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A friend of mine just bought a boat that had not been run in a year. It cranked and ran fine in the yard so we took it to Ecofina today. It ran great for about a minute then shut down. We opened the bowls on the carbs and white goo came out. We limped to the landing and went home. The tank has 25 gal of year old Ethanol gas mixed with 10 of fresh non-ethanol gas in the tank. What needs to be done? Drain the tank and then what? Thanks

Have the carbs/injection cleaned.
Replace the fuel line.
Send Obama the bill.

THAT ETHANOL CAN BE A WITCH TO DEAL WITH. ONE OF THE FIRST THINGS I WOULD DO IS DRAIN THE CARB. BOWLS, THEN FILL EACH ONE ABOUT 1/4 WITH CHEMTOOL, CRANK THE ENGINE FOR ABOUT10-15 REV. BE SURE IGNITION IS OFF, JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE HAVE WATER TO THE ENGINE, LET IT SIT OVER NIGHT AND WITH FRESH ETHANOL FREE GAS CRANK THE ENGINE. REPLACE THE FUEL LINE AND PUT IN NEW FILTERS, GAS AND AIR FILTERS. BE SURE TO HAVE WATER TO THE ENGINE AND CRANK HER UP AND LET IT RUN 30 MIN OR SO. BEFORE DOING THIS DRAIN THE TANK AND WASH OUT WITH GUNK CLEANER, PUT IN FRESH GAS AND CRANK HER UP SHE SHOULD RUN FINE AFTER THAT. THIS IS WHAT I DID FOR A FRIEND OF MINE THIS PAST WEEK, YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN THE SLUDGE THAT CAME OUT OF HIS TANK, WE HAD SOME STORM DAMAGED TREES AND LIMBS PILED UP AND THAT OLD SLUDGE GAS REALLY GOT THE DOWN TREES BURNING IN A HURRY. IF THIS DOES NOT WORK YOU ARE IN FOR A CARB. REBUILDING.
PA

SEMPER FI

Jumptrout51 wrote:Send Obama the bill.

In the news today. "Rising demand for corn from ethanol producers is pushing U.S. reserves to the lowest point in 15 years, a trend that could lead to higher grain and food prices this year." Maybe I'm missing something but trading crop land which we need for our food for fuel production is a really bad idea.

I found this brochure from our friends at BP in Austraila informative about ethanol chemical reactions in small engines.
http://www.bp.com/assets/bp_internet/au ... ochure.pdf

Sorry to hear about your ruined trip and the engine problems.

Two trips to the flats this week and ethanol problems both times..Two different boats.. Last Monday mine ran good all day but just before getting back to the ramp it shut down. good luck in that respect.
Took it to shop Tuesday. Found hose from water separator to motor was breaking down. debris in fuel pump..Two year old motor. Got it fixed pretty reasonably..
Friday took buddies boat.... Got about halfway to light house and his did same thing. Never did get it started..Drained some gas from fuel line and it was like dirty water.
I've been using stabil since I got my boat plus tried to keep the tank full... I tried to syphon the gas out of my tank yesterday but couldn't get it to empty.. I have to burn out about 30 gallons of 10% ethanol gas asap.

We cleaned my carbs a few times finally replaced the fuel line and bulb installed a fuel water seperator and have had zero problems since. I always use BLUE Stabil for ethanol fuels. Don't just use any old fuel line they make some for ethanol based fuels, pay the extra money or you made a very temporary solution and it will require attention again soon.

How do you dispose of 35 gals of fuel?

I'd make some reccomendations but I am pretty sure none are legal but most are fun and pretty loud.
I will say be carefull I got a friends dad that just got back from the burn unit.