Should I drain the gas tank?

[repenttokyo]

drop fuel stabilizer in it, start it up.

[e34.535i.sport]

Thanks. I think I'll try to siphon a bit off the top & bottom just to see what it looks like. Then run it and keep adding new gas until I feel it's cleaned out and then change the filter. Uhh where's the filter

If its the same as mine its behind the Drivers side (RHD) rear wheel! Jack it up, take the wheel off and you can't miss it.

[vping]

Car's been sitting for 5 years.
Normally I'd say yes. In this case it's topped off full to the rim. That's a lot of gas to dispose of? What would you do?

[bsell]

Car's been sitting for 5 years.
Normally I'd say yes. In this case it's topped off full to the rim. That's a lot of gas to dispose of? What would you do?

Can you run a syphon hose to the bottom of the tank and get a sample out?

I figure this is a pretty painless way to buy some piece of mind prior to filling the fuel system with garbage gas...

Brian

[pingu]

If it'll run on the old petrol then if it were me, I'd save myself the aggro and would make sure I used a tankful or two of premium petrol afterwards (though I'm not really convinced there's much difference between normal and premium petrol, other than the price!).

[Ross]

X2, if it runs on what's in the tank leave it alone. Change the fuel filter after a few tanks and be done. Stabilizer won't do anything for you now.

[vping]

Thanks. I think I'll try to siphon a bit off the top & bottom just to see what it looks like. Then run it and keep adding new gas until I feel it's cleaned out and then change the filter. Uhh where's the filter

[Ross]

There is aplug on the bottom of the tank on the passenger side, 5mm hex key I think. You can pop that out if yo want to drain it or check for water in the tank.

[vping]

That's a good one too. Having this car will finally allow me to use those metric wrenches I've had all these years. My MG's are all standard so I've never had a use for the metric.

[bubba966]

Too late for the stabilizer as Ross already mentioned. And I'd be surprised if it'll run on 5 year old gas.

Regular gas will go bad after a year or so. Premium gas lasts a bit longer due to the better additives in premium (was told this by someone that's worked at a refinery for over 20 years).

If it even runs at all it won't run very good.

Will probably foul the plugs, O2 sensor, cats, etc.

Drain the tank and fill with fresh gas so you don't damage/foul up a lot of not so cheap parts.