What did you do to your Volvo today? Topic is solved

[scot850]

Planning for the winterizing of the R. Poor thing has only been on the road for about 6 weeks or so this year due to my wife not doing as many golf outings due to a knee issue.

The tank is down to around a 1/4 so tonight the boss will re-fill the tank, wash the car at the car wash and return it home. Tomorrow I will refit the winter/slave rims and tires in readiness for it being put away in the old garage. Lots of rain forecast for tomorrow and possible snow starting on the weekend. Being able to run it this late in the year has been a bonus.

Neil.

[abscate]

No more dRiving in winteR

[Sveedy]

Planning for the winterizing of the R. Poor thing has only been on the road for about 6 weeks or so this year due to my wife not doing as many golf outings due to a knee issue.

The tank is down to around a 1/4 so tonight the boss will re-fill the tank, wash the car at the car wash and return it home. Tomorrow I will refit the winter/slave rims and tires in readiness for it being put away in the old garage. Lots of rain forecast for tomorrow and possible snow starting on the weekend. Being able to run it this late in the year has been a bonus.

Neil.

Do you add a fuel stabilizer of some sort when it sits ?

[scot850]

I haven't done so far. Maybe I have got lucky, but I fill the tank with 91 octane and so far so good, but I am thinking of trying it this year. Normally it only sits for about 6-7 months and get's dug out for use. This year was just a weird one!

Can anyone suggest a good one? Does it matter if you add it after the tank has been filled or are you better doing it before filling?

I have now read a few articles on fuel stabilizers and the benefits. This one article tends to suggest they can be as much harm as good these days with ethanol gasolines. The best suggestion is to use racing fuel!! or non-ethanol fuel. I am thinking we could even fill it with 94 octane gasoline this year as it is now available at Petro Canada. That is until I find that al their grades have up to 10% ethanol as mandated by Government. Even Shell V-Power Nitro now has ethanol in it. As usual, how to make a simple thing difficult!

Ethanol is terrible for storage in cars as it absorbs moisture. But in reality how much can it absorb in a plastic tank and a sealed fuel system?

Neil.

[abscate]

With high quality plastic tanks I’m not sure full tanks are really beneficial any more.

My T5 sat for a year with 1/4 tank and it fired right up fine. Pump that gas out and use it in other cars, then giver her fresh gas in Spring

That was E10 gas. There is so much crap written about ethanol fuel, most of it false

[P80GLT]

I run my 850 tank down to ¼ or less and put a bottle of Forte petrol treatment into it before laying up for the winter.

[scot850]

I think I may try some stabilizer now that the boss has filled the tank. Some say add before others afterwards. Some reports say that the stabilizers are not as effective with E10 gas which is what we effectively have up here by law. Last year the car started up on the first turn of the key. I'm thinking if we use it more next year we will run the tank of the stabilizer fluid and then refill with some fuel cleaner.

I was thinking part of the reason for stabilizer is to coat the metal parts to reduce the likelihood of in metal tank corrosion. This is also the reason for filling the tank. Our tanks are plastic as Abscate mentioned so that is a non-issue. Condensation is also a lower issue with plastic tanks. It is gumming of the fuel pump and the filter and injectors that is the bigger concern. Well I've decided to give this a try and just hope it is no worse and at worst, just the same next year!

Thanks guys.

Neil.

[bmdubya1198]

I would definitely use some sort of stabilizer. My main concern with the full tank is as you said, you only just ran through it after a year. Gas doesn't have a long shelf life (3-4 months before it starts to degrade, I believe), and while it's probably fine, it's not going to be the greatest after that amount of time. Some sort of additive should help keep it fresh.
Same idea as storing power equipment over the winter. That's why so many people are selling off their lawn mowers, trimmers, blowers, etc. in the spring for cheap when they can't get them to run. They were stored with fuel in the carburetor, and it's gummed up. With small engines, always run them dry. Ethanol doesn't age well. Fuel injection is less susceptible to this, but I'm sure there must be some kind of effect.

[foggydogg]

I run my 850 tank down to ¼ or less and put a bottle of Forte petrol treatment into it before laying up for the winter.

With Gulfstream proximity, your winters are likely milder than good portions of North America, and you seem to have quite comfy laying-up accommodations. Plus my guess is the Scotland Corn Growers association doesn't spend as much money on lawyer/lobbyists as they do here, so there is less plant-based material in the tank.
One concern with partial tank fuel levels is condensation, which is obviously somewhat dependent on ambient conditions; the consensus in the aviation world is full tanks for that very reason, and there isn't any corn juice in AvGas at the moment.
A big gulp of water in your engine on takeoff can ruin your whole day.

[P80GLT]

No our winters aren't too cold nowadays, we do get the occasional harsh winter, 2010-2011 was the most recent where it went down to -21C (-5.8F) and we had The Beast from the East in March 2018.

I'm not too bothered about condensation in the tank, my garage temperature doesn't suffer huge variations and the door is kept closed most of the time so should not cause any concern. The reason I prefer an almost empty tank is that once the spring arrives I can fill up with fresh fuel and won't be driving around on a full tank of stale E5. Forte fuel treatments are some of the best on the market and I've never had a problem starting the 850 after sitting for 6 months unused. I never start the car once it is put away for the winter, I don't think it does them any good, even if you do bring it up to temperature it will cause wear, condensation and carbon up the valves.