KachinaShadow

Unless you have some reason that there's HIGH levels of water in your tank then there's not much chance of E10 absorbing anything but minimal amounts from the atmosphere...
"There is no active transfer mechanism for ethanol molecules to reach out and 'grab' water molecules out of the air. Under normal storage conditions, even in a vented fuel tank, it just does not happen at a level or rate that is relevant."

And if you do have any HIGH level of moisture in your tank, then the ethanol would at least absorb it and alloow it to be burned off in the combustion chamber.

Not saying that E10 is perfect but it sure seems to get take the blame for most anything (fuel system related) that goes wrong with a marine engine. I'm running it just like the majority of you are and have had no issues.

KachinaShadow

"There is no active transfer mechanism for ethanol molecules to reach out and 'grab' water molecules out of the air. Under normal storage conditions, even in a vented fuel tank, it just does not happen at a level or rate that is relevant."

Baja226sport, I understand what you're saying but ethanol just doesn't absorb moisture at that rate. I don't have flush tank vents and have run for hours at Lake Powell, sometimes more than 100 miles at a time and sometimes in very heavy rain, and have never had ANY issues with excess moisture affecting driveability.

Pismo10

Here, here...Way too much hype regarding ethanol. It has become the root of all problems boatwise. It just is not true.

Baja226sport

iTrader: (28)

i got ya. I was just saying I watched a video that had me convinced. I don't know that their results were typical or even if the time frame of the experiment was what they said as I was not the one doing it.

All I know for sure is that my father and brother just plain ignore the ethanol and they always have trouble because of it. For what it is worth their boats do in fact spend more time sitting than mine between uses. That may have something to do it it huh...

97FASTech

iTrader: (6)

Kachina and Pismo, so your saying that the fuel needs NO treatment for any amount of time? 1wk, 2wk , 1mo, 2mo?

KachinaShadow

NEGATIVE...you should still take all of the precautionary measures that you have, with E0, in the past. We're just saying that E10 is being blamed for EVERY issue that comes down the pike when, in fact, most of the issues have been around for years. Check out the discussion on the "General Q&A forum
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...e-quality.html

Myth #1: Ethanol-enhanced gasoline (E10) loses octane much faster than regular gasoline.
Many mechanics believe that octane loss during winter storage could be great enough to damage an engine when it's run in the spring. These same mechanics will often recommend leaving the tank almost empty so that fresh gasoline can be added in the spring to raise depleted octane levels. While all gasoline loses octane as it ages, ethanol-enhanced gasoline loses octane at about the same rate as regular gasoline, according to Jim Simnick, a technical advisor at BP Global Fuels Technology, and Lew Gibbs, a senior engineering consultant and Chevron Fellow. The two men have over 75 years of combined experience working with gasoline and both agree that the loss of octane over the winter would not be sufficient to damage an engine. Note, however, to keep any gasoline, including E10, as fresh as possible; they said it's good practice to always add fuel stabilizer — an antioxidant — whenever the boat will be idle for long periods.

keith2500hd

water in gas is about 80% of our run/power complaints. when you have water present in gas tank the ethanol likes it better than petroleum. use stabilizer at each filling, you never kow if your going back to dock and out of water, treat your fuel, the stabilizers help block moisture from getting with the ethanol in your gas. AVGAS does not have ethanol, the only gas that i would be confident in saying. ethanol is the only EPA approved motor fuel additive, so you'll find it in all auto gas(shell V-Power should be lowest about 5-8%). the reason for amount of gumming, as explained to me, waterbase paint. where do you think the oil companies are sending the varnish base, hence the addition of tolulene, xylene and acetone to gas. pull msds and you'll be surprised how much petrol is in gas, even race gas. seafoam used to work good before katrina, but we started seeing large addition of ethanol to gas, seafoam is a petrol alcohol and will mix with other alcohols easier. the K100 stuff website is hard to find msds? and description makes it sound familiar to seafoam. more alcohol will not do squat after phase seperation. the only succesful plan is to remove as much fuel from tanks, let it seperate and have returned some back to tanks(skim fuel from top, after letting water fall to bottom of containers). must consider that the fuel is low octane: ethanol is used as octane booster. we have used avgas, racegas and premium(shell v-power) along with additives. i look for octane additives that contain MMT(a mineral similar to lead properties, but not lead). TCW-II/III seems to help as top-end lube, little goes long way. avgas in high percent can lean out an engine, just for those that want to run full tank.

97FASTech

iTrader: (6)

[QUOTE=KachinaShadow;3578485]NEGATIVE...you should still take all of the precautionary measures that you have, with E0, in the past. We're just saying that E10 is being blamed for EVERY issue that comes down the pike when, in fact, most of the issues have been around for years. Check out the discussion on the "General Q&A forum
http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/g...e-quality.html



Originally Posted by bobl View Post

We've seen several damaged engines this year that the only plausible explanation was bad fuel.


Bob Lloyd
Full Throttle Marine


I can attest to that!!!!

97FASTech

One engine Bob is talking about is mine, so I know first hand of the damage. Boat was winterized and then fresh gas added on first run. One thing to consider is also the quality of the gas from the station, along with how long it has been in the underground tank.

KachinaShadow

BINGO

Here in California we have some of the strictest regulations regarding underground tanks and many of the older stations (with antiquated tanks that were susceptable to leakage) were forced to close because of the $ required to replace the tanks...probably one of the main reasons why I haven't had an issue with E10. Unfortunately, in other parts of the country, old leaking (both fuel out and moisture in) tanks remain in service which may be contributing to the E10 issues that others are facing. It maybe a good idea to only fuel your boat only at the "new" station. Of course that may not be possible if you fuel at a marina with old tanks.

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

I haven't had any issues with the boat(knock on wood) but I have seen issues in snowmobiles over the last few years. Snowmobiles are ran in cold temps and often stored in warmer temps. The number of issues from water in the fuel has dramatically increased over the last few years. 2-strokes do not like moisture in the combustion chamber.