Would putting good gas in a car with "bad" gas be safe for the car?
5 replies, posted
Our '91 Honda Civic's battery died maybe a year or two ago, and instead of doing the right thing and buying a new battery, we just let it sit. Recently, however, I came across enough cash to buy a new battery, but the car still isn't starting. The engine is turning, which is good, but my dad thinks a problem might be that the gas has gone "bad" from all the time sitting around. My friend told me that we could just pop about 5 gallons of good gas into the tank and the car should start right back up, maybe dying a few times while it burned through the tank. Is this a good idea? Is this safe for the engine and everything else? If it's safe, then I might as well just try it out since it's cheaper and easier than going through checking the fuel line and main relay, since those are the generally the main things to check on this particular car for this problem.
If it's not starting it is definitely not the gas. Is the check engine light on? Pull up the passenger carpet and count the number of blinks, better still, take a video of all the blinking it does.
If it's not throwing codes, check for spark and fuel. The fuel filter on the firewall has a 10mm bolt through one of the lines, undo it and it should spray a bit of fuel. Make sure you tighten it back up. If it doesn't spray any fuel out, you've got a bad fuel pump or main relay. Check the main relay, if it checks out good, replace the fuel pump.
To check for spark, pull a plug wire off and stick a screwdriver in the end of it. Hold the plastic end of the screwdriver and have the metal part about 1/4-3/8 of an inch from a piece of metal in the engine bay, I use the raised lettering on the valve cover since it's grounded and clean. Have someone turn it over and see if a spark jumps. If it does, you have good fire, if not, and you aren't showing any check engine light, you've probably got a bad coil or control module.
If you are showing some codes (which I'm almost sure you will be if it's just not starting at all), then let me know and I'll help you out some more.
So called "bad" gas will still burn, but Bradley's right, it's most likely another part.
could be bad fuel man, its a pretty old car. I've had problems with a '99 zx6r and it was just bad fuel. the fuel vapor escapes out of the tank taking alot of its "octane" with it. I've also had diesel engines at work refuse to crank unless i had new fuel aswell. is the car fuel injected?
Well, checking the error codes is now impossible because the new battery is dead. In all likeliness I think my dad left a light on in the car, but now he refuses to use his van to jump the car because he says if it's something draining the battery it can fuck up the van too.
So now I gotta wait for him to buy a battery charger. Oh well, I can still check the main relay and fuel line.
[editline]16th May 2012[/editline]
Jesus, I hate it when cars lights and shit don't turn off automatically. I'm practically in love with my dad's van now because it at least never leaves the light on.
[QUOTE=scottybev;35979898]could be bad fuel man, its a pretty old car. I've had problems with a '99 zx6r and it was just bad fuel. the fuel vapor escapes out of the tank taking alot of its "octane" with it. I've also had diesel engines at work refuse to crank unless i had new fuel aswell. is the car fuel injected?[/QUOTE]
If the car is indeed a 1991, it is DPFI. And this isn't exactly true. The vapor does carry some "octane" with it because it is just fuel vapor, but the liquid fuel will not lose enough octane to not fire an engine if it hasn't been diluted with something like water or such. As the 88-91 Civic has a sealed system for fuel it likely hasn't been diluted or even been leaking vapor, it is just stagnant fuel and it will burn. It takes several years for petroleum fuels to lose their octane to a point that a low compression D15B2 won't run off of it.
I can guarantee it isn't fuel.
[editline]16th May 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=yawmwen;35981046]Well, checking the error codes is now impossible because the new battery is dead. In all likeliness I think my dad left a light on in the car, but now he refuses to use his van to jump the car because he says if it's something draining the battery it can fuck up the van too.
So now I gotta wait for him to buy a battery charger. Oh well, I can still check the main relay and fuel line.
[editline]16th May 2012[/editline]
Jesus, I hate it when cars lights and shit don't turn off automatically. I'm practically in love with my dad's van now because it at least never leaves the light on.[/QUOTE]
The fuel line won't have pressure if you're not able to turn the key on to cycle the fuel pump.
And the main relay click test also requires battery power (turning the key on).
So you're dead in the water until you get a battery charger.
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