The car has not been used in anger since November last year and the last fill of petrol was about the same time. Previous years I have put fuel
stabiliser in the tank when it has been laid up over the winter but I forgot to do it this time.
However, about 3 weeks it started OK, but now no sign of life, does the fuel degrade over a short period of time sufficiently to cause it not to
start. All ignition parts are as good as new and seem to be OK.
Anybody and suggestion as to the possible cause.
it should not stop it from starting even if it is still a bit stale
It takes years for petrol to go completely stale -- easy to spot by the varnish like smell,
Xflos are very easy to flood --- take the plugs out dry them off and spin the engine a couple of turns before putting the plugs back in.
Remember, petrol sits underground for millions of years in the form of crude oil,
I would start with basic things like checking the battery is good perhaps try a jump start from a tintop?
Make sure you have fuel pressure at the carb
Make sure you are getting a good strong spark too
I would second the reccomendation of checking for flooding too
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The fuel in my car had been in for 6 months and the engine started ok
I got a car started after the petrol sitting in the tank for 10 years...but guess it might still have been 4 star!
Another one of my fleet started and runs beautifully on (at least) 6 month old unleaded.
Won't drive too well, but should start OK...
Yeah but my lawnmower engine (and lets face it lawnmower engines should pretty much run on anything flammable! 
) wouldn't start a month or so
ago with the petrol in it from only last October. Fired straight away with 'new' petrol though so, although I would normally agree with the
other posts, I'd try draining the old petrol and putting some new in before you do anything else...
Cars don't seem to have a problem with old fuel (like say 6 months).
My old lawnmower always needed new petrol each spring, wouldn't start on the old stuff.
I used to race 2-stroke karts, they were the same - needed frest petrol
If it's a DGV/DGAV carb I'd clean it out and put some new petrol in and it should be fine to be honest - my 750MC Locost cars with an xflow and DGV carb used to be reluctant to start somtimes after a couple of weeks if you hadn't drained the petrol out of the carb.
with lawn mowers according to the bloke that fixed mine the hydrocarbons in petrol start to crystalise out of the petrol and can block the needle on mowers as they are smaller than cars not sure if this was speil or whether its true
quote:
Originally posted by Vindi_andy
with lawn mowers according to the bloke that fixed mine the hydrocarbons in petrol start to crystalise out of the petrol and can block the needle on mowers as they are smaller than cars not sure if this was speil or whether its true