Fuel line deterioration

[Dubble Trubble]

Yesterday, I went out to get a few Grouper out of Econfina. After about 10 miles out, the motor just flat bogged down and would not hold the boat on plane. I did a 180 and headed back in.

Here is what I found out the problem was. My boat had a silver fuel line with red writing on it. It was a Mercury 90 HP Saltwater, but the rigging I think was Teleflex. Anyway, I did some googling and found this thread. POW, that was EXACTLY what had happened.

http://forums.capmel.com/post/Mercury-G ... GE-3153064

I have a new fuel pump kit coming along with a new fuel line, bulb and filter.

There were these little flakes all in the pump, and even hung under the pump reed valves. Not sure if ethanol caused it, but hope this post may alert some of you to check those fuel lines. When I took mine off, I could see the deteriotation inside the line. You could bump it on a hard surface and those little flakes would just fall out.

I have always maintained my boat well, but learned a lesson yesterday that sometimes trouble can hide and not show up till the worst time!

Dubble

[smeseroll]

I had the same problem just a couple months ago. I recently bought a 1985 Boston Whaler 17' Montauk with a 2004 90hp Merc. The first thing I did as the new owner was install a water separator filter. When I cut the old fuel line to install on the filter, I fractured the interior lining into a million pieces.

IMAG0138.jpg (929.94 KiB) Viewed 2012 times

Obviously the guy I bought the boat from was running with ethanol and some really old fuel line. Luckily, I had an inline filter in between the fuel pump and the carb. I cleaned the fuel pump, replaced all the fuel lines back to the tank, and haven't had a problem since.

[Dubble Trubble]

I am replacing the line with Silverado 4000. They say it can take pure ethanol. Apparently, the line with the red print on it was a known problem. I had just never read about it.

Sometimes, you got to find out the hard way.



So, if you guys have any silver fuel line with red print, I would be replacing it ASAP! From what I have read, it does not matter if you do or do not use ethanol gas, it will still go bad.

Be sure to also replace the bulb with a non permeable one. Some of the older sqeeze bulbs will deteriorate too.

Dubble

[reelcatch]

When you posted fuel line deterioration I knew you had a Mercury. I had two and had the same problem with both of them That fuel line just won't take ethanol.

Thought I posted something about it a couple of years ago.