Detenation Lesson Learned 620 Teague
 

My tank was almost empty and I purchased 50 gallons of fuel from a local marina that was to be hightest 15 minutes later I have two burnt pistons scored block, bad head my motor is at teague being rebuilt it had less than 75 hours on it. my recipt said they put regular in, do i have any legal action with them to recoop my loss. any input would be a great
Richard Cuny

Richard, I think fuel we use is the responsiblity of the user. If the marina said it was high test, then if you can prove they switched it.. you may have a case. But what judge is going to understand the ramifications of an engine melting down due to the fuel switch.
I would think the lawyer guys here might have a better idea what you can do.. Good luck with it.. and sorry for your loss!

:mad::mad::mad:

its your responsibilty to make certain that they put in what you ask for. you say the paperwork says " regular" so they aren't hiding anything. you should have watched what pump it came out of if you had concerns.

Sorry to hear this. That is one of the many reasons I always pump my own fuel..

thats a real problem when you have a engine that has to have 93 min...in my area there are NO marina's with it...so if you build a engine(s) that have to have premium and you are out, it's a crap shoot...you might try alcohol injection...that would help if you are on the edge.....Rob

Hard Lesson
 

Thank You All Again For Your Input
Richard

you might try alcohol injection:ernaehrung004::ernaehrung004:

The octane rating is also a difficult item to test for. In 1996 I bought fuel from a marina in Holland MI which was advertised as 93 octane. By the time I arrived at Grand Haven both engines were running poorly. I later found there had been severe detonation (10 melted pistons and 6 melted inconel exhaust valves along with cracks in all 4 heads). Apparently there is no simple test for the octane of gasoline. The only legally acceptable proof of octane is to have a certified lab run a sample of the fuel in an "Octane Engine" to determine it's resistance to detonation (or so I was told at the time). That was the last time I purchased "High Octane" fuel from a marina. I have never had a problem with fuel from a automotive gas station and now run engines happy with what ever marinas sell... One interesting note, Manley warrantied all intake and exhaust valves from both engines (they claimed 500 hp 10 to 1 engines should not have damaged their inconel exhaust valves.

Is there a knock alarm aviable for this issue i would be interested. I have oil presure ,water temp, depth and even bilge alarms.
Rich

you could also carry a few cans of octane boost on board just in case you have to fuel while out....Rob

Livorsi has one, contact Elite marine (Kirk) here on the board. If you have a Crane HI6M you can plug it in to it and it will take out timing as needed. Looks like a pretty nice system . I am considering one.

Octain Booster
 

I will be sure to always add booster just to be safe, My ignition is MSD I have weights in the distribtor i don't know if i can alter the timing when needed but i will ask Bob Teague next time i speek with him that is if he ever gets finished raceing.
Rich

I never buy fuel from any marina unless I have to. It's not that I think they are bad...I just don't think that many people use 93on the lake, and the 93 the marina has is likely to have has been sitting for some time. If I get low and have to buy "a little" lake fuel, I try to not run hard on it.