Fuel options for winter storage
11-22-2020 | 11:03 AM
#16
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2020
Posts: 132
Likes: 44
Yes indeed, good point!
By the way, do you guys struggle to get Sta-Bil into the filler neck? I did not have a funnel with me and it was really hard to keep the little flap open with the small Sta-Bil bottle. I think a lot of the Sta-Bil went around in the immediate area around the center of the filler neck where the flap is, and I assumed this eventually goes into the tank as well.
But now I wonder if I am totally wrong and this is just an overflow tube, and the Sta-Bil therefore just went to the parking lot haha!
By the way, do you guys struggle to get Sta-Bil into the filler neck? I did not have a funnel with me and it was really hard to keep the little flap open with the small Sta-Bil bottle. I think a lot of the Sta-Bil went around in the immediate area around the center of the filler neck where the flap is, and I assumed this eventually goes into the tank as well.
But now I wonder if I am totally wrong and this is just an overflow tube, and the Sta-Bil therefore just went to the parking lot haha!
11-22-2020 | 11:04 AM
#17
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 1,119
Likes: 35
From: Downers Grove, Illinois
Unpopular opinion: don't worry about it and don't buy into the marketing. Not once have I ever put any sort of stabilizer or taken any fuel-related precautionary storage measures (other than draining carb bowls) on any vehicle or engine in my possession, and not once have I had any issues starting said engine once out of storage (save for waiting on the carb bowls to refill). If you're taking the anecdotal "I use stabilizer and it just works!" evidence as gospel, this anecdotal "I never use stabilizer and it just works!" is just as valid.
In my experiences doing repairs, particularly to carburetors, stabilizer does quite a bit more harm than good. Mostly because people use way too much of it and it gels up small orifices, or at least that's what I've been able to discern.
The fuel system in your car is all but sealed, so the worry about your fuel oxidizing is a relative nonissue. Also because the system is practically sealed, the ethanol content isn't a big deal either as there is only a finite amount of water in that system that can collect.
Even if your system was wide open to the atmosphere, the six to eight months you'll be storing the car is a complete and total nonissue. In my testing it takes around two years of being open to the air for a modern e10 fuel with standard detergent package (such as BP's gas) to become unusable.
The only legitimate argument I've heard for doing literally anything at all related to the fuel system of a vehicle prior to storage is to fill it up to the tip top in order to prevent rust from forming. This is mostly a motorcycle thing because gas caps on bike tanks are notoriously poor at sealing.
In my experiences doing repairs, particularly to carburetors, stabilizer does quite a bit more harm than good. Mostly because people use way too much of it and it gels up small orifices, or at least that's what I've been able to discern.
The fuel system in your car is all but sealed, so the worry about your fuel oxidizing is a relative nonissue. Also because the system is practically sealed, the ethanol content isn't a big deal either as there is only a finite amount of water in that system that can collect.
Even if your system was wide open to the atmosphere, the six to eight months you'll be storing the car is a complete and total nonissue. In my testing it takes around two years of being open to the air for a modern e10 fuel with standard detergent package (such as BP's gas) to become unusable.
The only legitimate argument I've heard for doing literally anything at all related to the fuel system of a vehicle prior to storage is to fill it up to the tip top in order to prevent rust from forming. This is mostly a motorcycle thing because gas caps on bike tanks are notoriously poor at sealing.
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asellus (11-22-2020)
11-22-2020 | 03:36 PM
#18
Rennlist Member
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 1,125
Likes: 288
From: Northern NJ
Full tank. Stabil. Call it a day.
If I don’t drive a ton (like this year). Toward the end of the fall I run the tank to 1/4 to burn up most of what was left from the summer. Then I add stabil, fill up with fresh 93. Battery tender. Check tire pressures. That’s that.
I will start the car a few times over the winter. Back it out into driveway. Pull back in.
Once salt hits the roads I most of the cars are in for winter. I have had enough snow tire fun for a while. I did not even get a rear defroster this time around.
If I don’t drive a ton (like this year). Toward the end of the fall I run the tank to 1/4 to burn up most of what was left from the summer. Then I add stabil, fill up with fresh 93. Battery tender. Check tire pressures. That’s that.
I will start the car a few times over the winter. Back it out into driveway. Pull back in.
Once salt hits the roads I most of the cars are in for winter. I have had enough snow tire fun for a while. I did not even get a rear defroster this time around.
11-22-2020 | 04:52 PM
#20
Racer
Joined: Jul 2016
Posts: 343
Likes: 171
Previous information I have shared with members on this topic. Be careful out there!
"We went down this rabbit hole last year when people were getting their cars ready for winter storage. What Is the best additive? What to use? How often?
The right answer depends on what you believe in and how you feel about what you are "not" told.
In the USA, you are fortunate to have the world's foremost fuel testing lab with some of the brightest and most engaged petroleum specialists in the world. I have been lucky enough to have traveled to SwRI in San Antonio with my work a number of times. We have discussed this topic ad nauseam. Their response?
There have been over 5,000 fuel additives that have been tested at SwRI. Very, very few, proved to be beneficial or to perform as marketed. (They are all surfactants which is contrary to what is marketed or desired) That was the good news. Most contained carcinogenic substances that even handling them was dangerous; let alone being exposed to them in the exhaust gases. That tidbit of information isn't required on the label. So much for short and long term health effects.
Additives are big money. They are an inexpensive promise to fixing a complicated problem. Petroleum engineers at refineries do everything they can to stop fuel decay by balancing water absorption with emission safety. I made my decision on fuel additives based on these scientists who aren't linked financially to any of these products. Also, for the kids, adults and animals downwind. (ps the Porsche has never not started or failed to perform like in those commercials/ads)."
"We went down this rabbit hole last year when people were getting their cars ready for winter storage. What Is the best additive? What to use? How often?
The right answer depends on what you believe in and how you feel about what you are "not" told.
In the USA, you are fortunate to have the world's foremost fuel testing lab with some of the brightest and most engaged petroleum specialists in the world. I have been lucky enough to have traveled to SwRI in San Antonio with my work a number of times. We have discussed this topic ad nauseam. Their response?
There have been over 5,000 fuel additives that have been tested at SwRI. Very, very few, proved to be beneficial or to perform as marketed. (They are all surfactants which is contrary to what is marketed or desired) That was the good news. Most contained carcinogenic substances that even handling them was dangerous; let alone being exposed to them in the exhaust gases. That tidbit of information isn't required on the label. So much for short and long term health effects.
Additives are big money. They are an inexpensive promise to fixing a complicated problem. Petroleum engineers at refineries do everything they can to stop fuel decay by balancing water absorption with emission safety. I made my decision on fuel additives based on these scientists who aren't linked financially to any of these products. Also, for the kids, adults and animals downwind. (ps the Porsche has never not started or failed to perform like in those commercials/ads)."
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asellus (11-22-2020)
