Old Car Fuel

Good afternoon everyone

As some of you are aware Mr Kandy and myself plus other family members are in the process of clearing out my late father in laws house and barn where he housed his cars over the years.The house has been cleared and is now in the process of being sold but now we all have the barn to go through to clear out all the old agricultural tools etc.Now it transpires that besides being a hoarder of stuff in his house he was also a hoarder of stuff in the barn and Mr Kandy and his brother in law has found a qty of car fuel in containers,both unleaded and diesel which my father in law bought when the fuel strike was on in the early 2,000's so this fuel is at least 16 years old and has never been used

Our brother in law has contacted the council to find out how this fuel can be got rid of without there being any problems but the council says they are not interested as they have no facilities to break the fuel down and from what we can glean the fuel is too old now that it can't be used in cars etc.

What we would like to know is whether any members on here could give us some advice as to what can be done with this fuel (apart from using it in bonfires etc)as it needs to be got rid of because kids are getting into the barn and I am worried that something serious is going to happen if the kids get their hands on this stuff...

This is turning out be a complete nightmare because no one knew the extent of this hoarding and when he was alive and was asked about it he just laughed and said he couldn't remember why he did it which doesn't help the problem

We would be most greatful for any suggestions with this problem...Thanks

 

Thats a difficult one i dont envy you I once used old engine oil to paint a larch lap fence panels best treatment I ever used lovely colour, didn't stink or harm any of the grass it dripped on and lasted longer than any other proproriety fence treatment I'd ever bought

 

If it's red diesel Do not use it in your car, even if the red diesel has turned white with the sun light it will still have chemicals in it to say it's red diesel

 

That's a bit of a whatsit. You could try asking the local fire brigade for advice.
Waste disposal companies will be expensive, but I expect that is the route you will have to take.

 

Depening on how many cars you have to get rid of and how much fuel and if the cars are to be scarped then fill the tanks up with the fuel , if scrap man takes them like that

 

What sort of quantity?

I'm wondering if it might actually work out cheaper to fill an old car's fuel tank with it all and call out a mis-fuel service to pump it out and dispose of it, rather that employ a specialist waste disposal contractor.

 

Contact the local CAR SCRAPYARD
Our one runs a petrol stove to keep the cabin hot (using the petrol and diesel out of the scrapped cars)
In the sixties, I used an ex-army petrol stove for camping trips It ran on four star leaded

 

I've used 10 year old diesel and it worked fine. To make sure there's no water in it to contaminate it, add Fuel Set at recommended quantities.

Old petrol. Add Octane Booster (available from people like Halfords.)

 

Sorry to be late getting back to you all but have been a bit under the weather with a chest infection but think I have managed to get rid of it now and without the help of those Anti biotic pills

I asked Mr Kandy about Qty and he says at least 8+ containers full of both the Diesel and Unleaded,not sure what Red Diesel is but have heard that it is a fuel that farmers use? These containers were found last October time and according to my father in law at the time he had forgotten they were in there.

Will suggest to Mr Kandy about asking the fire brigade to see what they have to say.None of the cars are runners now as they failed their MOT's so were stored in this very large agricultural building and my late father in law refused at the time to part with them (part of the hoarding problem) We are trying to get the house sale sorted first and in between I have been looking at sites on the net which takes old cars and scraps them off and the proceeds go to a charity of Mr Kandy and his sisters choosing

@kindredspirit will mention to hubby about that stuff from Halfords although we will have to let the brother in law try it as he has a nearly new car and it might take the old fuel easier

Thanks for your advice everyone and will update you later when they make a start on clearing the next building

 

The diesel with have a red die added to the fuel because it's rebate fuel(not much tax), if you look at the fuel and it's red in colour don't put it into your car as the tax man will have a field day with you for not paying the tax and they can go back years and it's for you to prove when you put it in your tank and how much you have used which will be hard
Yes farmers use it in there tractors
but red diesel will turn white in the strong sunlight but it will have the chemicals for red still there

 

@Jiffy there is no Red Diesel as the tins contain either Unleaded or Diesel which my late father in law bought after the fuel strike in case it happened again in the future we assume.For someone that hated spending money it is a surprise to me that he actually went to the petrol station weekly fortnightly,who knows and while he was filling up his car filled a container as well but we are not sure as we didn't know he had stockpiled the stuff so there isn't going to be any problem with the tax man as he brought it all from a proper source.

My husbands family have always been a strange lot and nothing they do surprises me,but then the are probably even stranger people living on this isle of ours which we all call home

 

Hold back on the scrapping of old cars until you know what they are
Some old scrap cars are worth Tens of Thousands of pounds
Some old apparently ordinary cars have Regsistration numbers that are worth
tens of thousands of pounds

Good luck