Life of diesel fuel in a tractor

[BIGR]

I was wondering how long a person could leave diesel fuel in a tractor fuel tank, without the fuel going bad? The tractor has been in a dry location where it generally stays cool, but is not heated. Last winter about a year ago, I filled up the tank on the Massey Ferguson, thinking I was going to use it alot. I have not run it much at all since then and I put some stanadyne in it at one point.

Would I be better off the pump it out and to refill it with fresh fuel or just run it? In the next week or so, weather permitting I am going to do some bush hogging and at some point maybe some plowing.

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

If it doesn't have algae in it your fine, but if it does you've got a mess on your hands regardless of what you do with it. Open the tank up and see if there is any funny coloring to the diesel in the tank, if it looks fine i would just shock it with a good heavy dose of biocide and be prepared to change a filter or 2, if it looks green or brown, then pump it out and flush it out as best as possible. Reffil it with a HEAVY dose of biocide and change teh filters on it a few times. It will take awhile to get teh algae killed in teh fuel system if it has any in it, so be ready with fuel filters for it.

 

[ak diesel driver]

up here in our cooler climate I've seen diesel 15-20 yrs old and still good.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Is it red fuel or ULSD#2 road fuel? Not that it makes that much of a difference, but I have heard that the red fuel lasts much longer than the ULSD#2 fuel. The fact that you treated it with some Stanadyne it should make it last much longer than without treating it at all.

 

[tanman_2006]

Different climates but we have a tractor that only gets used once a yr and never uses more than 1/4 tank when we use it. We just try to park it with a full tank but we never have problems.

 

[bison]

up here in our cooler climate I've seen diesel 15-20 yrs old and still good.

X2

 

[DieselSlug]

My 6.5 Diesel sat here for 4-5 years in a field. I bought it, fixed it and started daily driving it! Had about 1/4 tank of Diesel in it.

 

[schiker]

I have a '72 Ford tractor and fuel quality doesn't seem too critical. I use to let it sit outside for long periods 3-4 months with very little running if any and never had a problem. I looked at a 2008 JD utility that had an algae problem. So I think it can depend on the fuel tank style and IP clearances etc. The JD has plastic tank with a big fill neck with lots of air space. I think I can assume the newer tractor has tighter IP and injector clearances and needs better fuel.

If the diesel was decent going in then it is probably fine.

 

[BIGR]

Thanks for the quick info guys.

The fuel was ULSD#2 road fuel and the tank was pretty well full after I put the fuel in it. I ran the tractor a few months ago and had started it every so often before that. It seemed to run just fine then.

The tractor has been parked in a dark cool area in an old building during the whole time.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

You should be fine. :thumbsup:

 

[BIGR]

Just an update on the tractor fuel. I was going to change the oil in the tractor so i took fresh fuel just in case the old fuel looked bad. I pumped a clear two liter bottle full of fuel. It was red as could be and there was no discoloration or any thing floating in it. I also shined a light down in the tank and that fuel looked good. I changed the oil and filter and ran the tractor for a good while with no problems. I must tell you that most of the fuel I put in the fuel tank is almost two years old. I was checking my records the other night and found documentation where I had put the fuel in the tank in february of 2011. My how time flys, I didn't think it had been that long. For now I will run that fuel out since I am going to be running the tractor a bunch in the next few months.

 

[RI Chevy Silveradoman]

Excellent! Thanks for the update. I would continue to use a fuel supplement in any fuel that you put in the tractor. I feel that it does work and is worth the money. :thumbsup: