Lets talk Ethanol.........
 

:mad:

January 1st I filled up bone dry tanks with 50 Gallons of fuel at the local marina. Not a busy marina. " Gas could have been old"

2 weeks ago I put 100 Gallon of Shell Gasoline with 10% Ethanol in it. No problems the boat ran great the last 2 weekends.

May 4th I purchased 200 Gallons of 92 Octane unleaded in Lousiana at a truck stop. So did 6 other boats. " none had any problems except for me.


Went through nine fuel separators trying to clean the tanks. Finally we got strained in the middle of Pontrain for 4 hours this weekend.

The fuel filters had flakes floating in them....and other garbage..

I talked to numerous people about this weekend. My questions are this..

1) What do you think caused this?

2) How can I prevent it from happening again?

3) What steps would you take to correct my current situation?

4) do I need to drain 250 to 300 gallons of gas?

5) What all do I need to check? I have a good idea, I just don't want to hurt my new mills


Thanks, Tom

Did the flakes look like little pieces of shiny paint ? If so I had the same problem. Is it from the tank ?

Let me know.

CM

yep gold shinny flakes

I had a problem with water in the tanks. I put the boat on the trailer and used blocks under the jack to get bow as high as I could, this gets the water to the pickups. I hooked up an electric fuel pump and pumped until I got clean fuel with no water, changed the filters added some Seafoam and have had no problem in two years.

Mine where silver on one side gold on the other. Think its the aluminum from the tank ?

Curtis

Hard to say at this point. I had a guy riding with me who processes chemicals for a living. He felt the Ethanol cleaned out my tank. Then when I added the normal unleaded it turned it into water.

From what I've heard your OK running ethanol just keep your tanks empty (instead of full) when stored and don't switch back and forth.

we rolled 19 boats deep to the poker run. everyone I had talked to new someone this has happened to. It is very hard to not find gas with out ethanol in Houston. Its also very hard to keep the tanks low on triple big blocks:(

This will become a big issue in the marine industry. They should have Enthanol every were or not at all. I prefer not at all:mad:

my 2cents worth.i always keep a addative in the tank to try a suck up the water that gets in the tank.i have heard that if you use ethanol in your boat that it a matter of time before you get into the water.

Ethanol/ethyl alcohol, is hydroscopic which means it absorbs water, not good in a moisture rich environment. The water in a tank will combine with the ethyl alcohol to produce a non combustable layer of liquid in tanks that will stop an engine cold. Make sure your tank is clean before you add ethanol fuels.

Ethanol will also act a a cleaning agent in tanks, It will act as a clean agent and will loosen years of varnish build up in an engine or fuel tank. If you have been running on ethanol fuel lately chances are you are fine, but if your boat has been stored a while you could find some problems on your first fill up.
Ethanol also acts as a solvent, that will release fine metallic particles which could even pass through most fuel filters, those dissolved metallic particles will clog fuel injector nozzles and carbs.

Ethanol will also act as a solvent and could damage the sealants used in older fiberglass fuel tanks (I believe pre 1984).

The shelf life of ethanol fuels is very short compared to the old mtbe mix, so make sure you drain the tanks when stored for more than a few months.

All in all, we cant really change the ethanol movement, and Im sure the ethanol fuel technology is advancing daily which should end most of these issues. Once you have run a few tanks of the new ethanol fuel, you probably have a clean tank, and fuel system, and as long as you follow proper storage procedures, you will be fine.

If your boat has been sitting for awhile dont take any chances drain all fuel before you fill up. Get a few extra filters, and run cautiously, maybe even avoid full throttle untill the first tank had been used up. This should ensure your tanks is clean and ready for the new fuel.

I'm surprised more people on this site don't burn E85. It is 105 octane, after all.

Since we're stuck dealing with ethanol anyway, I would think a lot of the big power guys would go all the way.

SPK1 please explain more on the E85 Sleeper Dave is refering too.

Swedes who have E85 on the pumps use it regularily on tuned turbocharged cars.. in fact at national level rallying E85 running turbocharged cars are coming on like a storm.

Also we who have to live with freezing temps quite a lot are running ethanol based fuels (15%) nowadays and even thou I live by the sea (50yrds from shore) I have never had any problems in my cars or boats or heard anyone have over here with the fuel containing more ethanol than before.
I think those who run into problems are those who have dirty fuel tanks and lines in the first place.
In the wintertime I haven´t had to use antifreeze for 15yrs in cars either.

In fact I have a Turbocharged car that I used a ethanol/water 50/50 mix to lower the intake temps and thisway be allowed to boost more no problems except the plugs looked like the were brand new.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E85

where is e-85
 

hey sleaperdave where do you get e-85.i am in Va.i havent seen it here yet.

I don't know about in VA. In MI, Meijer has it, and some other gas stations. Not too widespread.

Ethanol has issues with water, E85 moreso than E10, but as long as your tanks and fuel lines can handle ethanol (they should anyway if you're running E10) and you reprogram the ECU or rejet the carb, it should work fine. E85 contains something like 25% less energy than straight gasoline, so you have to burn more of it. With a boat you don't have oxygen sensors to worry about so that's one less thing to deal with in converting to run E85. Of course storing the boat over the winter with E85 in the tanks probably isn't the best idea unless you devise a way to stop the tank from vening to atmosphere.

Navy Annex Citgo Station
801 S. Joyce St.
Arlington, VA 22204
703-979-3891
View Map

seems to be the only public facility in VA with E85.

http://www.e85refueling.com/location...fb9daa436c8978

here is another link on a similar subject: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...d.php?t=155313

Post # 8 is how I solved the same problem.

E85 is cheaper, at least in this area it is. Its like $2.45 a gallon here in IL. Have experienced NO problems in my friend's '86 28 Cig for the last 2 years running E10. No problems over the winter with a half of a tank left in it.

If you run E85, don't you need to re-jet your carbs, since Alcohol needs to run at something more like 10:1 fuel ratio unlike gasoline where it's closer to 12:1??

Also, drag cars that run on Alcohol run much bigger jets and need to be tuned daily, or even throughout the day, so the tune is right because Alcohol is much more effected by environmental conditions (heat, moisture, BAR).

On a flex fuel vehicle, the computer adjusts for this.

roughly a 30% bigger jetting.

To run E85, yes you do need to re-jet your carbs. Depending on the engine you may need to upgrade your fuel system, because you need to burn approximately 30% more at the same power level.

It would not be good for your run of the mill motors. People running 1000 hp engines on race gas, though, could save a lot of money running E85.

Fuel vaporization with Ethanol varies a lot due to temperature, which might require some re-tuning. I would think that the range of temperatures boats operate in would be constant enough to come up with a "good enough" tune, though. Plus even high hp boat motors aren't as close to the ragged edge as alcohol drag cars.

A lot of engine manufacturers are also increasing jet sizes slightly to account for E10.

hmm, i might have to check this E85 out for the supercharged ski's been running 110l for the increased boost, but this sounds like it might be worth a shot.

Check your local Top alcohol class draggers...