ARGHH... Is any one else having fuel trouble

[PeteV]

I could use some Wisdom.

I think I'm having trouble with fuel ... every now and then the gas I draw off the bottom of my Racor has a very weird milky brown look. In past years I've never seen this.. but now I seem to be seeing this more. I'm not sure if its caused by water in the fuel mixing with the ethanol and giciving this weird look ...or maybe my hoses are disolving as a result of the new gas finally taking its toll... or maybe its gunk thats been on the old tank and is only now disolving....

anyway I noticed when I took the racor off there was a little rust on the bottom of the filter and the filter itself seemed to have some rust in it.

Are you guys noticing the same thing? I just had to go through an engine fix (bad fuel injector & bad fuel pump) and I think it was related to the problems with the fuel.

If it is the fuel & the ethanol gas holds the water in suspension ....is there an additive I can add to it to cure the problem. The Gas does sit & I run the boat maybe every other week,

[tommat]

Had the same problem last year. The Ethanol removed all the varnish from my tank and deposited it in the Racor, my fuel filter and my carbs. I ended up replacing all my fuel lines, cleaning my tank and having my carbs serviced. All was good until my piston head in cylinder #1 started ticking....

[eatfish]

Seafoam!! Sounds like an issue I had with a Yamaha F150 2004. I also made a plug for the vent. Seafoam is available at the autparts stores. I found the answers at www.marineengine.com Hope this helps:) my final fix was having the fuelinjectors cleaned by www.witchhunter.com I also replaced all fuel lines to the motor and the filters including the med pressure and the VST

[scruffy_fish]

Went through it all with my motor also.
Forget the additives.
Stop using it, find a gas station that dosen't carry ethanol fuel.

[Nelly]

search "DaleH" and "fuel" - that should give you a good basis of understanding how you're likely being affected by the ethanol fuel.

If your gas is sitting for more than a couple of weeks in the tank, I would consider adding star-tron ethanol treatment, the new sta-bil (for ethanol - blue) product, or some other additive that will help with the problem. At least stabilize it, and consider one of the ethanol specific additives I just mentioned. Short money insurance against these problems.

I inherited an old boat this spring with a gas tank that had been sitting with MBTE fuel for years. Despite having the old fuel pumped out, I have had gummed up carbs this season, issues with the anti-siphon valve from the tank, and am seeing the rust like particles in my racor as well. I knew this was coming as the shop told me the ethanol would loosen all the gunk up and push it through; the hope was the racor would catch it all. Some of the gummy stuff made it through the racor and into the carbs, and now I am seeing the rusty looking stuff in the bottom of the bowl, but am otherwise still running ok after the carbs were cleaned mid-season.

Good luck.

[z-drive]

3 seasons of running ethanol gas, several entire tank drainings and hours upon hours of fuel 'polishing' i still get particles in my racor. and my boat gets run 20something hours a week. with this gas i guess its kind of inevitable. keep a spare filter and drain the racor regularly. and my tank's inside looks pretty damn good too, so i gues its just a product of using this particular fuel.

i disagree with using the mbte gas this day in age because you're limited to buying it where (i don't know) and if for some reason you need to get some gas in a pinch you'll risk totally messing up your fuel system when it reacts with the mbte gas.

keep a spare filter, drain the racor regularly, and a few friends and i have been running that startron stuff with decent results. and keep a filter wrench because its tough to get the spare on if you cant get the old one off when that moisture in the fuel rusts up the threads.