It is a well known fact that ethanol does not hold up over time, and while old gas may work in a low compression motor such as a lawnmower (which I have done) it WILL cause issues with modern, higher compression engines. It took three tanks of fuel to get rid of the misfire in the car, and one tank in the truck. Either one of them could be kept out of knock by being easy on the throttle. It would only knock under heavy load. Either way, it would be very likely to fail an emissions test with that gas, even if the test itself didn't trigger a misfire.
Drive the car, and fill up with premium as soon as you can get a couple of gallons in it. I'm likely to get thumbed down, but resistance to detonation is the first thing that goes as gas ages, higher octane fuel is more likely to reduce the knocking as it mixes with the bad stuff. 10 gallons of 80 octane gas diluted by 2 gallons of 87 is not going to raise the tanks octane rating like 2 gallons of 91 would. Once you get through a full tank I'd go back to the recommended octane fuel for the vehicle.
The gas won't cause you to fail smog. You have another problem with the car. The CEL light relates to emissions control issues and OBDII codes. If you don't have a CEL or OBDII code, you should pass smog as long as all the parts (cat converter, evap canister, good gas cap, etc) are in place and connected.
Old gasoline doesn't cause a car to spring a check engine light.
The dealer of the car will remove the fuel filler tube and drain the gas if you're so inclined. The fuel tank does NOT need to be removed from the car to simply drain old-age fuel.
Yes, a mechanic can do it. Most gas tanks need to be dropped from the car to be drained, as there is no drain plug. There are alternatives, you can add new fuel to the tank and run it out, if there is an electric fuel pump you can disconnect it from the engine and let the pump flow to a gas can. there are also additives you can add to the fuel to stabilize it.
Hi , take the car on a fast drive on the freeway say 10 minutes to warm it up and clean out the motor the take right to the testing station..
good luck
tim
gas has a very long shelf life. i seen gas sit in a car for 2 years and the car crank and ran fine with that gas.
Find a hazardous material drop off center. Call before you go there in case they have special instructions.
Just drive it.
I'm trying to get my car to pass smog, and since I haven't been able to drive it in a long time, I have a tank of gas that's been sitting in it for a very long time. I need to drain it and refill it if I want my car to pass smog, so where would I go to do that? Would a mechanic do it?
