Has anyone had experience with bad fuel or water in their fuel. I suspect I may be a victim of this. I dont know if i bought crap fuel or over time my tank picked up condensation....i dont drive my care very often at all...maybe twice a month. Symptoms are

Idles ok....a bit lumpy but quite normal

On acceleration in neutral it runs bloody rough like its missing

HArd acceleration in neutral it backfires in the exhaust

Find a bit of water in the exhaust......a bit more than just condensation in my opinion.

I know the head gasket is fine! Timing is ok and carbi is ok too.

Any ideas ir comments??

Rod

Fuel can go off over time and I think premium has a lower shelf life.

you might think this dumb ... but mix 1ml of acetone to 1ltr of fuel OR mix in 500ml of metho to the tank, it will mix with any water and help it burn .... or drain it all out

First questions, what fuel is in it, how old is it and how much fuel is in the tank?

I must declare my hand first up, i am the national sales manager of the company that distributes Sta-Bil fuel stabiliser so i have a bit of knowledge on the subject of stale fuel.

regular unleaded starts to break down in about 60 days, high octane fuels it can be as little as 21 days. this will happen quicker the lower the fuel in the tank because the main killer of fuel is evaporation. The lower the fuel level the more air is present in the tank which speeds up the evaporation process. the different compounds evaporate at different rates which significantly changes the composition. It is the aromatic that evaporates the quickest which is what enables the fuel to ignite properly.

Using a fuel stabiliser in a car that spends a lot of time sitting around will prolong the life of the fuel for up to 12 months.

Anyway ... having said all that it is a preventative and wont fix the problem once the fuel is stale. Your only real option is the drain the tank and replace it with fresh fuel.

Once you get it running again add a fuel stabiliser and you shouldnt have the problem again.

Gareth

Ok Gareth to answer your question, i added premium about 12 buck 3 to 4 weeks ago to keep the level reasonable, obviously what was in the tank was older. I also noticed that it ran rough and eventually after booting it it got warm and ran ok. The fuel level is very low at the moment as I am trying to get rid of it somehow without removing the tank. Nevertheless I think i know how. You have given me some great advice thanks I will do as you say

I might try the metho it makes chemical sense. I still rememeber my chemsitry days hope it doesnt hurt anything else

BTW it was Caltex fuel

Rod

The brand doesnt matter so much, i was more asking about the rating used. If the tank is nearly empty you could fill it full with new fuel but then actually drive it and use the tank to clear it all through.

Just fresh fuel may not clean it up and there may be gum and crap in the carby and filter from the old fuel. Perhaps a new filter would be a good idea and you *may* need to clean out the carby but try fresh fuel first