Not Driving - Fuel Question

[Fishcop]

Hi All

I suspect like a lot of you here, I can't really get out and drive right now (just some laps around town).  I have some car projects lined up to get my fix.  But I am wondering what the general wisdom is regarding fuel sitting in our seldom used cars at the moment?

My 996 has a close to empty tank - and the fuel in it would date back to Luftwasser in March!  Am I better off leaving or filling to the brim with fresh fuel?  My thought was to go fill it...

Cheers, John

[tomo]

1 hour ago, Fishcop said:

Hi All

I suspect like a lot of you here, I can't really get out and drive right now (just some laps around town).  I have some car projects lined up to get my fix.  But I am wondering what the general wisdom is regarding fuel sitting in our seldom used cars at the moment?

My 996 has a close to empty tank - and the fuel in it would date back to Luftwasser in March!  Am I better off leaving or filling to the brim with fresh fuel?  My thought was to go fill it...

Cheers, John

I think the general idea is to leave it full to reduce  condensation build up while in storage, Could be wrong but it is what I do. Cheers

 

[1q2w3e4r]

Yeah, typically approach is to leave full tank of high octane 

 

[MezgerMan]

The wisdom I have gleaned is only second hand but I too keep a full tank. If it approaches six months old, I'll siphon most of it out and use it in my daily driver and refill the P-car with fresh fuel. This is to reduce the risk of stale fuel. #freedomawaits

[Skidmarks]

Keep it full.

And dream of the day you can run it until it’s empty!

[Joz]

12 hours ago, Skidmarks said:

Keep it full.

And dream of the day you can run it until it’s empty!

I had a dream !

[Peter M]

John,

With plastic fuel tanks I don't think it matters if they are kept full or empty.

With metal tanks there is a strong held view that condensation through temperature changes and consequently corrosion can occur if they are not kept reasonably full.  Can't say I've seen much evidence of this in my life and I bet the majority cars on the road spend most of their time with well less than half a tank but the logic seems sound.

As for the age of fuel, it only initially begins to effect cold starting.  If I notice cold starts are beginning to be difficult, I would only consider topping up the tank with fresh fuel or if particularly bad, changing fuel completely then.  Most of my experience with this situation has involved lawn maintenance equipment which is easily solved by placing these engines in the sun for a little while to warm up prior to having another go to start them.

I've only ever replaced the fuel completely once where an engine would barely start and barely run.  It had a pretty weak ignition so wasn't surprised.

I suspect this question is one of those things that isn't really worth worrying about. 

[StevepGT3]

I will add that  internal fuel hoses survive a lot better immersed in fuel than they do with just fuel fumes, have seen a few cases with motorcycles sitting for a while with nearly empty tanks where the hoses have turned to mush