Old Fuel Question

[Yessup]

Hi All,
The good news is there is water in the local lakes this year. The bad news is my 99 direct drive has been sitting dry for 2-3 years. I'm pretty sure when I stored it (50 miles away) that it had a nearly full gas tank.
I'm going to go get the boat today and start to get her ready for an epic summer. Does anyone have any suggestions on if I should do anything with the gas before I start it up? Drain and dispose? Don't worry about it?
I woul appreciate the feed back.
Thank you

[hcooperrn]

Did you have fuel stabilizer in it? Ethanol or non-ethanol? Regardless, personally, I would try to drain it after that long of time. Depending on how well it kept, you may have varnish build-up and potentially corrosion if the ethanol wasn't neutralized and attracted moisture. I'm sure some better experience will chime in.

[Thegerman618]

YESSUP- That gas is bad no question even with stabil in it. DO NOT RUN IT ON THAT GAS!!!!! The gas now out here in CA is bad after about 5-6 Months from what I can tell. Turns yellow and stinks bad when it goes. The ethonal induces water build up (especially when it gets hot then cools) all that water sinks to the bottom where the fuel pump is and that's all bad.

Sounds like you are already know what you need to get done for annual maintenance so no need to go there.

But I would add these steps to your "things to do":
Drain as much fuel as possible.
Change your fuel filters
Take a look at Liquid Performance Ethanol treatment (I swear by this stuff) youtube them. You will see how SeaFoam/Stabil are inferior when it comes to ethanol specifically.
Pull all the plugs out, and turn the motor over a few time and let any of the bad fuel or water in the cylinders blow its self out.
Put the old plugs back in and run it for 10-15 min and let any bad fuel in the lines work itself out. Let the old spark plugs do this, no need to burn out new plugs.
Pull the old plugs and put new plugs in.
If you really want to make sure everything is clean in there I would do a fog of the motor with SeaFoam through the intake since the motor should be warm after 10-15 min from the previous run.
Let that seafoam sit till the motor cools, then fire it up one more time to blow all the seafoam out.

This is what I have done in the past and seems to work well haven't had any issues.

Though I am sure more will chime in with some additional preventative maintenance.

[Yessup]

Thank you Thergerman, Any idea what to do with the old fuel?

[Jetdriver]

Have a sweet bonfire!

[Thegerman618]

Ummm.....jet driver has the right idea. In all seriousness, the legal way if disposal is to go to any household hazardous waste disposal location and turn it in. I have done in the past it's kind of a PITA to be honest any the place I went charged me by the gallon. It wasn't a lot, buck a gallon or something stupid like that. Good ol' CA. Gotta love it.