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Question... I recently bought our boat. It had sat with fuel in the tanks, unused, for almost a year... now the fuel is gummed up/varnished/turned to laquer, etc... when I took it in to have it serviced after purchase I asked that the fuel be pumped out and replaced with good fuel... and therein lies the problem... No one will take bad fuel for environmental reasons and the fact that it's impossible to get rid of... so they filtered it and told me to run it and keep replacing the filters as they clog up...

Does this ound right to you pro-boaters out there? Major pain in the ass this weekend as I foolishly had NOT yet bought extra filters, got out in the bay and had one engine that became INOP.

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Stacy & Isora in Annapolis, MD
2005 Vista 298

I've never had to get rid of old fuel (at least not that much...the local recycling place will take small quantities though) but if the gas was stabilized...it should not have caused a problem...I have run my boat on gas that I bought in August....stabilized..in June of the next year without difficulty. Now if they filtered the gas...and you replace the fuel filters...it might be OK....did your region recently change to E-10 gas? If so that can be the cause...the ethanol in the E-10 will clean out crud in gas tanks and that can clog filters...but on a boat that new I'd be suprised if there was much crud...

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Not sure about the E-10... have yet to buy fuel. The boat came from NC and I have no idea if they had ethanol added to fuel there a year ago. Thanks for the reply.

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Stacy & Isora in Annapolis, MD
2005 Vista 298

How much fuel are we talking about? Had a co-worker get charged $10/gal to take the "bad gas" from a local filling station out of their car.

I'd give them empty gas cans and take the fuel myself. Then blend it with fresh fuel in the lawn mower etc. until it's gone.

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H210SS 6.2
F150 Platinum

The gauges are reading 1/4 tank and 1/2 tank so I'm guessing probably around 50 gallons of gas I need to get rid of if I can.

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Stacy & Isora in Annapolis, MD
2005 Vista 298

I guess it depends on how gummed up you mean. I would imagine that Startron or Stabil have some additives that claim to fix that problem. I however have no experience with those. My experience with old gas has been with small motors. And the solution in that case was dilution by the the addition of good gas. So in short my answer would be to add new gas to the old to dilute it. Then be prepared to run long hours at high speed to burn that up so you can keep diluting it. (That at least makes it a fun problem to have) The only problem I see with that is that you run the risk of having a full tank of "bad" gas if it doesn't mix well. Of course keep fuel filters and water separators handy if needed.

That is probably what I would try. And add the appropriate amount of fuel stabilizer to the new fuel too that way if you have to let the boat sit awhile because of weather you can stave off the problem again.

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2008 Horizon 260 VP 8.1 Gi

I think that's what I am going to end up doing. Not much choice. Hopefully fuel filter replacment will not be too frequent. According to the Merc engine manual you're supposed to wait 12 hours after the engine has been shut down to remove & replace the filter... which sounds like a good idea given you don't want to have the fuel under pressure when you remove the filter and end up spraying fuel all over the place... not only a fire hazard but my fuel fume detector is too darn sensitive to begin with... this would make it go off for a week.

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Stacy & Isora in Annapolis, MD
2005 Vista 298

To get around the fuel under pressure issue, couldn't you fit an aftermarket filter assembly in the fuel line between the tank and the fuel pump pack? That would not be under pressure ( I have such a filter fitted to my boat, to filter the fuel before the fuel flow sensor. The filter head and the filter are not particularly expensive).

Graham

That's a reasonable idea mon fraire. My fuel filters are oil/water filters and are the pretty big... size of the oil filter on my truck...

Are the in-line fuel filters big like an oil filter too? Seems like a lot of weight hanging on the line and I wouldn't want to hassle with a mounting...

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Stacy & Isora in Annapolis, MD
2005 Vista 298

The additional filter on mine is about the size of an oil filter ( Quicksilver part number 35-802893Q01). It screws onto a filter head, something like a remote oil filter does. There are both zinc alloy ( painted) and stainless ones available; they screw onto a vertical surface.

Graham

It seems odd the fuel went bad after only a year.

Most inline filters are small, like those in a car. You could probably use the car type during the duration of your cleaning phase. They'd no doubt be cheaper. The kind with a replaceable cartridge in a clear sleeve come to mind. Put it ahead of your larger filters and chew through as many of them as needed until the problem is gone.

I'd wonder if there's other gunk in your tanks? This is more of a hassle to deal with but most tanks can be inspected through the port for the level sensor. Run the tanks to empty, or very nearly so. Pull the level sensor and eye up the inside of the tank. If there's gunk in there you'd do well to get it out instead of playing roulette with an endless number of filters. Use a siphon to extract the bum fuel in to a 5 or 10 gallon jug. The use small amounts of fresh gas (or filter the old stuff) to aid in getting the gunk out.

You're no doubt careful in what you do but correcting this problem "the right way", now, is better than the risk of getting lazy in changing filters all the time. Do that too often and almost anyone's likely to get careless over a repeatedly annoying task.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Take care with the inline filters that have a glass sleeve and screw on ends; nice idea, allowing the deposits to be seen, but the one I bought first of all was not USCG approved for use in an enclosed engine compartment ( OK for outboards though). That's why I now have the other type.

Graham

Yes, USCG approval is important. But I'd be inclined to consider using them only in this particular case, due to the likelihood of needing to replace the filters multiple times. I'd certainly suggest that USCG regs be followed for any regular setup.

Most of the USCG regs for fuel filters seems to be related to the 'out of sight, out of mind' problem. That and an engine room fire. A fragile glass cylinder could crack due to wave action or other vibration, leading to a potential leak that might not get noticed quickly enough. A plastic cylinder, or water separator bowl, might not withstand the potential heat of a fire in the engine compartment. A fire that might otherwise be dealt with until the addition of leaking gasoline. So you can see where they're coming from with their requirements.

I can respect that. But I'm also practical regarding the considerable added expense of replacing a bunch of the larger filter canisters. Given the unique situation it might not be unreasonable to use personal judgment to best solve the problem. If you're fine with the cost of the larger filters and value the piece of mind following regs offers then certainly follow that course. Me, I'd suffer the added hassle of emptying those tanks instead of dealing with filter after filter, etc. Using unapproved, but workable, inline filters probably falls somewhere in the middle. Oh, and at no point am I suggesting that those filters remain in place for the duration. I'm only suggesting their use as a temporary solution and that they be removed once it's solved.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

Well basically the two options that I see are to buy a bunch of Sierra 10 micron filters, which are not that expensive.. and will screw on to the standard water seperating filter mount....or get a proper Racor with the metal bowl for inboards...and drain the metal bowl every so often to see what is getting into the fuel...Still it would have been better to clean the gas tanks to start with..but that can be hard to get done right unless you have marinas in the area that are familiar with doing this work.

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88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

Thanks for the tips. I am taking it back to the boat yard Sunday evening to have it bottom painted and I asked that they remove and filter the fuel and clean out the tanks. Hopefully that will help solve the problem. I bought three of the 'oil-can' size filters for $25 and have them on-hand now.

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Stacy & Isora in Annapolis, MD
2005 Vista 298