E 10 , Old Gas, New Engine What Should I Do????

[Yankeeredfisher]

I'm in the process of repowering my 226 Seafarer from a 200 Johnson Ocean Runner and a 9.9 Johnson 4 stroke to a 200 Yamaha 4 stroke.The engines have 13 years on them as does the boat and I don't wish to put anymore money in to the engines.
Question.The little 4 stroke which is carburated would not start.Marina said poor fuel .Cleaned the carbs and she ran. The fuel is in a tank that has been stabilized every time I fill up. Used Stabil marine at first and recently have been using Startron. Should I continue to use this fuel with frequent filter changes; try the Startron Enzime for tank cleaning; or pump the tank dry (might be quite a job) and start the new engine out a clean bill of health.
Appreciate any suggestions/comments.

 

[BobP]

Welcome to the site!

If you are repowering with a NEW motor, you have to be concerned with warranty coverage besides just having it work properly.

Did the fuel by you change from non-ethanol to ethanol recently? There is a compatibility issue between the two.

Discuss with your repowering dealer what he/she recommends with respect to existing fuel and fuel filters. There is a way to test fuel, the first thing they check when a motor craps out.

 

[Yankeeredfisher]

The fuel in this area has been E10 Ethenol for several years. No change there.The only reason I'm concerned is that the fuel which I stabilized this winter obviously gumed up my carburated 4 stroke. I understand that the fuel injected engines (which my new 200 Yamaha will be) don't have as many issues with E 10, just that it does affect the fuel pumps in time.
The dealer said he would use the existing fuel up but I really want to be cautious. He wasn't sold on the Startron Enzime tank cleaner.

 

[BobP]

Your kicker shouldn't have gummed up, are you sure you ran the motor long enough to get treated fuel through the motor ?

 

[BobP]

Alternately, you can pump all the fuel out into 6 gal gallon poly portablele containers and use in your lawmower/tracter, o offer it free to your lawn service guys whatever the case may be.
Use more treatment, even ethanol fuel will last a long time.

Then you will start with fresh fuel.

 

[Bob's Cay]

I asked on another forum about an idea I had and found that several people already do this.

I have a universal fuel pump I bought at an auto parts store I used before to pump fuel out of a tanl on a boat that was stored. In that case I pumped the fuel into 6 gallon cans.

This time I am going to connect the pump to the outlet of my fuel filter and through the pump and back into the fuel filler. I plan to let it run for awhile like an aquarium filter. I will then replace the fuel filter and hook it back to the engine. May even go to one of the Yamaha 2 micron filters while I "polish" the fuel and then go back to running with a 10 micron.

 

[BobP]

If there are disolved varnish solvents in the fuel, I don't think filter media alone will work, same goes for large volumes of water or phase separated alcohol.

 

[hotajax]

Getting Rid of Old Fuel

Go see a farmer, get some empties from him. He'd probably be glad for the free gas

 

[Yankeeredfisher]

I'm liking the pump out idea Question how do you make sure you're getting ALL the stuff out right down to the bottom.Wouldn't do much good to get rid of 92 gal of gas and be left with a puddle of varnish, sludge in the botom of the tank.

 

[dlevitt]

If the current engine runs, why don't you run it for a couple of trips to burn through most of the tank. This way, there will be little left to either siphon or mix with fresh gas.

 

[BobP]

If the bow is lifted a bit, the pickup is at the stern end of the tank, at least on my model - both tanks. Helps to be on a trailer.
There wil be very little left. Less than 1. qt per tank, more like a pint, as I recall.

If you want to get it all, you have to pull level sensor and suck out via the opening. Or pull the tank and flip it over as I did.

Call you local town disposal facility and ask about old varnish contaminated (from aging)gasoline, how to dispose of it?
Many municipalities provide for such waste since they don't want residents resorting to flushing it down the toilet or dumping overboard out at sea.

If there is a so called "polisher" in your area, for a price (per gal?) they are supposed to make gas as good as new. Their systems need to be more sophisticated than just a racor filter.

 

[lazy197]

If you pull the tank sender, which you should do every couple years to make sure the hold down screws are not frozen, you can use a 12 volt automotive pump to almost vacuum the bottom of the fuel tank. This is where most of the slug, water, and separated alcohol will be. After this the filters should take care of the rest. Might want to get rid of the fuel if it is still cloudly(water and alcohol saturated) a week after this process.

You will be surprised what comes out of the bottom corner of a half full gas tank that is 3 to 5 years old.