Recycling old gas...bad idea!

[JonS]

Well, I read all over the place on the net that one could get rid of old gas by gradually adding it to a car's gas tank, diluting it with the fresh gas. So, I had stabilized gas that had been in my motorcycle for about 1 1/2 yrs. (I know, way past what Sta-bil is supposed to last). Anyway, I put about a gallon of this old crap into the tank of my '09 Yaris and about 30 min later the check engine light comes on. Not only that, but the engine light flashed and the car went into limp mode as I had to accelerate up a hill to get home. Got the P0301 and P0304 errors with a P0300 thrown in for good measure.

I added a can of Seafoam to the tank, changed the iridium plugs, added fresh gas and that seems to have helped, though I don't think the old gas is out yet. Then I took it for a test run with the code reader hooked up and got a P0301 once as I accelerated onto the freeway from a light. It didn't set off the check engine light, though. Otherwise, the reader showed everything else okay (Evap and O2 sensor were incomplete from the short drive).

Is there anything else I can do to lessen the chance of permanent damage?

Thanks much,
Jon