I've been wondering about my small Y2K stash of Coleman fuel and how usable it might be.

Rather than opening a can I thought about the 2 backpacking single-burner stoves (Feather 400 models) I own and decided to see if they had gas in them. Whatever was in there would be old. Both had fuel in their tanks.

The first one I bought in 1983 and used on a x-c motorcycle trip then as my backpacking/jeeping stove until about 1993 when I bought a simpler version (single valve) of the same thing which replaced it.

The newer one was most recently used about 2000.
The older one was retired about 1993.

So I got them out and cranked them up and ran them until empty.

They acted as nothing was unusual. They just lit up and ran! I didn't measure the heat content as this was just an operability check. And they did great!

Looks like Coleman fuel keeps pretty darn well for stove use.