Fuel that Eats and Eats

[Dirk Pitt]

Well we have seen the fuel cells in the Skaters get eaten alive by this fuel that the oil companies are serving us, now the fuel is eating the ob's.....

I had problems with my 300 x spitting fuel out of the vent, at first I thought ok maybe a bad needle and seat, or a bad float, so we changed both,no luck.
I keep saying a 20 hr motor with a failing fuel system just dosent make sense. So we changed out the hole evaporater tank it worked, but the down side is cost, the part costs around $3000.00 dealer net!!!!!!!!!!
All the time the thought of this fuel that we have on long Island was the culprit, and then bingo another boat showed up at ECM with the same exact problem.
What are the chances of two 300 x's with the same failure?
Has anyone else seen or heard of this?
Now for the big question, Skater stood up to the problem by fixing there boats at no cost to there customers, if in fact the merc outboards go down because of the fuel we are using will they stand up and fix the problem?

I also heard Yamaha uses a similar evapoator tank and they have seen the same problem..

[rsess]

What kind of material is the tank made of and what ingredient in the fuel is causing this problem?

[at100plus]

Joe,

I started discussing this over on OSO, and as usual, (everytime I debate someone over there I seem to lose), a bunch of dopey farmers (who have a vested interest in the crap) and investors neither of whom can even spell ethanol correctly, got into it with me.

Here is the link:

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...3&page=1&pp=20

I did alot of research on the garbage, if you are looking for some interesting links, check the thread link above. It's bad aweful stuff! It seems politicians and the farmers are one with this issue, I don't see how we can change it any more than the horrendous gas prices.

As far as Mercury is concerned, I guess we can go pound salt:

From the Mercury Manual:

"We do not recommend the use of gasoline which contains alcohol because of the possible adverse effect the alcohol may have on the fuel system. In general, gasoline containing alcohol may cause the following problem to your outboard and fuel system:

corrosion of metal parts
deterioration of elastomers and plastic parts
wear and damage of internal engine parts
starting and operating difficulties
vapor lock or fuel starvation

Some of these adverse effects are due to the tendency of gasoline containing alcohol to absorb moisture from the air, resulting in a phase of water and alcohol which separates from gasoline in the fuel tank.

The adverse effects are more severe with methanol and are worse with increasing content of alcohol."

WORK CITED:
http://www.ethanolrfa.org/2003marine.pdf
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[at100plus]

RSESS - the part that Dirk Pitt had to replace is an aluminum canister mounted in front of the powerhead. It is constantly full of fuel (and 10% ethanol in Long Island). Ethanol is corrosive to aluminum and has a cleaning effect on fuel systems. Those are just a couple of it's many shortcomings.

[Hottrucks]

It may sound foolish but we have a big problem with fuels in the winter with two stroke snowmoble engines....... alot of guys from Ct,Mass And southern states will jet carbs to run on reg fuel.... then when they fuel them in there home states( blended with alcohol) they will lean out and the end results aren't good!!! Good dealers will cover it but it's not talked about much, kinda like running it on Dry Gas????

[Raceman]

..................if in fact the merc outboards go down because of the fuel we are using will they stand up and fix the problem?
.

Hahahaha, I'm dyin' laughin'................... fat chance. No tellin' how many powerheads were destroyed by that cheezy plastic oil injection gear that they stayed with way too long. You think they fixed any of them once the engines were out of warranty?

[G Rowe]

We recently fitted up a 32 skater with 2x 300x. both motors did ithe same thing. I thought it was related to the holly blues we were feeding the motors with because turned on the pressure would continue to sneak up at idle and at about 12psi would overflow.I ran a return fuel from the regulators witch stopped it. As a precausion i also redirected the vents outside the cowlings useing tell tail fittings. problem sorted.

From New Zealand by the way

[1BadAction]

Hahahaha, I'm dyin' laughin'................... fat chance. No tellin' how many powerheads were destroyed by that cheezy plastic oil injection gear that they stayed with way too long. You think they fixed any of them once the engines were out of warranty?

why should they fix oil injection out of warranty? Its a worthless comparison anyhow, merc has said DO NOT use ethanol in their motors. It sucks, but its not mercs fault the scumbag oil companys are putting that crap in the gas. so why should merc pay when it is the oil companys fault?

[baja200merk]

mike-- sounds like payton on offshore is a real scumbag... he lost so he starts makin fun of you? shmuck...

kevin

[at100plus]

Actually I thought I lost cause no one else seemed to care except his farmer friends.


I guess people will care more when the garbage is mandated nationwide and they start seeing that they are having problems.

[1BadAction]

does that fuel have any affect on cars?

[chynewalkr]

does that fuel have any affect on cars?

yep, worse gas mileage and less power.

[at100plus]

I'd say it depends on the car. I've heard unverified rumors that some late model Chevrolets have had injector problems blamed on the stuff.


It's hydroscopic (attracts water) and doesn't store well so it will definitely affect cars that aren't daily drivers.

I'd bet 10% blend won't hurt most newer daily driven cars, but they are pushing 20% blend already in Minnesota and I've seen buzz about 30% down the road. 85% (used in S. America) requires vehicles be adapted to the alcohol.

If you ask me, if 85% will hurt my $50k truck then I don't really want 10% in it either.

[at100plus]

yep, worse gas mileage and less power.

That too. Like we need less range to a tank. Especially in our boats.

[1BadAction]

i knew about the gas mileage lost and lower power. alot of the guys on Ls1/2 boards are bitching about it. as it is now, i dont need to worry about it. although, usually what happens in other areas eventually happens here so im probably going to have to put up with this junk soon. I think I might invest in O2 sensors that can handle leaded fuel