Using old Diesel

[jennyjj01]

Friends, a quandary,

I have two x 20Litre (New) jerrycans of diesel which was bought at a local petrol station in July 2019. It was for use in my 1.6L old diesel car.

Fool that I am, I never rotated it, so it is well past the recommended storage age of 6-12 months.

Now, I'm planning to sell the car in about 15 weeks and I've run down the fuel tank to 5L. I would typically use 75L of fuel in that time.

This is going to be a gamble, so I'd like the collective opinion, especially of those with experience using old diesel. I'm thinking of using this old stuff in a 50:50 mix with fresh.

Don't judge me too harshly.

BP says 12Months not a problem in a full jerry can.
https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/count ... ndling.pdf

These mavericks said JFDI
https://www.lrukforums.com/threads/dies ... ans.79363/

This is the consensus
https://vehiclefreak.com/can-diesel-go-bad-how-to-tell/




Please don't just direct me to google searches showing me the accepted answer of 'don't do it'. The accepted answer is that it degrades after 6-12 months. I get that. But it has not been in a rusty vehicle tank. It has not been in an half empty, oxygen rich tank. It's not been allowed access to water. And most of all, I don't care if my car runs a bit smokey or lumpy. This is a one off exercise in running the car on rubbish fuel. So long as the car can do a 15 mile round trip a few times and limp home, I won't be too bothered. If the car suffers some damage, such as blocked injectors or filter, then I will have lost the wager, unless draining it and purging with some clean fuel can fix it.
I figure there are worse mavericks than me, happily running their lorries on crappy fuel.

Who'd risk it?
Alternatively, how does one dispose of 40L of old diesel? could I give it to someone to use in a space heater?
I don't know anyone with oil fired home heating.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Blend it 50:50 and slap some diesel redex in

[Yorkshire Andy]

Or buy a diesel heater they are great
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235264735699 ... R96HqtnrYg

[Panther]

I'm pleased you've asked this question as I too have (a few) cans of diesel that have been in storage for far too long (maybe three or four years).
I hesitate to use the fuel but don't know how to dispose of it sensibly. At the local recycling centre they don't even accept empty fuel cans let alone full ones! Hmm, a quandary!

[jennyjj01]

Blend it 50:50 and slap some diesel redex in

Thanks, That's more positive advice than I expected.
It's also given me a hope of fixing any damage that it might cause.

[jennyjj01]

Or buy a diesel heater they are great
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/235264735699 ... R96HqtnrYg

Thanks Andy. Spend £95 to save £60

Local recycling centre will only take engine oil and cooking oil..... hmmmm. diesel? cooking oil?

[Winterprep]

A 50/50 mix with redex as Andy says should be ok but I would be tempted to decant it to check for water.In theory the water should sink to the bottom so don’t shake it and empty slowly.

WP

[Yorkshire Andy]

A 50/50 mix with redex as Andy says should be ok but I would be tempted to decant it to check for water.In theory the water should sink to the bottom so don’t shake it and empty slowly.

WP

Hopefully if it's in a proper jerry can sealed it won't have interfaced much with water vapour for any meaningful amount to be adsorbed

[jennyjj01]

A 50/50 mix with redex as Andy says should be ok but I would be tempted to decant it to check for water.In theory the water should sink to the bottom so don’t shake it and empty slowly.

WP

Hopefully if it's in a proper jerry can sealed it won't have interfaced much with water vapour for any meaningful amount to be adsorbed

Yes. They were new jerrycans, brim full. The main concern I read about is a slimy gummy layer formed by microbes at a water/diesel boundary.

I'll decant it into glass and maybe run it through a filter made from something like an ffp2 mask.

For the record, I've experienced problems with stale petrol in the lawnmower, which were not indicative of permanent damage.

[Nurseandy]

Yup, just use it. I've used diesel that's a couple of years old and was stored in plastic cans in a shed. Went in a modern diesel citreon and an older kia. No problems at all, as others have said just throw it in with some newer stuff.