Singing the E10 Blues

Sharphooks

Sharphooks

Well-Known Member
Just took delivery of a new-to-me boat. It has twin Suzukis with approx. 200 hours on them. The boat was used as a promotional rig so all those hours were put on it since May 2020. In that short period of use, somebody dumped gas station fuel into the tank (wtf???)

Prior to taking delivery I saw what was in the plastic bowls of both filters and asked that the fuel filters be changed-out. That didn’t happen and I didn’t notice it until I drove away with the boat and flopped it in the water.

Short story—I tried to drain that crap out of the Raycor-type plastic bowls via stop-**** but it was so thick and sludgy it wouldn’t budge——NASTY STUFF!

IMG_20200920_071658 2.jpg

So the next morning, one of the Suzukis dies on me. What a way to start off boat ownership! I don’t know much about nothing but I suspected a filter issue and sure enough, one of the filters had lost its prime while trying to drain that crap out

So by that time, I was fuming. I missed my entire spring season, all I wanted was a measeley coho, and here I was dead in the water with my new boat—— I wrote a love letter to the guy who sold me the boat. OF course, that company is all about customer satisfaction so the owner immediately offered to send one of his guys down to siphon the remaining fuel out of the tank (all 400 liters of it)

So here’s the question: When you see that thick sludge in a Raycor bowl, is that normal for E10? I’ve never seen it get that bad in so short a period of time

I’ve put maybe two hours of run time on the boat and there’s already a layer of crap back in the bowl

I posted on another marine website and one guy asked if there might be water intrusion through the gas cap

Thanks for any comments out there on what I should do: Should I use sharp elbows and get the guy to pump out the tank pumped or should I just shut up, pour some Stabil in the tank, run all the E10 out of it, change the filters, then go on with life

Thanks for the comments

I should add that both outboards seemed to run fine once I got the filters properly primed
 
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You know the answer, pump all the gas out, have that tanked professionally cleaned, flush all the lines to the filters and fill up with different gas. That's bs, and this boat needs to be correct properly no messing around.
 
Maybe that's not an ethanol issue? My boat is moored, so I always use "marine" gas from a fuel dock, and I've never seen anything remotely like that in my Racor filters. I've assumed that marine fuel has up to 10% ethanol. I don't think the refineries make a separate run for 89-octane gasoline without ethanol. If you want ethanol free in Canada you have to go to premium 94-octane.

Of course, down south where you are over 10% ethanol is available at the gas stations, so maybe that's what happened. Strange it would happen with the boat in regular use, usually ethanol issues arise when the fuel sits for a while.

Sounds like something isn't right in the fuel tank if you have a layer already building back up. I agree with @ab1752 and have the fuel tank pumped out and see if they will pay to have the fuel tank polished. If they won't clean the tank, I'm sure it would be fine to fill right up and run as normal, but keep a close eye on your filter for the first bit. Anything residue in the fuel lines will caught in the filters.
 
Thanks guys, for nudging me out of my catatonic stupor—-it felt so good to be back on the water after being stuck on shore all summer I figured maybe a bottle of Sta-bil would solve the issue and I could at least get a few straggler coho.

However, after talking to a couple of guys that have been to this rodeo before, I’m pulling the boat tomorrow——it’s going back to the Seasport factory and they’re going to pull the fuel sender, pump the tank dry, wash it out (or so they say), and replace the fuel lines

Here’s the mystery—-that white butter only shows up in a Raycor plastic cup if the boat filled up with E10, then sat around for a long period of time. This boat was first splashed in the water in May, 2020—engines are brand new and now they have 240 hours—-that’s not what I would call “sitting around”—-that’s two summer’s worth of run time for a guy like me.... that boat got ridden hard and put away wet!

A guy who is very knowledgeable told me that to get those chunks of buttery substance in a Raycor bowl like that, there possibly was some kind of petroleum agent that mixed with the water and emulsified. His suspicion is someone dumped something in the tank (disgruntled employee?)


I do know that someone pulled up to a gas station and dumped E10 in the tank. It’s possible that it was an out-of-the-way station that didn’t get alot of business—-when your pumping 400+ liters , it’s quite possible they were pumping the dregs of the E10 underground tank (????)

All I know is I had a flat squeeze bulb when the port Suzuki starved to death and that to me indicated fuel line restriction, like coronary thrombosis....not sure I want to wait around for those brand new Suzukis to have a coronary embolism because I made the wrong move—-so.......I’m kissing off coho season and pulling the boat to have the tank scrubbed....thanks again guys, for whacking me in the side of the head with the right move I should be making

Wow, how can something this pretty get treated like that???????

IMG_20200920_123837.jpg
 
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Btw if they won't to polish the tank once it has been drained, pay for it yourself. Unfortunately those filters are the last mile and its highly likely the likes will have deposits too. At least thats an easy fix and once the filters are new, lines and tank have been polished you're good to go. Nothing worse than fuel issues at sea.

Did all this junk just appear after you took possession? I don't even run external filters, just the standard volvo penta fuel / water filter. I dump it into a clear container to see whats going on and its pretty clear. Most of my fuel comes from the local chevron in coal harbor and other marina based fuel docks. Its amazing that e10 pump gas could make such a mess.

Thats a beautiful picture of the boat and the dog, many more to come for sure.
 
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I agree I find it hard to believe that's caused by E10. I think it looks like oil/water gunk.

Does the boat have the center aluminum fuel tank or the side tanks? Why send it back to the factory, the access to hoses should be easy. I am pretty sure I could have all my fuel hoses swapped out in less than an hour on my Seasport. Have somebody pump the tank, check for sludge replace filters and hoses. If there is sludge in the tank the center tank is likely not that easy to remove, mine has the side tanks, 8 screws remove the access floor and out comes the fuel tank for cleaning.

You mentioned Primer Bulb, do you have a primer bulb going to the main engines? Mercury Specifically instructed me not to have a primer bulb on my engines as it adds resistance to fuel flow. Maybe your engine is can't draw enough fuel
 
I don’t know my way around E10 well enough to draw conclusions. I had two Arimas in my past life and I ran E10 all the time but my fuel water separator was the Yamaha 10 micron screw-on type without the clear bowl so I never saw what kind of crap they were straining out of the E10

My last boat had a Raycor filter and after 4 years of ownership with a Suzuki DF300, I never saw anything in the bowl—-of course, it was all marine grade fuel I ran in the tank

The boat has one large aluminum tank midships. Nobody is going to remove a tank—-I’m presuming they’ll go through the fuel sender hole and scope it with a flashlight after it’s pumped.

I’ve never owned a boat without a primer bulb. I thought they’re nice , for among other reasons, to prime a fuel water separator filter? Why does Merc recommend against them?
 
I noticed that last time I was checking out the newer seasports that the tank looks to big to slide back and come out of the rear hatch. I guess that's one of the advantages of my two tank setup. Anyway I hope you get it sorted out your going to love the boat! I certainly have nothing to complain about mine :)
 
looks more like the sludge i get out of a diesel with a blown head gasket, more than any ethanol sludge
 
My last centre console boat ran exclusively on crappy gas station ethanol mix, and had a leaky fuel vent, the racor would get water in it all the time... and might sit for a month or two sometimes... never seen anything like that!
 
noluck said:
looks more like the sludge i get out of a diesel with a blown head gasket, more than any ethanol sludge
Click to expand...

I had one guy ask me if someone had dumped diesel in the tank by mistake so you might not be too far off....outboards seems to run fine, though. If there were diesel in the tank...no way

Some type of petroleum product got in that tank other then E10, though. That’s what caused the heavy emulsification ....that stuff would not drain through the Raycor stop-****—-it was like congealed bacon grease
 
The new rig looks fantastic by the way! Looking forward to reading how comfortable it is in your next north coast expedition report.

P.I.T.A. to have to deal with the fuel issue right after you picked up the boat and want to get out using it, but can’t put a price on the peace of mind knowing that the issue has been dealt with properly.
 
Could the wrong kind of stabilizer or additive cause that?
 
That boat was in use continually from May until end August. With that amount of use, you can imagine that it was gas in, gas out , and as the owners had every intention of selling their “promo” boat it at the end of the summer, I doubt they purposefully dumped additives in there. The recommendation made by ab1752 to send a sample off to a lab is a good one. I’m curious what petroleum product would cause that kind of emulsification. All the mechanics I’ve talked to said that white butter is caused when E10 gas sits around for long periods of time in a tank....that absolutely didn’t happen since this boat got splashed last spring.
 
i put only chevron 94 in mine. no issues. it is straight gas from a separate pump and available at all chevrons so no ethanol content.
 
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