To SORN for the winter.....or not ?

[Brakebuster]

Vince,

PS. Great write up in the club magazine by the way!

why thank you ,
i hope i didnt bore too many peeps , lol , if so , you wont want to read next months instalment

BB

[BigCatXJS]

Hi Tony,

I was informed that the fuel can go a bit stale, so quarter of a tank allows fresh fuel to be added on the first day of spring. Happy to be corrected on this - as it's only what I have read.

Cheers, Rich

[dhdove]

Hi Rich

Of course you're right, fuel does go stale with time, tho I think a winter layover of six months should be OK? My lawn mower starts and runs OK in spring and that's on fuel bought at the start of the previous spring.......tho maybe not the best comparison......

It's an interesting thought, corrosion vs fuel degradation......

I'm sure someone will jump in with some advice

Best
TonyS

[ptjs1]

It would be interesting if anyone has a definitive position on the condensation vs stale fuel options. I have heard arguments for both approaches. Certainly some years ago, the full tank approach seemed to be preferable, whereas the short shelf life of modern petrol certainly makes one want to fill up with fresh petrol after a layup. Or does keeping the tank completely full, stop the petrol going stale?

Any chemists / physicists want to venture a view?

BB, no apologies necessary for me for the article! Personally, I would love to have read it over 8 parts rather than just 2 parts!

Paul

[davidr]

I personally would go the route of a full tank to make sure that there's no condensation and use a fuel stabilising additive if the car's not going to get much use for a good while - ie a winter lay-up on SORN.
regards
David

[poprivet]

I've never understood the condensation theory. A fuel tank in a car thats in daily use will never be kept full so what's the difference?

The only thing that seems to happen to my xjs if its not been used for months is that some of the injectors stick. 12V applied directly to them in the same way as a cardiac defibrillator seems to breath life back into them.

[BigCatXJS]

Well, I took advantage of the fine weather yesterday and tucked the cat up in bed for its winter slumber. One thing I did note was a slight whining noise at tick-over. I checked all the levels (I had suspected the power steering fluid might be low) - all good. I'm now wondering if I've a bearing in a pump somewhere that's on it's way out. This will be added to the spring to-do list along with the moan/whine I've noticed at speeds 50mph+ (first induced/encountered during a spirited run home from Northern day). It would not be normal in the course of my 6 years of ownership not have spend during the spring! Just hope that it is nothing major.... Still, 25 years old next May so should not grumble...