ethanol problems

[pelican]

there's alot of bad information,concerning ethanol - every time i read something like the following i laugh...

"I took Lil Dinghy out of the water when hurricane Irene went through. The tanks had a small amount of fuel in one tank and a full tank in the other. I went to put antifreeze in the raw water side to prevent freezing with this storm and cold coming through and all I had to do was run the engine enough to suck it in. The dam E-10 had separated already and while I was trying to get it to run long enough to circulate the antifreeze through it I blew out the power valve and I just got the antifreeze in. So next spring, I'll be rebuilding the carb. Oh by the way, it had Startron in the tanks from when I filled them. It doesn't take much time for the phase separation to occur. "

i "lifted" that from a site i read alot - the information posted on the site,along with some of the techniques,are far from accurate.

with all that...

if you're experiencing a constant phase seperation,or water in your fuel,you need to find the source - continuing to blame the fuel isn't going to solve the problem - finding the surce of the water will.
these problems can only be caused by 2 things - the source of the fuel - meaning,you're purchasing bad fuel,or,you've got a problem in the fuel system...
most common cause of fuel contamination is the deck fill - it's missing an o-ring,on the cap.you need to inspect the fuel system at least once a season - if not,you're asking for trouble...
fuel tanks can and will leak - water will leak into the tanks as well - sounds hard to believe i know.in saltwater applications - what often occurs is the erosions that occur in the bottom of the tank,these become so impacted with salt,the fuel has a very small seep - resulting in a very faint odor of fuel - i promise you,i've seen this more times than you can imagine.
i'm no fan of ethanol in fuel - but,constantly blaming fuel for every problem is a little carried away - and again,if you're experiencing a problem,such as i described,you need to check the fuel system,this is probably where your problem lies...

check out these pictures - this tank had 12 holes in the bottom - the client's complaint was a faint odor of fuel...
the pictures through the opening for the sender - that's not a spec - it's a hole,that's directly inline with the sender...

[Blue_Heron]

I agree. marine engines and components have been made for use with 10% ethanol fuels since the late '80s or early '90s. I use ethanol fuel in my boats and have not had ethanol related problems. If you have fuel system components made from modern ethanol resistant materials and you don't leave fuel in your tank for more than six months at a time, I don't think you'll have problems from ethanol fuels.

The one time I had water in my fuel, it was in my flats skiff. Just as you describe, it had a foamed in aluminum tank that deteriorated due to crevice corrosion. Water seeped into the tank from the saturated foam. Never had noticeable fuel in the bilge, just a slight smell of gas.

That being said, I think ethanol as a fuel additive is purely a political phenomenon. There are better products for controlling octane, and ethanol contains less energy (btu/gal) than gasoline, so fuel efficiency suffers. But as long as it's the only product that's readily available, I'll keep using it.
Dave

[Seacraft84]

I have run into problems with the new gas eating the inside liner of my fuel line on an 04' Optimax I had. A little piece of it got hung in my low pressure fuel pump causing problems. Also found it will break down sediment and stuff in the tank. It keep clogging my injectors on my yamaha.
Got tired of cleaning the injectors so I just pulled the screens out of them. 100 hours later and not even the first problem. Its mainly the bottom injector on the fuel rail. Thats where everything sinks to.

[workinpr0gress]

In some other parts of the world they have dealt with a heck of a lot more alcohol in their gas than we have for years. It's definitely not the mystery some people make it out to be. The biggest ethanol problems definitely seem like it's either old fuel system components or tank gunk that has been cleaned by the ethanol and sent down the line.

Kind of reminds me of when people have algae problems with diesel. Start the boat and let it run and circulate hot fuel through all the tanks return lines. Best algae fix I've seen because you never get any.

[Seacraft84]

Yeah I was having my problem before my rebuild for the most part. Now with new tank, lines and filters it happened a couple times.
Look inside mercury factory fuel hoses and you will see this liner. Definatly worth replacing now if anybody has mercs.
Everyone replacing their 2 strokes w 4 strokes on a 15 year old boat and older seem to be running into the most problems.