Beware of bad fuel
 

At the 1st poker run of the season last week, my boat was fouling plugs, idling poorly, and would die if you rolled the throttle from off plane to on plane too quickly.
With all the recent work we we've done on the motor, I thought it was an ECU or MSD box tuning issue.
Filled the boat up yesterday at a nearby Texaco and it ran perfectly all day. No performance issue of any kind. On the front page of today's Tennessean, there was an article on bad fuel being sold at several area gas stations. The bad fuel was purchased from the BP at I-40 and TN SR 22 exit (Lexington, TN).
Another fellow with a nice new 38' Formula (Kevin) got a bad load of gas at the dock (Aqua Yacht Harbor) in his 525s and one of them wouldn't run either.
At these f'ing prices, we should AT LEAST be getting some quality fuel:mad: !
Be careful!
Steve

Nothing worse than getting junk while paying the high prices of fuel these days ruining your weekend...

What was the problem, water or other contaminants?

I picked up a load of bad gas in my E500 last summer at the Shell in Rockport, MO... All Shell would say was that they have filters to protect any contamination, sorry for the inconveinence...what a bunch of BS...car went into "limp home mode" and cost me $3500 to get the fuel system and tank flushed along with replacing the injectors...POS insurance man's story was - hey you put it in so you have some responsibility....yeah right, I paid for Premium I expected to get Premium, not gas, water and sediment...

I finally got something done by filing a complaint with the Attorney General's office in MO, they got with the Dept of Agri. and tested the tanks and two out of four were full of water and gunk...

They shut down the station until they drained and flushed all of the tanks...then the Insurance Company started a claim against them....

Moral of the story I have is if your fueling up, go to a newer station and hope you get what your paying for and if you have a jerk for an Insurance Agent get a new one...

I've been accused of having bad gas before but I swear this time it wasn't me:D

Kevin,
Did you get it fixed? I got lucky. Just running some good 93 through mine cleared it right up. I will be changing my water seperator filter anyway.
The problem I have (other than the ridiculous cost of gas) is there really isn't any way for the average consumer to determine at the time your fueling if you're getting good quality fuel. I can't carry a chemistry kit with me every time I gas up the boat:rolleyes: .........
There are inspection stickers on the pumps here in TN showing the last time the fuel was inspected for octane and contamination. Tennessee seems to have one of the better inspection regimens in place, not that it did me any good:mad: .............
Regards,
Steve

I think I got water based on the way the motor was acting. Bad part of this is, it was at a relatively new BP on I-40 where they do volume business.
Steve

Wow, I wouldn't think you'd have a problem at a newer station unless they have some sort of drainage problem allowing water into their tanks...that or a contaminated load from the supplier, which isn't very likely.

Either way it will ruin your weekend or day, I wish there was a way to check before filling up your whole tank. Really can't run around with a test kit all the time...

I guess you never really know whats coming out the nozzle when your filling up, but if you have a bad experience it's great to post where it happened so someone else might not have the same problem in the future. There are too many other places to get fuel at without having problems like this to use.

Jim

I haven't had time to get into the boat since I've been back. I'll replace both water separators and fill with 87 grade. The 525's don't call for high octane so I don't think it would be a good idea to use premium. I have heard they'll actually perform worse with 92 Octane. I'll also throw in some fuel treatment and see if that does the trick before I start tearing into things. So far it seems to have only affected the Starboard motor. Glad to hear yours took care of itself. Your boat sounded great!!!!

Kevin,
Thanks, you should hear it now:rolleyes: :D ..........
Do your motors feed off a common fuel tank, or do they have they have individual tanks? I hear the same about the 525s and high octane fuel (will burn too cool and lower EGTs and HP).
Steve

That's a good question. I believe it's a single tank.