I picked up a 67 Dart sedan that was always garaged and was last driven 10 years ago. Any suggestions on how to tell if the gas has gone bad? I would assume that after so many years, it's got to be like laquer by now.

Also, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of old gas? I live in Maryland and they have no recycling program for this.

Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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'67 Dart Sedan

Been sitting for 10 years? It's bad.

Drain it all out. You're likely going to need to rebuild the carb because it'll be all gummed up.

Call you're local city office that's responsible for trash disposal, etc. They might be able to tell you where to take it for disposal. The other option is to mix it down with good gas and use it in your lawn mower. It will burn; but, the more volatile components have long since turned to vapor...

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My truck is a Frankenstein creation
Built from the dead carcasses of others
And brought BACK TO LIFE!

It's bad after that long. I will be very yellow or brown and smell like varnish. Nasty stuff. I had to do the same thing. Pain in the ass and difficult if not impossible to get it all siphoned out. You may have to remove the filler tube to get into the tank. Some filler tubes have a splash guard that won't let you get a siphon tube down there. I took about 6 gallons to a local hazardous waste disposal. As suggested the carb should be rebuilt. Also do not run the motor with it!!! I did this and the head got so gummed up that the valves stuck and pusrods came loose. Not a pretty sight. To make a long story short the motor is undergoing complete rebuild right now, for other wear reasons as well.

[quote="textoad"] I will be very yellow or brown and smell like varnish. [/quote]

I hate it when I get that way...

Do yourself a favor and drop the tank and clean it. Drain the gas into a few 5gal buckets to use on your neighbors begonias when they irritate you. Or you can call the city...
At any rate, drop the tank and take it to a radiator shop and have it boiled out. Remove the sending unit and give it a once over, be sure to replace the filter sock and if the float looks suspect replace that too. clean up the little ground strap connection and replace the soft hose.
Go ahead and replace the fuel pump at the same time, more than likely the diaphram is all rotted out anyway, let alone what crap is hidden up in there. Obiviously replace the hose from the pump to the carb too and i'd suggest running two filters-- one before and one after the pump for aleast a few tanks. nuthin' like gumming up a new fuel pump to drive ya crazy!
Rebuild the carb cuz you **know** it's gonna be nas-tee as well. And finally run solvent thru the hard line to clean that up. I could open a can of worms and suggest one, but i'll leave that to your decision.
Basically, that's all preventive maintence. It sucks to have a car running only to crap out on you one component at a time, and then you have to do all the dectective work again... DOH!

A few other things you may want to consider:
Check out all the wiring-- esp. at the bulk head connector!
Change all the fluids right away
Drain the radiator and have it rodded and pressure checked, put on a new cap while you're there.
You may want to go ahead and do an oil pan and trans pan seal while you've got it all apart.

Basically, here's what i've done:
Drag the car home, do the cursory inspection. Remove the tank and radiator-- have them both boiled and inspected. Do the sending unit boogie and the fuel delivery system softshoe. Drop the trans and oil pans and do new gaskets. Flush the steering system (if power). fill everything back up with fluid and add a qt. of risolene to the oil, and trans medic to the slushbox. remove the plugs and squirt a few shots of marvel mystery oil up in each cyl. and slowly rotate the engine by hand. new cap, rotor, plugs and wires (points if so equipped). run the valves if needed. double check the rear end to be sure it at least has fluid in it and the bearings are okay for the time being. seizing a bearing at speed isn't the most enjoyable thing to have happen. check out the shocks and suspension components. finally the brakes... a quick run thru to decide if they're okay to run or if they need replaced right off. finally, pop in a new battery and go to town.

Taking these kind of preventive measures will ensure that you don't run into headaches later on. Of course you could just throw some new gas into it and let it fly, but boy howdy will you be cursing yourself if that radiator goes south or those points are burned when you're out on a friday nite.

Good luck homey!

-JYH
balthering on as usual
SoCal

I thought I would save the trip to the hazardous waste disposal place by
using up my 7 year old gas in my chipper and lawn mower. What a
mistake - It cost me $120 to have a small engine guy ungum the
valves and carb on my chipper and the lawn mower was a total. I
bought a new one and let my son take the old one to the high school
small engine class. Valves were seized in the guides.

I learned a big lesson - I keep the old gas away from anything I plan
to keep. Just buy some of the cheapest gas cans you can find. Put
the old gas in them and take it to the hazardous waste disposal.

At the site here there is no extra charge for automotive fluids. So
it only costs the price of the gas cans - you do not get them back.