Thread: Diesel

I'll be interested in what people think.


I had diesel in a new jerry can for 5 months before I used it.
I did drop it into a clear, clean drum to check for visible signs of algae etc..
It looked fine so dropped it in the Defender and then did a long highway stint to run it through and all was good.


I've always wondered how long farmers store their fuel before it's used to.
Some machines rarely get fired for months between uses.

It depends. Firstly, diesel without bugs in it, and in reasonable storage conditions, seems to last indefinitely. However, today we can probably assume it is all infected.

But if it has bugs in it, it will have a life of only months if allowed to contain moisture. Living in an arid climate though, I have routinely used diesel that is well over twelve months old, even stored in a ventilated tank or the tractor tank.


In an airtight container, provided it did not have moisture in it to start with, it should also last a long time, probably years, regardless of the climate.

Running it through a fine filter funnel should show whether it contains goo. Even if you can filter all of this out (and it will block the filter!) it is still infected, and only suitable for use if used immediately.

John

I asked the same question a few years back when I was given a jerry full that was left over from the outlaws selling their tractor.

I was basically told that it should be ok for years, so I chucked it in my Tdi with no problems.

Slightly off topic I have heard from a reliable source that petrol will last for a very long time if the container is 100% air tight.

1 tank of fuel in the defender was 3 years old and caused no problems for me. Although it did have the additive diesel power.

Originally Posted by d2dave

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Slightly off topic I have heard from a reliable source that petrol will last for a very long time if the container is 100% air tight.

And free from water. Yes, diesel the same.

As long as you treat it for diesel bug it should last indefinately.
The new ULP fuels are bad news,they break down quite quickly.
Andrew

I buy diesel in bulk i.e. 1000 litres at a time and store it in a tank and fill the Puma as needed. I never had any issues.

When I have serviced backup generators in buildings, I have sent away diesel that is over 15 years old for testing and it came back fine. Moisture (or the lack of) is key I think.