever done a water test on a gas container ? We've read that water story ever since alcohol was part of our gasoline history and some of a lesser story before alcohol.

Water in your fuel is not a big problem provided it is not excessive.
Water in a cylinder drastically increases to power .
It was used extensively in radial engines to get the extra power boost needed to get heavy bombers off the deck
and also for a lot of short island runways during WWII
The automotive industry spent a fortune trying to get it to work in car & truck engines but it was just not feasable
I think some diesel locomotives used water injection to increase the mileage ( nearly doubles then MPG )
The bit problem with stale old fuel is the highly volatile fractions evaporate so there is nothing that can vapourise & burn in a cold engine so you can not start them.
It is not a problem in multi cylinder car engines because you only need one of them to fire once and the injectors do a much better job of atomising the fuel than a carburettor ever can do thus stale fuel without enough volatiles to start in a single cylinder mower will fire up & run quite happily in the average car engine .

A school friend fitted a water injection system to his old 138 strait 6 Holden ( Chevy engine )
He got 90 mpg out of it on trips and once in to gear we never ever had to change gears the engine developed so much extra Hp .
Down side was it needed 2 carbs, one for petrol only & one for petrol + water injection , you had to start it on the petrol only carb then run it for at least 15 minutes to fully heat the engine & manifold then swap the carbs ( so it ran really rich till the petrol only one drained ) so there was a going nowhere time then turn on the water .
Similarly when you wanted to turn off, you had to reverse the process because the steam strips oil from the cylinder walls which was not a problem wile running because the steam itself is lubricating but of course the cylinder would rust badly if left wet after use .
SO it was impracticable for short drives .
Now days with computers it could be made to work as you can hit the "start my car" button on your phone and it would be preheated & running on water + petrol by the time you get in and similarly when you get to the destination it could go through the run down sequence after you have gotten out , then close the garage doors .
And of course it would be double injected , one for water & one for fuel .
Back in 1966 it was all carbs and control wires with a human computer on the other end of them.
Al did the same with his next 2 cars but when he got the V8 it was a disaster as when on water when you planted the foot the front wheels would lift a good 18 inches then drop when every tooth was stripped off the gear box .

If you have a library with a good collection of period magazines, then read some from the 50's & 60's. it was a regular feature also found in electronics magazines as a build it yourself kit . popular mechanics same story and cars of the future stories in motor magazines with headlines like "100 mpg cars are they possible " etc, etc , etc .

SeniorCitizen said:

Have you ever done a water test on a gas container ? We've read that water story ever since alcohol was part of our gasoline history and some of a lesser story before alcohol.

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Yes I do test my 100% gas, I won't buy a tester, it's not rocket science. I have a glass olive jar, & marked at 1" then add water to the mark, add the gas to fill, cap it. Shake good & let settle. If the 1" water level is increased, it is not 100% gas.

7394 said:

Yes I do test my 100% gas, I won't buy a tester, it's not rocket science. I have a glass olive jar, & marked at 1" then add water to the mark, add the gas to fill, cap it. Shake good & let settle. If the 1" water level is increased, it is not 100% gas.

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saw a video on youtube where a guy has 2 5 gallon gas jugs, one is clear... he fills that with E gas, pours appropriate amount of water in it, and he has a tap in the bottom of the container, drains the water and Ethanol mix out and is supposedly left with 100% or close to, ethanol free gas..... i haven't done it... as i saw it on youtube....so who knows.

There is no problem burning E10, E20 or even e85.
And the combined ethanol . water mix will also burn
Back in the day we used to toss some ethanol into the tanks after a vehicle was flooded to remove the water that did not drain out .
IT is only a problem when it sits in your carb for months on end .

Scrubcadet10 said:

saw a video on youtube where a guy has 2 5 gallon gas jugs, one is clear... he fills that with E gas, pours appropriate amount of water in it, and he has a tap in the bottom of the container, drains the water and Ethanol mix out and is supposedly left with 100% or close to, ethanol free gas..... i haven't done it... as i saw it on youtube....so who knows.

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Scrub- Yes, water is heavier than gas & diesel for that matter, so that scenario sounds plausible.

When I used to run bull dozers 100 yrs ago, below the fuel tank was a drain (Older equipment), once in a while you would open it to drain out the water, & you could see when it turned to clean diesel again, & shut off the drain.

bertsmobile1 said:

There is no problem burning E10, E20 or even e85.
And the combined ethanol . water mix will also burn
Back in the day we used to toss some ethanol into the tanks after a vehicle was flooded to remove the water that did not drain out .
IT is only a problem when it sits in your carb for months on end .

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Bert- That is mostly why I only use 100% gas.

I would suspect any water in the bottom of a gas tank with pure gas would be subject to freezing and prevent flow, in some instances, but possibly not with 10 % ethanol ?

With /100% gas, very rare to ever have any water in the bottom.(ime). But if water was on bottom, freezing could happen.

But with the ethanol, after 30 days or so the degradation can begin, called phase separation, thus the water on bottom. Then that can freeze as well.