Fuel Filters

cuppa · Post by **cuppa** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:43 pm

Hello, Question for the Crew, Has anyone upgraded there Fram Special Marine gas filters to the new 10 Micron Racor or other type filters. I have water in one of my rear tanks and I have added lots of additives to try to dry it out... but there are still small droplets of water in the gas...

So I am trying to figure out the best way to run this gas out so I can complety drain this tank. It is on one of my aft tanks.

I can run this at the dock and it idels and burns the gas but once I take it out running on this tank and go over 2K RPM it kills the motor and then I have to replace the fule filter and fluch the fuel pump to get this crap out..

So the main question here is would the new filter systems filter this water out at the filter so it does not get to the Carb / fuel pump?

Any help is appreciated...

Safari · Post by **Safari** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:10 pm

My experience with this exact problem is that the ethanol gas holds enough water and contamination in suspension to blow through the Racors. Changing the Racors is not the solution. When I had this problem, I pumped out the gas into 5 gallon containers. I let the gas set for a day in the containers, then carefully decanted it through a West Marine funnel/filter into more 5 gallon containers stopping when I noted the color change. Doing this, I could easily see where the gas stopped and the contamination started. I then ran this lower octane mess in my pickup by mixing it 5 gallons per fill up (filling up with 92 octane to offset the lower octane). I did 350 gallons this way ending up with about 10 gallons of sludge...... If you want to risk engines and/or stopping on the water, you could try sucking the bad gas off the bottom of the tank through the inspection plug and then adding high octane gas to boost the depleted octane level.

Good luck

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:41 pm

I ve pumped the water out of the bottom of a few tanks to solve this issue

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:24 am

I have pumped the bottom of many tanks to get just the water out and leave the gas. Usually caused by cracked or flattened deck fill O-rings. Water being heavier than gas will travel to the back of the tank, where the pickup tube is, when the bow is raised. You can either put the boat in a sling to raise the bow or run the boat up on a trailer part way up the boat ramp, (the safest way) or have your buddy run one engine to raise the bow under way, while you pump the bad tank to a gas can on the back deck away from the running engine. I GET A FIRE EXTINGUISHER HANDY, then I disconnect the fuel line from the bad tank at the switch-over valve before the filter and hook a marine electric fuel pump (with a marine (sealed) on-off switch wired in line and a good length of fuel line, pump directly from the tank to the gas can (you will need to be able to see in the gas can to tell when you stop getting water and start getting good gas (while the bow is raised), usually about a half gallon of water. Shut down the boat, rehook the fuel lines, choke the carb manually until it starts, shut it off again, replace the spark arrester and the deck fill O-ring. Start the engine back up and run it on the water at approx. 3200 rpm for about ten minutes and that should clear the rest of the droplets from the system. I have done this both ways many times on many different boats with complete success. If you are not comfortable doing this I recommend you have the water removed by a prof. It's better to spend the money than to go down in flames.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:10 am

I would not recc pumping out the gas when under way or with the engine running . Way too risky

cuppa · Post by **cuppa** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 9:54 pm

Any one have an electric fuel pump they have used or would recomend?

Thanks
Brian

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:19 pm

I recc a hand pump , safer and cheaper a outball motor ball pump works also

randyp · Post by **randyp** » Wed Jul 22, 2009 10:14 am

Pumped water out of may tank a few years back when I filled the water tank while getting gas, leaving the gas tank fill tube exposed to the water slopping from the water fill tube....duh... not smart, but a rookie mistake made because I was a sailer before and only didn't know better.

Anyhoo. Got the top of the tank exposed by removing the handy hatch that is just over it, removed the sending unit mount from the top and ran a hose to the bottom of the tank. Used a 12volt oil-change pump mounted to a 5 gallon pail used by my marina. Hindsight being 20-20 I should have used a manual pump, but like I said - rookie dumbass sailer back when this happened. Pumped out over a gallon of water. Easy to tell which is which....water clear.....gas light brown.....water on bottom....gas on top. I also monitor my gas filter periodically "just because" by FIRST shutting off the petcock valve just before the filter, removing the filter and pouring the contents into a clear jar. Easy see how much water, if any, is in the gas. I replace the filter, but keep a few extras on had as the gasket gets worn if you do this too many times.

Ethanol in the gas is creating a lot of this due to water separation. My marina now pumps E-10, so I'm gonna have to go use StaBil or some other ethanol treatment each season and leave the tank empty as possible when storing the boat. Since I'm on a lake and there are only 3 marinas that still pump gas its a limited market here. Pain in the ass!!

cuppa · Post by **cuppa** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 4:03 pm

prowler what is a ball pump a, Is it it a priming bulb? That you would use for an outboard... let me know? so you guys are saying just run this to the bottom of the tnak and suck out the crap?

sounds good i will give it a try...

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:49 pm

correct Just had troulbe thinking of the right name

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