How long doe diesel last?

I've heard blokes say they started up tractors with 20 yr old fuel in them, and they started and ran O.K. No-one, and not even I, said they won't .. but 10 or 20 yr old diesel has lost a lot of its volatility .. makes an engine perform like a dog .. and the diesel is full of gums and varnishes that clog up everything.
On the ACME tractor forum, blokes are always complaining about stuck plungers in the injection pump of old Cats, once they've sat for several years.

That's what old diesel does, it gums and sticks things up, has lost its lubricity additives, and is generally a poor item to run through your good motor.
I have a Lister TS1 engine (single cyl) in as-new condition .. I left diesel in it for 10 years .. and the plunger jammed solid with gum, in the injection pump bore, and I had to totally dismantle the pump to get it to work again.

i find through experiance once diesel has sat for 15+ years or so ..then it gums the injectors up .. had that problem with a stationary continental diesel ..bought a recoed continental motor for a dozer ..little did the farmer tell me it was recoed over 20 years ago and had sat ever since . .

I concur

Buy it bro.
one less thing to find cash for in a couple of months... I ordered the fruit cake.

/me

G'Day

I dont know how long diesel lasts but I know there are many truckers here who would answer 'Not Bloody long enough ! , because its up to

G'Day

I dont know how long diesel lasts but I know there are many truckers here who would answer 'Not Bloody long enough ! , because its up to

In the UK the government takes about 45% of that as fuel tax.

Oh yes by the way the last price I gave you $2.0A was for unleaded petrol.

Diesel is $2.1A.

So its worse

Cheers
RS

As Roland said earlier, we are currently paying over A$2 a litre here in UK, and forever rising which is pretty frightening !?! If Scout is going to use his "cheaper" Diesel in just a few months time it should pose no problem. As most people stated, it mainly depends how you store it, preferably with a full tank to prevent condensation etc.
We do have a problem of "waxing" in cold weather here in Europe. Many operators in UK use diesel which is made up from old cooking oil, but whilst the exhaust emissions are extremely clean it can "wax" up more than ordinary diesel, therefore the filters have to be changed more often. I take Trucks for their annual Roadworthy / MOT and it is quite amazing just how clean the exhaust emissions can be on this reconstituted cooking oil, 0.00 ; 0.01 ; 0.02 etc, although they stink of "fish and chips" !!!
I have a UD Nissan CMA86 Truck parked up for some years in Queensland with 2 long range tanks full of diesel. I won't be throwing the old diesel away when I come to put it back on the road though. I shall syphon some out and mix it with "fresh" diesel and probably an additive, and re-use it all again. [smiley=cheesy.gif]

Just to give everyone an idea...



The UK is a rip-off - I don't know how people can afford to live in that country nowadays (or why they put up with this - the fuel price is 80% tax). The funny thing is, it used to be the other way round in the early 1990s, UK was so cheap in comparison with Europe...

We're (Austria) not doing too badly - this is an average price, and it gets more expensive in the Western states like Vorarlberg and Tyrol, here in Vienna I can get it a lot cheaper. There are summer and winter mixes of course (it gets below -20

Based on the collective knowledge of this thread, I will not be priming & starting My 1968 M.A.N with the meager fuel in it's tank. That fuel will be used for protecting the threads and other parts on my spares, and that tank will get drained & washed with fresh diesel before I try start it up after sitting more than 10 yrs.
Thanks all.