After sucking up water into my fuel separators and causing a no start during the beginning of the fishing season in New Jersey, i decided to drain the front tank to see how bad it was. For this i removed the fuel sending unit in the front tank and inserted a twenty five inch piece of straight PCV schedule 40 conduit (rigid to aim easier/keep straight down) connected to a 3/4" hose from my fuel transfer pump. The other end of the pump has a gas nozzle but it is not automatic shut off, i have it on the dock over the side of the deck so i dont have fuel cans on the boat. Once i was set up, i turned on the pump which has alligator clamps attached to my batteries, I began pumping out fuel. What i found was alarming.....the same milky fuel that i sampled from the water separators was not only present, but i pumped out 25 gallons of foggy white ethanol/water/fuel mix. I decided to empty the tank and check the bottom. Here are pictures of the tank bottom for reference and a detail of the manufacturers drawing of the auxiliary tank on the 2006 360 express.
Fuel Tank Cleaning 2006 360 Express
- Thread starter Fpnotguilty
- Start date
The interior of your tank looks to me like it's in pretty good shape. I'd remove all of those particles and bits in there with a rag on an end of a stick. Get it as clean as you can and dispose of that milky fuel somewhere (safe).
Your gas "source" obviously was bad unless you left your fuel filler cap loose and rain or washdown water contaminated your fuel. Have you looked at your Main Tank yet? If not contaminated, perhaps your Aux. Fuel Cap is the source of the water.
Your gas "source" obviously was bad unless you left your fuel filler cap loose and rain or washdown water contaminated your fuel. Have you looked at your Main Tank yet? If not contaminated, perhaps your Aux. Fuel Cap is the source of the water.
If ethanol gas gets older than 3 months, it starts to spoil. Once it hits 6 months, it is lawn mower gas if you are lucky. Non ethanol gas lasts 9 months to a year and is still useable.
Moisture enters the tank through the tank vent hose every morning and evening if the tank is not full. The ethanol is like a moisture sponge and sucks water from the air. Condensation also occurs due to temperature changes leaving moisture on the inside walls of the tank. Our vehicles don’t have vented tanks, so we don’t get the Moisture that our boats get.
Once the water is in the tank, It chemically mixes with the ethanol and breaks the chemical bond between the gas and ethanol. This is called phase separation. Now you have 3 useless liquids in your fuel tank to deal with. once the ethanol is separated from the gas, the octane of the gas is around 84, so if that makes it to the combustion chamber, the piston is toast.
With Non ethanol gas, a racor filter will filter out the water while you drive your boat with no harm done. Your motor will run better and you may get a few extra mph on top end. Not to mention better mpg.
Moisture enters the tank through the tank vent hose every morning and evening if the tank is not full. The ethanol is like a moisture sponge and sucks water from the air. Condensation also occurs due to temperature changes leaving moisture on the inside walls of the tank. Our vehicles don’t have vented tanks, so we don’t get the Moisture that our boats get.
Once the water is in the tank, It chemically mixes with the ethanol and breaks the chemical bond between the gas and ethanol. This is called phase separation. Now you have 3 useless liquids in your fuel tank to deal with. once the ethanol is separated from the gas, the octane of the gas is around 84, so if that makes it to the combustion chamber, the piston is toast.
With Non ethanol gas, a racor filter will filter out the water while you drive your boat with no harm done. Your motor will run better and you may get a few extra mph on top end. Not to mention better mpg.
Are those dark spots pieces of gunk or is the tank pitted? If that is pitting, I am not so sure the tanks looks "pretty good". Hopefully the spots are gunk
Here in MA, we only have 10% ethanol gas and a 6 month boating season... My 33 gets completely filled up (350 gallons) in November with Sta-bil added, and some years due to weather and travel, I am not able to use that gas until July. I've never had a problem with water condensation in my gas...
I know ethanol can cause all kinds of problems, but in my personal experience it's not necessarily a huge issue.
I know ethanol can cause all kinds of problems, but in my personal experience it's not necessarily a huge issue.
Does anyone remember Dry Gas, an additive that you added to your tank to deal with water in the gas?
That was alcohol!
Yes E10 had some issues early on and has some characteristics that should be looked after but the reality is that like Dry Gas, it absorbs water and that gets burned off in the motor. So in theory, adding E10 to a tank that has some water sitting on the bottom will actually reduce that water level.
OK, I am ready for the feedback
No polishing services exist for gasoline that is effective, once phase separation happens, the fuel octane is greatly affected and the fuel is no longer good and actually can be harmful in its low octane state for the combustion chamber.
So, I had my two tanks polished when I boat my 2001 265. Aux tank had about 30 gallons that had been sitting for 10yrs. PO never used the tank. USA Fuel Services did it, and they polished it to 2micron , added some fuel additives and returned the fuel to the tank. Motors ran fine after it and I even ran that tank dry. Best 350 I spent. 250 hrs later and no issues.
'Some' is the very important word......if you run the boat often and the water content stays below .05% you would be closer to correct than not........once 10% ethanol fuel begins to phase separate (the water will pull the 10% ethanol out of the fuel and take the octane rating down with it)...... you could have gallons and gallons of water up above the fuel pickup after docking and the boat sits.....then you start up the boat a week later, suck up water/ethanol into the fuel lines and the magic happens.Does anyone remember Dry Gas, an additive that you added to your tank to deal with water in the gas?
That was alcohol!
Yes E10 had some issues early on and has some characteristics that should be looked after but the reality is that like Dry Gas, it absorbs water and that gets burned off in the motor. So in theory, adding E10 to a tank that has some water sitting on the bottom will actually reduce that water level.
OK, I am ready for the feedback
Did they get any water out? You may have had non-ethanol fuel if it was that old and if treated properly could have still ran the motors.....fuel polishing is for diesel, when someone filters gasoline it is to remove dirt debris, and water/ethanol.
Check the o-rings on your fuel filler caps, and make sure they're lightly lubricated and in good condition . . .
It's my job on this site to remind people that the most often way water gets in the tank is the same way fuel got into the tank.
It's my job on this site to remind people that the most often way water gets in the tank is the same way fuel got into the tank.