[locusjag]

I had filled up the 60 litre tank on my Tank (TUV 300) in mid-March. The tank remained full mostly up until early July when a rat bit into a fuel line and lots of diesel was lost when I started the Tank, not knowing what had happened. A fuel hose was replaced and this problem is solved.

I now have around 25% of fuel left. I'm going to fill up sometime soon. Leaving the fuel tank empty for 2-3 months might cause slime formation in its upper reaches is what I heard. I don't want to test this hypothesis.

[sahil624]

Being in the essential sector, I was going to office pretty much since Mid-April 2020. So I’ve been filling the fuel every month.

[Shreyas_H]

I had filled up Petrol for Rs 1500 in March 2nd week. That was the last day I went to office. No refuelling since then - The car has barely ticked 2 kilometers on the odo since then.

[am1m]

Seem to be pretty lucky then, since the first 'Unlock' kicked in, got the opportunity to take the car out and also traveled to another district where I was shuttling between two towns every week for a month. So have refueled quite a few times.

With the night curfews still in place in most areas, and with lots of offices and all restaurants shut for dining-in, I think the more pertinent question would be- 'How long since you last had to use headlights?' I haven't since March for sure, since I've not been out post-6pm since 'Lockdown 1' was announced! Though I have turned them on for a bit here and there while driving during the day or in the rain.

[drhoneycake]

Being in the essential sector meant I had to work all through the lockdown as well. 100kms everyday meant a refuelling every week. First unlock did 6 interdistrict travel. So my fuel consumption has been pretty much the same.

[ariesonu]

I refueled my TUV after almost 4 months. The last, I refueled was on the 10th of March 2020 and some short runs during lock down, took up about 40% of tank. Since we are in middle of monsoons, I though that it is prudent to keep a full tank so filled it on 16th July after an eventful day. Do read about the EVENT on TUV page.

Regards-Sonu

[Jeroen]

It interesting to see so far nobody has seen any problems with their petrol/diesel after many month of sitting idle.

Petrol in particular does go off over time. Rule of thumb, the higher the ethanol content the more unstable it becomes over time. With regular use it is never a problem as you keep filling up the tank. But we are seeing 3-4 months without a refill.

There is not much you can do to be honest. There are additives available that should help keep fuel stable over long periods of time. I have never used them though. The results I have seen/read about are questionable I think. At best it prolongs the ageing of the fuel, but it never stops it completely.

I had the fuel on my Alfa Spider go off on me once, during long period storage.

If you haven’t used, or refilled your car for more than 3-4 months it might be an idea, before starting, open the fuel cap and smell. As long as you still smell petrol all is likely to be fine. If you smell rotten eggs, its gone bad. Don’t start the engine! You don’t want that muck into your fuel system. It will clog up filters, injectors etc.

Get the tank emptied out, change fuel filter and refill. All shall be fine again!

As we have gone to mostly E10 petrol here in Europe I go out of my way to find ethanol free petrol as my classic cars do sit idle for weeks/months at a time. Specially during winter time. E10 is much more unstable than E5, and we have seen cases where within a few months of new use/refill, petrol goes bad.

Jeroen

[Swapnil4585]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

It interesting to see so far nobody has seen any problems with their petrol/diesel after many month of sitting idle.

If you haven’t used, or refilled your car for more than 3-4 months it might be an idea, before starting, open the fuel cap and smell. As long as you still smell petrol all is likely to be fine. If you smell rotten eggs, its gone bad. Don’t start the engine! You don’t want that muck into your fuel system. It will clog up filters, injectors etc.

Jeroen

My car barely had any fuel on 24th March. It was as such till June. I however used to open the cap once a while and could smell petrol. Then once I filled in about a couple of litres from a bottle.

Today finally I topped up about half a tank and have given for a radiator flush and refill.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Swapnil4585

Today finally I topped up about half a tank and have given for a radiator flush and refill.

i am not so sure about the necessity of doing a radiator flush after a period of stand still. As long as the car is properly maintained and thus has proper levels of the appropiate cooling liquid I should think you can just stick to the normal intervals as specified in the owner manual.

Can’t hurt of course, but it cost a bit and if you do it yourself you have to find a way to properly dispose of the old cooling liquid. You can’t/shouldn’t flush it down the drains.

[akash_v12]

Refuelling, Well I haven’t heard about that for long .
The Vento was last fuelled up on 18th March & the Spark was last fuelled up way back in February IIRC.

[Swapnil4585]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

i am not so sure about the necessity of doing a radiator flush after a period of stand still.

Can’t hurt of course, but it cost a bit and if you do it yourself you have to find a way to properly dispose of the old cooling liquid. You can’t/shouldn’t flush it down the drains.

The coolant levels were perfectly fine. Just that the flush was due, owing to both, time and distance covered.

Will check the fuel tank as a preventive measure though.

[sreejithkk]

Wagon R - This car is used for weekly shopping and other errands. Last refill on 17th July.

Ertiga - This car usually used for weekend travels to relatives home or attend family functions etc. Last refil was on 3rd March

[smileline]

I fuelled up just before the lockdown. I usually do a tank full.

Vitara Brezza AGS, ZDI+ : last filled my tank on 18th March 2020, that is more than 120 days ago, have driven only 200 kilometres since then, the fuel should last for quite a while.

For my daily errands I use my wife's two wheeler.

[libranof1987]

I had refueled both my cars just before Lockdown 1.0 was even announced. I used them once every ten days over the following three months, within my society premises, to keep everything going. Although both cars had over 3/4 tank still left, I got them filled up again mid-June just as a precaution. So, the longest the cars were on "stale" fuel was about a shade over three months.

[asit.kulkarni93]

Since 15th May, I have shifted my office and have been working since then. Even got to travel to Nashik to pick up my grandparents on last Sunday. So yeah I am back one tank/week. The last full tank on the Laura was on 19th June, will tank it up again tomorrow. The Figo hasn’t been used more than 300kms so it still has more than half tank left.