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So, I totally screwed up. Truck is yukon xl with the 8.1, 120k miles, new fuel filter 8k miles ago, truck runs great.

 

Truck had about 6 gallons of new gas in it, and I poured in 2 gallons from a can in my garage that I thought would still be good. Well, it wasn't. Truck ran like utter crap.

 

Drove it to the corner (less than 1 mi), put 6 more gal of premium on top of it, truck still ran like crap.

 

Added a bottle of heet(yellow) last night, let it sit over night, still ran like crap this morning.

 

Whats my play? Truck will normally take 35 gal when on E, so I figure I have about 20gal of headroom in the tank.

 

Should I top the tank off with fresh gas hoping to dilute the 2 gal of crap enough for the truck to run normal? Seems like a 70$ gamble.

 

Otherwise, should I drain the tank? Whats the easiest way? Whats the best way to dispose of the bad gas considering I dont have a lawnmower and no need for a bonfire in the back yard?

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Siphoning out the tank is a little difficult as there is usually an anti-siphon piece in neck.

 

The safest would be to have the tank drained and flushed. As well as the upper fuel system cleaned. There's a relatively good amount of fuel in the fuel rails and lines.

As for the disposal of the fuel, see if a local shop will take it. Or pay them to do the whole cleanup, and mark those $$ as one of those life lessons that stings a little.

 

 

The other you could try, definitely no sure thing, get 3 bottles of HEET yellow (I use Berryman's Chemtool B-12 myself, cheap at Walmart), go to the station, at the pump empty the 3 bottles of heet into the tank, then fill the tank with fuel. 87 should be fine. The 3 bottles of HEET is their normal recommendation for 30 gallons.

 

The agitation from filling the rest of the tank should be good enough mixing of the existing fuel with the "fresh" fuel. Fuel from like Valero or Diamond should be fine. You don't really want any other type of cleaning additives like in top tier (Chevron, Shell) to be mixing with the HEET.

 

Drive it around town 30-40MPH stop and go style. This will consume the fuel faster then at highway speeds. Plus you don't want to risk getting stranded on the freeway as well as a costly tow.

 

 

But when you start adding up the cost of 20 gallons of fuel and 3 bottles of HEET and repeating it with 30+ gallons and another 3 bottles, you are basically at the cost of a tank drain and fuel system cleaning from a local shop you trust.

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SO, decided to try to burn it off. Added 20 more gallons of 87 and 2 bottles of heet (yellow). Ran the same.

 

Drove about 100mi with the "Service engine soon" light blinking at me the whole time. Seems to do ok on the freeway with cruise on @ 2krpm.

 

Added another 6gal of 91 and 1.5 bottles of 104 octane max. Runs the same or worse.

 

Barely idles, does ok-ish over 1500rpm or so. Can't tow my boat at all - even to get it back to the storage lot 1/2mi from my house.

 

Now the fuel pump is whining like cray. Im 100% sure this happened with the bad gas, but now a fuel pump?

 

Tested the pressure - 55 when the key comes on, 50 when the pump stops beofre starting, 49 at very rough idle - this is without the vaccum line to the FPR disconnected.

 

FML.

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check the code. could be somthing else like a blown head gasket that magicly happened right when you addded that gas. its doubtful but possible. just check the check engine light code. should tell you whats up.

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Truck got to the point of un-driveable on sunday, replaced the fuel filter, and it ran GREAT for a while, but it seems to be degrading again. Next step is drop the tank, clean it up, replace the fuel filter, and start over with fresh gas.

 

Haven't pulled the codes yet, because they are probably mis-fires, will do that if it happens again after cleaning tank, another fuel filter, etc.

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Added 8oz of "startron" to aprox 27 gallons of fuel in the truck yesterday, and within 30mi of driving, almost all symptoms were gone. No lights, no stumbling when leaving a stoplight, no rolling rough idle. Knock on wood, but this stuff seems like the real deal!

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You always want to use HEET RED. IsoHeet. The isoproyple alcohol bonds with the water and it is BURNED off. The yellow bottle is just antifreeze that keeps the water from freezing. Always use the isopropyle stuff

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