ethanol strikes again

[Fr. Frank]

Coming pack from a very enjoyable "church staff meeting" on my boat today, the very reliable Mercury Optimax 90 quit. Oh, not all at once. It began surging, then smoking very heavily, then it quit. Smack in the very middle of Choctawhatchee bay, 3 miles from anything.

Thank God for SeaTow (member since 1984).

I spent 10 minutes on the phone with my Mercury mechanic, and he said, "What color is the fuel line leading from your tank to the water separator and then to the primer bulb? I'll bet it's gray PVC with a red stripe or black lettering." I looked, and sure enough, gray with red stripe to the water separator, and gray with black lettering to the primer bulb.

He said, "depress the high pressure schrader valve on the HPDI tank on the left side of the motor with the key switch on. Tell me if it squirts out under high pressure, or dribbles out"

It dribbled out.

He then tells me I'm going to need a new High Pressure fuel pump, because mine has been damaged by fuel system deterioration caused by ethanol in the fuel.

I said, "wait a minute, I've been using marine Sta-bil for ethanol fuels to prevent that" He then tells me that Sta-bil and other fuel stabilizers are really only effective for fuel with up to about 7%-8% ethanol, and many pump gasolines today regularly test out at 15%-18% ethanol, not the "up to 10%" it says on the pumps. He said no fuel stabilizer will work with that much ethanol alcohol, it just separates and deteriorates anyway, degrading fuel lines, gaskets, sensors, and fuel floats along the way. Nearly 1/3 of his business now is repairing damage caused by ethanol.

I asked "how much for the HPDI pump?", and he said, "$2650 plus labor, if we can re-use the tank".

Then he tells me, don't worry, according to the computer, you're under warranty until May.

I will never put ethanol gas in my boat again.