alank Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 What are peoples thoughts on keeping the fuel tank topped up during winter to prevent condensation, and possibly corrosion in the tank. I have heard that the Boxster does not suffer with condensation problems. Thanks, and Merry Xmas to all Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMA Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 I would guess the tanks are of plastic construction these days as they need to deform and not split easily in an accident. So corrosion should be of little worry. Even the mild steel tank I had in the old kit only suffered from exterior corrosion and was clean inside when i removed it after 11 years of being on the car infull, empty and part full states ll year round Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alank Posted December 19, 2016 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 OK, just discovered it is plastic, so no probs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 It's best practice to store with a full tank to avoid any moisture problems. However if you pay to store at some of the dry store places they will insist on an empty tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason986S Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 I park my cars up with hatever is left in them come the end of November. Saying that, this year I've kept the 986 taxed and on the road. Shamefully only used it once in the last 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr96er Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 Mine only ever stands between weekends. I thought the tank was plastic anyway, but how would you drain it for a storage place? Or do they provide that service? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araf Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 3 minutes ago, Loz987 said: Mine only ever stands between weekends. I thought the tank was plastic anyway, but how would you drain it for a storage place? Or do they provide that service? If they don't the local scrotes will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 11 minutes ago, Loz987 said: Mine only ever stands between weekends. I thought the tank was plastic anyway, but how would you drain it for a storage place? Or do they provide that service? You not see the hose pipe trick? Either that or take it the long way and run it dry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araf Posted December 19, 2016 Report Share Posted December 19, 2016 9 minutes ago, edc said: Either that or take it the long way and run it dry But be very sure of your consumption calculations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That986 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Depending on how long you are going to leave it to stand then you would be better running it down to barely nothing. Petrol loses its octane rating after so long, last thing you want after storing is to run it on dead petrol and have the dash light up like a christmas tree. When you're ready again just grab 20l from the local garage in a jerry can and you're good to go. The other thing as well is that if you do leave fuel in there and condensation forms then the petrol will quit happily suck that up and start to lose it's "volatility". The school of thought is normally anything over a couple of months storage and you would be better emptying it. My missus has the same problem with her beetle in that she hardly drives it and when she does come round to it always finds it runs like cr*p until she gets fresh juice in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That986 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Little bit more info: The thought on the shelf life of modern petrol is not a long longer than one month, Also a lot of modern fuels now contain Ethanol which is hygroscopic, or in english it absorbs water due to it's chemical composition. The more fuel in a tank the more moisture it can absorb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobbie Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 3 hours ago, That986 said: Little bit more info: The thought on the shelf life of modern petrol is not a long longer than one month, Also a lot of modern fuels now contain Ethanol which is hygroscopic, or in english it absorbs water due to it's chemical composition. The more fuel in a tank the more moisture it can absorb. Any source on the shelf life being a month? Just sounds a very short time and I wonder what is meant by shelf life? How much of a decrease in Ron or how much absorbsion of water. My Spitfire starts up fine after being left over winter, but I recognise that it may not be quite so fussy as modern cars ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edc Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 High octane fuel does go "off" but it doesn't turn to p*ss. My Boxster did less than 400 miles between its MOTs last year and for the most part had Shell V Power in it and for most of that time it was probably the same tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That986 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 10 minutes ago, Nobbie said: Any source on the shelf life being a month? Just sounds a very short time and I wonder what is meant by shelf life? How much of a decrease in Ron or how much absorbsion of water. My Spitfire starts up fine after being left over winter, but I recognise that it may not be quite so fussy as modern cars ? Just what i've read on the subject a few times, one of the reasons i always fill up from a busier garage. As EDC said above it doesn't fully go off as such, it just won't be anywhere near it's best. And it WILL soak up water which we all know is not combustible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That986 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 I can't find the article that was in Evo magazine but this points summary covers it.... Just got my Evo magazine through the door.....Clears up a few mysteries that have been floating about on this forum.1. Buy petrol from busy petrol stations because they go off after a couple of weeks. They proved that performance deteriorates.2. Super markets use a number of different suppliers (Esso, Texaco, BP etc). Every fill up my have diffferent petrol3. BP Ulitmate and Tesco 99 got higher torque and power than Optimax in Golf GTi turbo. BP 95 and Shell 95 came out worst.4. Race fuel is the daddy5. tesco 99 uses up to 5% bio-ethanol to increase Octane6. Optimax has proven cleaning qualities and BP claim their Ultimate does as well.7. A spokesperson for one of Fuel majors said their own 95 is better than they suply to supermarkets because of added detergent.8. Optimax was drivers choice (subjective). "Crispest, most fun, and wants to rev to redline"9. BP Ultimate has "Explosive low down - really quick on boost..." and "...whooly top end. Strange."9. Certain cars prefer different fuels (Scooby = Optimax, Evo = BP Ult) Basically it's down to the hydrocarbons in petrol that don't stop reacting when in a tank, it's not inert while it's in there. Those reactions are finite and emit vapour (the vapours are what burn in petrol) and then escape from the tank through venting. The other shyateter is that the vapour can grab moisture and drop it back into the tank because the water droplets are heavier than the vapour coming out. The ron of the petrol will go down the longer it's sat in an unsealed environment i.e a fuel tank. If it's sealed then that's a different matter as the vapour stay in the tank and re-enter the liquid. Have i bored you enough yet? This doesn't happen that quickly but you would notice a difference between fresh and say 3 month old petrol. So if you are going to store then the safest way would be to either drain it nearly empty so you have less old petrol to absorb moisture into and refill when ready, or top it right up so the amount of water absorbed would be a minimal percentage to the petrol in the tank and less area on the inside of the tank which to generate condensation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araf Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Plastic tanks aren't good. The spirits do leech through the plastic - I especially notice it with motorbikes. You can also 'knock' the octane out of petrol by agitating it, so keep it still. Petrol held in aluminium or steel with very little air gap seems to last years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
That986 Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 5 minutes ago, Araf said: Plastic tanks aren't good. The spirits do leech through the plastic - I especially notice it with motorbikes. You can also 'knock' the octane out of petrol by agitating it, so keep it still. Petrol held in aluminium or steel with very little air gap seems to last years. They certainly do leech, the petrol reacts with the plastic. Metal jerry can is the best storage medium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr96er Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Just drive the damn car already! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobbie Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 2 hours ago, Araf said: You can also 'knock' the octane out of petrol by agitating it, so keep it still. ??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araf Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 37 minutes ago, Loz987 said: Just drive the damn car already! Exactly. Use the petrol, don't try and store it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr96er Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 Petroleum has a shelf life of 6 days in my car. if I ain't used it in a week, there's a serious problem. Ps. I used to put 106 Ron racing fuel in my gs300 and the smell was Devine! Bought it from a marine racing outfit that fitted my NOS kit. Crazy guy. Good though? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araf Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 11 minutes ago, Loz987 said: Petroleum has a shelf life of 6 days in my car. if I ain't used it in a week, there's a serious problem. Ps. I used to put 106 Ron racing fuel in my gs300 and the smell was Devine! Bought it from a marine racing outfit that fitted my NOS kit. Crazy guy. Good though? Castrol R (or just caster oil) is good for an aroma of burn esters - but it doesn't work if you have catalysts fitted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr96er Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 @Araf guessing you're from the rd350ypvs generation then? Or dare I say the RD500 and Suzuki Kettle era? For the record, I'm more RGV250 (powervalve!) generation, myself ???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Araf Posted December 20, 2016 Report Share Posted December 20, 2016 No, a friend had a Kettle. I've got this in my shed. Had it for about 20 years as I foolishly sold my first one at 17. It's original, unrestored. My off-roaders and quads all have/had plastic tanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr96er Posted December 21, 2016 Report Share Posted December 21, 2016 Sweet, do you RiDe it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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