You may wonder, can you mix old gas with new gas if the old gas remains in your vehicle’s tank for a long time?
What happens when you add new gas to your tank after storing your vehicle during the winter months or on vacation?
Your vehicle can normally run when you add new gas to old gas. Yet, you must keep an eye on a few minor issues when mixing these two shades of gas.
Let’s take a deeper look at combining old gas with new gas and determine if it can ruin your engine. We also instruct you how to blend them correctly with tried-and-true tips.
Can You Mix Old Gas With New Gas?
Have you ever ask a question that “can I mix old gas with new gas? Is it okay to mix old gas with new gas?
The answer is: Yes, you can. It is normal to mix old gas with new gas since the new gasoline may compensate for the old one.
Even if It is okay to mix the old gas with the new one, keep in mind to given that it is uncontaminated gas and you comply with strict conditions.
Your engine’s performance can be poorer at the next refill. Thus, you should be careful to decide to add new gas to the old one.
However, mixing old and new gas is not advisable since not all gasoline types have the same components and properties.
So, you shouldn’t mix old gas with new gas if you are unfamiliar with the engine world.
Combining old and new gas costs you more than removing the old gas and pouring the fresh gas into the tank.
Yet, if you’ve stored the old gas in the proper condition and keep its full combustibility, mixing it with the new one in the right proportions is great.
The old uncontaminated gas can be more useful by diluting with the new gas to maintain your engine’s operation.
You should store the old gas for a maximum time of one month to get the best combustibility when diluting it in the fresh gas.
What Are Effects of Mixing Old Gas with New Gas?
Mixing old and new gas can cause some effects below.
First, diluting the old gas with fresh gas can produce a low gas combustion rate, reducing the spark plugs’ effectiveness in the engine. This is the main cause of engine sputtering.
This mixture also causes a knocking noise due to spark plugs igniting the gas or air mixture too early.
Specifically, you may notice your car knocks on start-up then goes away. This problem can ruin the engine over time.
Besides, using the old gas that includes the dirt deposits with fresh gas can cause clogging. This is the culprit behind the poor engine or its damage and failure.
Another effect is the shortage of engine power as gas ages since the molecules making up the old gas can change and break down. This process leads to oxidation, causing a loss of engine power.
As such, it can decrease fuel economy and make your vehicle consume much more fuel. You then must fill up your fuel tank more regularly.
The lower-octane fuel combustion from the old gas may trigger increased emissions having detrimental impacts on the environment, including air pollution.
How Can You Mix the Old and New Gas Appropriately?
Mixing stale gas with fresh gas is still safe and fine if you know how to mix the two gas types under the right conditions properly.
Thorough Storage
The old gas is still okay to use when you store it correctly. Thus, you must first remember how long you’ve stored this old gasoline and carefully check its properties.
You must also keep the old gas in airtight containers for the best reuse.
Check Expiration Date
You must check the expiration date of the old gas to know its shelf life. If it is not expired, you can mix it with fresh gas in the allowance time, such as within a month or so.
The old gas only mixes with the new gas if left in three to six months. When you’ve kept it for more than six months, it can go bad.
Check The Gas Tank
Should you have no clue if the gasoline in the tank has been stale or not, you should check it first.
If it remains in good condition, you can fill the fresh gas to mix with the old fuel in the tank in the right proportion to keep the engine running smoothly.
Judge The Mixture
Lastly, by monitoring your vehicle’s signs, you must determine whether this mixture is bad for your engine.
It can stall regularly when accelerating after mixing the new and old gas. Besides, your vehicle can generate a botchy and rough idle or keep the engine system from being productive.
When one of these happens, you may judge that this is a terrible mixture that can damage your engine.
Related Questions
Can You Use Old Gas?
Yes, provided that the old gasoline is still in good condition and you know how to rejuvenate it.
Don’t use the stale gas to fire yard debris, trash, fires, campfires, or charcoal grills. Lighting your wood stove or fireplace with old gasoline is not recommended, either.
Don’t use the old gasoline as a solvent or cleaning fluid. Using old gasoline to start manufactured fire starters, fluid a charcoal chimney, or starter to light charcoal grills is a potentially unsafe risk.
How To Use Old Gas?
You should learn how to properly use the old gas to prevent unwanted dangers or injuries as it is flammable and toxic.
First, you can use the stale gas to kill weeds by pouring a proper amount on them.
This is one of the best ways to clean weeds and grass from growing at the cracks in sidewalks, pavement, or driveways.
Second, you can kill fire ants with the old gas. The stale fuel alone can remove them from your house or anywhere you want.
Third, the old gas is a great fuel if you use an old tractor. This machine can run better only using stale gas. You can save money instead of replacing it with new fuel to start your tractor.
Besides, mixing old gas with new gas lawn mower, snowblowers, and gas-oil mixtures is the ideal use of the stale gas. Lastly, you can use it for a Waste Oil Heater to burn it for heating.
Adding a small amount of the old gasoline to this machine can help it smoothly operate and generate a great heating source.
Can You Put Old Gas In A Car?
Again, the old gas is not problematic when you put it in your car if you’ve stored it in good condition. However, you can use the fresher gas and add to the stale gasoline to slow its worsening process.
This can maintain the old gas in your vehicle for a few months. Your engine will operate as usual when mixing the stale gas with new gas.
How to Make Old Gas Usable?
You can make the old gasoline usable by adding fuel stabilizers or additives or filling it with newer gas. This can recondition the stale gas to a fine state with its stable properties and volatiles.
When the gas becomes too stale, it can lose its good properties permanently if it is ethanol fuel, so don’t try to save some bucks and risk your safety.
Can I mix Good Gas with Bad Gas?
Yes, you can. The bad gas can lose its potency and good property, so it is hard to fire up your engine if standing alone.
Thus, diluting bad gasoline with good gas is fine when you almost use it up in the tank.
Can You Add Something To Old Gas?
Yes. Adding a stabilizer is the best way to prevent further old gas degradation. Can old gas be restored? Yes, you can use some stabilizer products to restore the old gas.
The Sta-Bill and Lucas Oil products are the primary stabilizers you can add to stale gas to recover its quality and properties.
Another choice is adding additives if you haven’t poured a gas stabilizer to the old gas to protect your engine from detrimental effects.
You can choose some high-quality additive products such as Star Tron Enzyme Treatment, Sea Foam RV SF-16, and STP Ethanol Treatment.
Before combining it with the fresh gas in the tank, you may also add additives, aiming at restoring old gasoline.
Conclusion
Now, you’ve answered the question, “can you mix old gas with new gas?”. The answer is yes.
Mixing the old gas in your vehicle is safe and fine. Yet, it also depends on the actual shelf life of the old gasoline and how it exists over time.
Most stale gas can last for a couple of months without problems, but when it is too old, it will break down and be ineffective in supporting a combustion element for your engine.
If you want to store the old gas in a car’s gas tank or a portable gasoline tank for an extended time, mix it with a fuel stabilizer or additive.
These products are popular at auto shops to support the extended life of the gas, up to 2 years.