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old Nitro?


Cherry

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Hi guys,

Embarrassingly I have a jug of nitro that went out of date two and a half years ago (I had kids...). I just tried turning over the engine and it wouldn't take, didn't even start to pop. Someone did tell me that it wouldn't work but the bottle had been opened only a couple of times so I thought I'd give it a try.

Is there any way to revive it? Additives?

I poured some on the ground and a match set it alight to a slow burn which I thought was promising.

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Nope...it's not going to be good for anything but lighting bonfires now.

 

The volatile components evaporate with time, and what you are left with is more oil than anything else. Hence the slow burn. The nitromethane will be largely gone, along with a lot of the ethanol too.

 

Time to buy some new fuel :)

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Thanks guys.

Re: cleaning engines, do you mean inside or out?

What's the best way to clear out the nitro from the tubes? If I keep trying to pull the pull start with an empty tank will it dump it from the pipes into the exhaust or should I fill the tank with new nitro then try the same thing.

I could disconnect all the pipes and blow through them :P

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Replace fuel tubes with new is a good idea. the ethanol and nitromethane would have dispersed to levels unable to cause combustion.

there will be remenants left thats about it. 

 

synthetic and castor oil is whats normaly used in nitro fuels , and the mix of nitro and ethanol has the effect of drawing water into the mixture from the air.

you get a very thickly gloopy mess in the end. its a pain in the *beep* to clean and to remove old fuel from tubes is a job from the devil himself.

best to just replace. 

 

fuel tank washing, best done with a good brand of nitro fuel and kinda strong, 25% - 30% 

quart a tank full, strap down the tank lid with a rubber band and some gaffer tape, then shake the hell outta it

for about 5/10 mins. tip this crud out and then fill again, give it another swish around and dump both washes into an old fuel can.

thats the tank cleaned and rinsed, ready to take new fuel 

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