put old boats gas on truck not good

arty007

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
86
yesterday i emptied out my boats gas tank about 25 gal 15 of it in my truck ( 04 avalanche) the rest into my friends now both our vehicles are stalling and dont turn on... weve tryed removing the gas out the tank through the hose and added 5 gal of the good gas still not wanting to start:eek: can anyone help with this problem what else can i do...:confused:
 
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AZMinyard

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Jun 26, 2008
Messages
165
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

1. Don't do that again. I am sure you have figured this out.
2. You should be able to get a gas restore product at your local auto parts store. You may end up walking there.
3. You may have gunked up your injectors. While at the auto parts store, get a bottle of fuel injector cleaner.
4. You throttle body may be gunked up as well. Get a can of throttle body cleaner too.
5. Drop any empty your tank. Even with the restore additive you won't want the old fuel in there. Dispose of the old fuel properly. Check your owner's manual for any warnings about running your tank empty. You may need to reset your injectors.
6. Once you have all of this done, check your spark plugs for fouling. They may need cleaned/replaced.
7. When all is said and done (and your sense of humor about the whole thing has returned), post your experience under the "Stupid Human Tricks" section. :)

Good luck, hope it works out well for you!
 

25thmustang

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Mar 20, 2008
Messages
1,849
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

A 25 gal tank sounds like possibly an outboard motor? Was this a 2 stroke or 4 stroke. If it was a 2 stroke...

Oh boy!
 

Fingernip

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Dec 3, 2007
Messages
96
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

A 25 gal tank sounds like possibly an outboard motor? Was this a 2 stroke or 4 stroke. If it was a 2 stroke...

Oh boy!

Would probably be better off it was a 2 stroke. 2 stroke oil in a 4 stroke engine will smoke like hell but clean it out pretty nice. Thats depending on the ratio of course though. Only outboard 2 stroke i ever played with was 40:1 mixed though so it would likely run fine but smoke. Its most likely water or sediment though. If the fuel was pumped from the bottom of the tank without a filter it likely gummed up the trucks fuel pickup screen or the in line filter. I would start at the in line filter after it has all been depressurized and go from there. (after the tank has been drained and flushed out)
 

sschefer

Rear Admiral
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
4,530
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

Agree with fingernip - Two stroke oil won't cause any problems. A fuel filter will catch the problem with sediment or gunk way before it gets to an injector. Change the fuel filter(s). Make sure you trace the fuel line all the way back to the tank and replace all the filters. Some GM's have a pre-filter stuck up against the frame back by the tank.

As a side note: Most construction companies use mixed gas for everything rather than worry about someone putting straight gas in a two stroke engine.
 

lowkee

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
1,890
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

Hehe, I just did that with 15 gallons of my boat's gas (have to remove the tank). Hope my wife doesn't stall out on her way home :eek:
 

sschefer

Rear Admiral
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
4,530
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

Hehe, I just did that with 15 gallons of my boat's gas (have to remove the tank). Hope my wife doesn't stall out on her way home :eek:
I'm using up mine in the lawnmower. I get my Saturday workout pulling the starting rope. She starts and belches a little smoke but runs good enough to get the job done. Honda lawn mowers will run on anything I think.
 

fishrdan

Admiral
Joined
Jan 25, 2008
Messages
6,989
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

Here's my tale of woe... (and hoping it's not yours...)

I emptied the gas tank of a boat I purchased and dumped 2 gallons of the fuel into the wife's trucks tank to slowly get rid of it. Right after that I thought to myself, gee wonder if that stuff burns, since I had no clue of how old the gas was. I dumped some onto a piece of wood (it kind of looked strange, though did smell like gas) and set a match to it,,, no flame :eek: Upon further investigation I found the "gas" was about 90% water :eek:

I monkeyed around trying to get the gas/water out of the tank by running the fuel pump while running the engine off a bottle of gas dripping into the throttle body. Took about an hour until pure fuel was pumping out and the engine would run off the injectors.

End of story? right? NO! A few weeks later my wife took the truck to a shopping center 10 miles away and it was acting up, so I drive out there an hour later and it was running fine until I almost got home the it started acting up again. I dropped the tank and pumped it dry, added in a 5 gallons of fresh fuel and called it good. Truck ran fine for grocery getting / taking kids to school for the next 2 weeks,,, then I took the truck fishing and it crapped out on the freeway while towing the boat :mad: Had the truck towed home, pumped dry and dropped the tank, removed the fuel pump and the strainer on the bottom of the fuel pump was completely clogged with gunk and not letting fuel through.

Soooo, I had to completely drain the tank, clean with soap/water, dry the tank and then install new $200 fuel pump.

Moral of the story, be sure you know what's going into the tank and if you find out something bad got in there, drop the tank and clean it out before it does further damage.

Hope you get it fixed easily.
 

arty007

Petty Officer 3rd Class
Joined
Jan 7, 2009
Messages
86
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

oh boy did i get lucky! (i think..) thanks guys for the replyes, well yesterday night i thought i scored on free gas! boy was i wrong.. after i poured it into my truck i offered my friend some and he said hell yeah.... lol.. not knowing what we were getting ourselves into after a couple of hours i desided it was time to go.. started the car and drove off only got about 100 yards and my car started shaking like if it was possesed:eek: ond shuts off seconds later DAMITTT... so now im walking back to my friends house and hes laughing at me not realizing he put some of that gas on his car:D he tells me he will help me push it back to his house to work on it. but first wanted me to go with him somewhere i said ok. well we take off and as soon as we hit the corner BOOM!!! cuts off.. now im laughing!! :Dand hes not.. parked it right behind mine. so after we pushed them both back to his house at 8.00pm and started pumping out the gas ( with a hose) we headed to the gas station to buy 5 gallons of the best stuff 2.33 overhere! with no luck car would not start, killed the battery on his. today i awoke with a plan on taking off both tanks and cleaning them.. he wanted to take his toyota truck to the dealer i tryed to to tell him he should clean the tank and replace the fuel filter and if then the trucks are still not working, we should consider a diagnosis.. he didnt listen an took it to the dealer anyways,and i droped the tank on mine,cleaned it ,and refuled it plus added a fuel system cleaner and got it to start at first ran sluggish but shortly after cleared up hopefully i got most of that nasty looking gas out..after i was done with my truck my friend gets a call from the dealer and they recommended removing and cleaning gas tank:rolleyes: so now he has to drop his tank and do the same as i did. now were can i take these 10 =5gallon home dept buckets of gas to?
 

lowkee

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
Dec 13, 2008
Messages
1,890
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

Use it to light your grill :)
 

sschefer

Rear Admiral
Joined
Nov 13, 2008
Messages
4,530
Re: put old boats gas on truck not good

Lowkee - Bad advice... suppose it doesn't light the coals.. The whole famdamily might stop running. ROFLOL
 
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