Water in the gasoline

[willyp]

I have a new to me 1999 272 Sailfish. When I bought the boat I had to have the gas tanks emptied because of water in the tanks. The gas caps were replaced by the prior owner and seem to be sealing properly. Where could the water be coming from?

 

[TonyD]

I have a new to me 1999 272 Sailfish. When I bought the boat I had to have the gas tanks emptied because of water in the tanks. The gas caps were replaced by the prior owner and seem to be sealing properly. Where could the water be coming from?

Condensation buildup - assuming the boat was sitting there for awhile. How much water was there?

 

[willyp]

The water separators were more than half full of water and there was water in the gas filter bowls. It seemed the volume of water was much bigger than what you might expect. This is my first Grady and first boat with outboards. In my years of boating I have had either inboards or I/ O’s, no outboards. I thought there might be some inherent problem with Grady’s that I was unfamiliar with.

 

[Bloodweiser]

I don't think any inherent issues. Water in the fuel is common problem that requires constant attention to separators, filters and type of fuel used. Like already said even condensation in the tank. Did you store it with a stabilizer?

 

[Meanwhile]

I had issues with water last year. In my case the commercial dock has an older tank than the sport dock. However, I replaced the o-rings on each gas cap to make sure that was not an entry point. My Racors had a workout, and I replaced the Racor filter and the outboard filters.

 

[Sparkdog118]

Check the sending unit gasket to be sure water is not pooling up on the top of the tank and pouring in.

 

[wrxhoon]

More than likely the water came from the gas station , they would have had water in their tank.
The other one is Ethanol, if they used ethanol that's disaster waiting to happen, especially if it was in there for a long time.
I never use ethanol and never buy gas on the water ( trailer boat), I buy from a big volume Gas station and never had a problem .
Condensation can be a problem if the tank was low and stored outside on cold climate. You won't get this in Florida.

 

[willyp]

The boat was laid up with a full main fuel tank with stabilizer and full oil tanks. I don’t plan on using the empty auxiliary tank since the longest run I would make on Lake Erie is 35 miles to the Lake Erie Islands Where gas is available. There was water pooled around the sending unit prior to the tank being emptied. That gasket and all the deck plate gaskets, including the one above above the sending unit, have been replaced.

 

[Sparkdog118]

The gasket there fails all the time. The beat way to fix this issue it to remove the sending unit , clean the gasket surfaces and reinstall a new gasket with a generous amount of 3m 847 sealer.

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Be sure to mark the sender and the gas tank with a scratch mark to help realign the mounting screws during reassembly since the alignment can get confusing. The holes only line up one way, but many ways look possible.

 

[seasick]

What method was used to drain the fuel tanks.
Also, personally, I highly doubt your issue is condensation as I have posted many times.

 

[Parthery]

I'm with Seasick on this one....way too much water for condensation. Water is either getting in past the Sender (possible), past the O-ring on the filler cap (possible) or from a station that sold contaminated product. (more likely).

If there is that much water in your tanks, the only way to get rid of it is probably going to be to pump the tanks dry, dispose of it properly, and refill with fresh fuel.

 

[Sparkdog118]

First thing is to seal the leak. Run the boat at high speed while keeping on top of emptying the racor every 60 seconds or so or until you are not getting much water anymore. Then add a k100 additive. This will help the water mix and pass through the system with no problems. That is the beSt additive I’ve found and I deal with fuel problems here in south Florida all the time. Be sure to use non ethanol gas. Ethanol can become a huge problem when water is involved. A lot of times when my customers get their tank pumped, a gallon of water or so can’t be reached and is left in the bottom. I only pump the tanks if they have ethanol gas in them that is bad or ethanol gas that has had water contamination. Non ethanol gas is ok once you filter the water out as long as it is not older than a year or so. Ethanol gas can suffer from phase separation and lower the octane to a point of damaging your engine.

 

[willyp]

Thank you to all who responded to my question - I really appreciate your help.

the tanks were drained and cleaned of varnish by a commercial company last September. The gas/water ratio was about the same in both the main and auxiliary tanks. I will definitely seal the sender gaskets - other than buying bad gas that seems like the most obvious entry point for water. I’ll add some K-100 additive and go from there. Our season on the South shore of Lake Erie is just starting about 2 to 3 weeks late. Not even half of the boats in my marina are even in the water yet.

 

[seasick]

I was asking how the fuel cleaning company drained the fuel. Did they remove the sender to drain or did that go in some other way.
Did you run the boat in the water yet or just happened to notice water in the separator? If so, after draining them did you run the motors again to see if water is accumulating again?

 

[Fishtales]

I'd change the water separators, change the o rings under the fills, inspect the lines and tanks.

 

[Harpoon]

I changed out a clogged vent on a Parker, the new vent somehow channeled rainwater into the tank. Check that out also... If its been a freshwater boat I'd highly doubt you have pinholes corroded through the top of the tank- and in that cased you'd probably smell it. I'd be focused on the replaced gas caps and the vent....

 

[Doc Stressor]

Ethanol gas can suffer from phase separation and lower the octane to a point of damaging your engine.

It only takes about 4 teaspoons of water per gallon of E10 to cause phase separation at 60 degrees. The saturation point is temperature-dependent, so if the temperature drops, separation can occur with even less water. Once the separation point is reached, 70-80% of the ethanol in the fuel will appear as "water" in the fuel separator. Condensation is more of a problem in northern climates where seasonal temperature and humidity fluctuations are greatest. So condensation and direct water absorption by the ethanol could account for the initial problem you had. You did the right thing by pumping the tanks and adding new fuel. It never hurts to replace the gaskets as you did also.

DON'T run the engine if you have water in the fuel if you are using E10, which is likely all that you can get in your area. The remaining gasoline phase is typically only 83-84 octane, which can cause preignition and damage your pistons. You can do that (and keep draining the filter) with straight gasoline, but not with E10.

There are a lot of effective fuel treatments that will stabilize your fuel and reduce engine deposits. But none will significantly prevent or reverse phase separation. This has been demonstrated in many studies.

 

[Sparkdog118]

Ethanol gas can suffer from phase separation and lower the octane to a point of damaging your engine.

It only takes about 4 teaspoons of water per gallon of E10 to cause phase separation at 60 degrees. The saturation point is temperature-dependent, so if the temperature drops, separation can occur with even less water. Once the separation point is reached, 70-80% of the ethanol in the fuel will appear as "water" in the fuel separator. Condensation is more of a problem in northern climates where seasonal temperature and humidity fluctuations are greatest. So condensation and direct water absorption by the ethanol could account for the initial problem you had. You did the right thing by pumping the tanks and adding new fuel. It never hurts to replace the gaskets as you did also.

DON'T run the engine if you have water in the fuel if you are using E10, which is likely all that you can get in your area. The remaining gasoline phase is typically only 83-84 octane, which can cause preignition and damage your pistons. You can do that (and keep draining the filter) with straight gasoline, but not with E10.

There are a lot of effective fuel treatments that will stabilize your fuel and reduce engine deposits. But none will significantly prevent or reverse phase separation. This has been demonstrated in many studies.

E-10 is bad news! Doc is right. You may be mistaking pure ethanol for water. Nothing I own has ever seen ethanol except for my truck. Here in Florida, we are lucky enough to have non ethanol gas available at many stations all over town.