WATER IN GAS

[highlander]

I recently had my 1999 yamaha 225 repowered and after 10 hours, it started to run extremely rough. I immediately shut it down and took it to the shop. Shop tore down the pwr head after it was determined that 2 cylindars had no compression. A yamaha rep came to look at what might be the problem. They discovered that the fuel bowl under the cowling was half filled with water and consequentially yamaha will not honor their warranty. It cost just under 10k to have the engine rebuilt and now after 10 hours, I again have a bad powerhead. I don't understand how water got in the fuel bowl of the port engine but the starboard engine bowl is clean. Also can this be a result of some bad gas that i got or is it phase separation from e10. I'm trying to make sense of this and also trying to figure out how it can be fixed w/o spending another 10k. Does anyone have any suggestions.

thanks
steve

 

[ocnslr]

Sorry to hear about your problem.

A few questions:

1. How long had your fuel been stored in the tank?

2. Was the tank full, or partially full?

3. Had the fuel been propertly treated for storage when you last filled up? e.g. Startron, or similar.

4. Do you have the recommended (or required) 10-micron fuel/water separators between the tank and the engine?

5. If "yes" to #4, what do the bowls on those show?

6. How long had you been using E10 before the engine work? or was this the first E10 fuel used?

 

[seasick]

Was the re-power a new motor or a rebuild? Who did the re power. If it was a shop, they should be accountable for the blown motor. Did the tech take a sample of the fuel in the bowl or just say it had water?

Have you had the fuel in your tank checked for water?
I don't see how only one motor could be affected if they both share a common tank.

 

[uncljohn]

They didn't replace the fuel tank, lines, or water separator, so if you have water in there, and it messed up your engine, then its not their fault. Unfortunately. I don't know how 1 would have water if both feed from a common tank.

 

[ctcbtr]

My sailfish has two seperate pick ups on the main and aux tanks, one is longer than the other inside the tank, that lower one is the only one that has ever picked up water and messed up my motor stbd side if i remember

 

[highlander]

The power head was new from yamaha.....the gas was apx 2-3weeks old......I use gas treatment with every fill the only difference this time was that no oil was added to the fuel manually because I was told after 10 hours engine was broke in.....I only use e10 so yea it was used on the new power head.....I don't know if the bowl was tested I wasn't there and the marina told me water in bowl under the cowling...I had just installed new water separators prior to using the new powerhead.....I do not know if water was in the bowl of the starboard engine altho I have posed that question to the mechanic and have not yet received an answer......all I do know is wife says after 10k last year, I will have to sell the boat......boats are not selling now because of the economy.....how hard would it be to sell a boat with 1 blown engine......my guess is IMPOSSIBLE.......so I will be practically giving away my 2000 sailfish.....if I can find anyone who would want it. :uhm :cry: :cry:

 

[Grog]

You were running the motors off the same tank? Are you sure they didn't set you up to run off the aux tank? There wasn't a need to add oil to the gas the other motor used. If you had/have a 10 micron water separating filter before the motor I can't see how water got to one motor and not the other. When you're running any water on the bottom will be sloshing around and should have been picked up by both motors. Check the separating filters for both motors and see what's there. Are you running yami filters or racors? If they're the yami filters you will need to dump the contents in a clear container. What caused the old motor to die?

Things sound fishy don't give up without a fight.

 

[gw204]

How are the o-rings on your fuel full caps?

 

[highlander]

here's a pic of her

 

[BobP]

Make sure the fittings and condition of the fuel lines all the way into the motor is proper. It is possible to suck water into a faulty fuel line / fitting and not see or smell a leak.

Secondly, ethanol doesn't allow separation of water without the alcohol with it, if enough in quantity vs normal fuel (lighter) the motor wil be getting this nasty mix only as it rises to the top from the bottom where it normally will reside in any container or "separator". Pull the senders on both tanks and suck out every drop you can get to in bottom of tank, tilt bow of boat as high as reasonable.

As an interim, you may want to get a 12 or 24 gallon deck poly tank and run it on that until boat tank issues resolved and/or powerhead is proven. Try switching to new gas station. Or fill poly tank at car gas station.