ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

[angus63]

I live 50 miles east of New York City on Long Island. Just spoke to the Dept. of weights and measures. As of Jan 1, my county and all surrounding counties must sell reformulated fuels only. This means I can only get 10% ethanol fuel (all octanes) within a 75 mile radius. I understand this is a problem with the plastic carb parts breaking down with alcohol. Are the plastic parts replaceable with "nonplastic"? Are there any "additives" to prevent this? What adverse affects will the alcohol have on the rest of the motor if plastic and rubber hoses and seals and housings are turning into putty? How can they mandate such a thing in a county surrounded by nearly 200 miles of coastline with thousands of outboards in taxpayer's yards without even a peep? Any input would be appreciated because the local marinas and shops don't seem too worried about it (I guess it equals more money for them in repairs).

 

[angus63]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

I think I found an answer.<br /> http://www.ethanolrfa.org/2003marine.pdf <br />Why in all of the previous posts were responses so negative about the use of ethanol reformulated fuels if the manufacturer allows for up to 10%?<br />Went further and found out the plastic is "minlon" and can withstand a 10% solution according to Dupont.<br /><br />Does anyone have the real story??????????????/

 

[JB]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

You still haven't told us what engine you have, Angus.<br /><br />Some engines have parts that are affected by ethanol, some don't.<br /><br />Some manufacturers allow ethanol in some engines, some don't.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

Hello<br /> from what we hace obseved so far.<br />10% ethanol wont affect your engine. however it may affect some of the rubber. making it nessasary to change rubber lines and such more often. the VRO pump is designed with alchohol in mind. the main problem I ever see and saw with ethanol is it absorbs moisture and the moisture forms acids and bad thing happen. the moisture will also gum up carbs if you let them sit.if this fuel is all you can get then I would suggest draining the carbs and lines of fuel if your going to let it sit . always use fuel stabilizer. and if the ethanol mix sits more than 6 months pump it out and run it in you auto. two strokes will die a happy and rapid death with bogus fuels. I dont know how they do half the things they do but you yankees are bringing it here now as well . we had the MTBE fuel a bit back. that fuel is nasty. once premixed with oil it would start gumming up in 6 weeks.<br />good luck and keep posting

 

[seahorse5]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

The other thing with ethanol fuels is the more likely to "vapor lock" or have heat soak problems. Fuel restrictions can increase the vacuum in the system and the reduced air pressure allows gas to boil at lower temperatures.<br /><br />Also the motors will be running slightly leaner and a mariginal motor could have problems due to ethanol mixes. Keep you motors well serviced and in tune.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

well<br /> ethanol should only be in 50% mixes.<br /> coke,sprite or maybe orange juice is the other 50%.<br /> good luck and keep posting

 

[Cricket Too]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

angus.....Did that take effect on L.I. just this year or last year as well? I put about 200 gallons of 87 octane in my boat in Nov. before winter and didn't drain the carbs,(just ran a bunch of stabilizer through them), and really hope I didn't leave them full of ethanol fuel, as I have twin 200's with 12 "plastic" fuel bowls in them. Good article though, thanks.

 

[angus63]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

JB<br />1995 175hp evinrude oceanpro. (see subject)<br /><br />MMC<br />Effective Jan 1 2004.<br />Compliance mandatory by June 1.<br /><br />Rodbolt<br />Already tried that. Felt better but nothin' solved!!<br /><br />Spoke to local OMC guru. He said MTBE increased the number of fuel related problems he saw last year by 50%. He anticipates the 10% ethanol to be equal to or worse. He is meeting with Bombardier this month for updates and training, and he tells me they are going to review reformulated fuel issues. I will post what he learns. Until then, I'm not filling my 120 gallon tank here. Gonna cost me $40 in fuel to trailer upstate to get "plain" fuel. Boating is so relaxing.........

 

[angus63]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

Sorry one more thing <br />Rodbolt<br />Are you suggesting using stabilizer year round? What benefits or affects might that have?<br />Thanks

 

[Cricket Too]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

Angus, who is the local guru you know? Is he a friend of yours or just a dealer, or both? I have one guy by me on the north shore who is pretty good with OMC, but it is always good to know where the experts are, and i would go to the south shore for a guru, do most of my fishing down there anyway, north shore sucks. There is a guy in Oceanside (All Island Marine)who is really good with OMC also. I guess I better start thinking about putting metal bowls on my carbs if this fuel is gonna be all I can get, 200 gallon tank and about 300 hrs. a season is alot of ethanol to run through those plastic bowls.

 

[lund17]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

Don't waste your time coming upstate for fuel. We are all re-formulated up here as well. Was MTBE until someone claimed it was getting into groundwater somehow. Now we are all ethanol blended.

 

[angus63]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

MMC<br />Try Ralph @ Lindenhurst outboard for motor issues.<br />He is smart,fair, and a good guy.<br />www.theoutboardwizard.com<br />I wouldn't make any major changes yet until the verdict is in.

 

[ddalton]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

A couple of comments regarding ethanol fuel.

One of the issues I keep hearing about blended fuel is although it's suppose to be 10% ethanol there have been reports that as much as up to 40% ethanol has been found at some pumps.

The other problem is the longer ethanol blended fuel sits the worse it gets. Six months is the recommended shelf life of this fuel with out additives and as soon as six weeks it will begin to show signs of water and separation. Last October I purchased 5 gals of ethanol blend at a local gas station here in Kansas. Mixed it with marine grade Stabil and stored it for the winter. This was stored in my garage away from water for almost six months now. I've been running it in my mower, figured this would be a pretty good test and not near as expense to repair. So far not a problem. Starts as good as if it were fresh from the pump and no signs of seperation or water noticed so far.

Another additive I started using about a year ago is Evinrudes 2 + 4. This appears to be pretty good stuff and has great reviews from all of the local outboard mechanics I've discussed this with. Doesn't solve the problem of ethanol attaching plastics and fiberglass that are not formulated for ethanol blended fuel but it seems to guard agianst some of the other bad characteristics.

 

[Randybeall]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

Don't panic, 10% ethanol is not a big disaster. Yes, you need to use fuel stablizer with it all the time, suggest you find a stablizer recommended for ethanol blended fuels. No, it is not going to melt down all the plastics in your fuel system overnight. It does mean that you should replace the rubber fuel hoses in the system with alcohol resistant fuel line. The rubber hoses flex and the inside surface of the hose is stretched and compressed in the presence of the alcohol allowing the chemical reactions to take place more quickly. Besides, how old are those rubber parts in your boat? When you must store the boat for extended periods, 30 days or more, draining the carbs is highly recommended, even with stablizer. Fuel injected systems differ in that they have no exposure to oxygen or moisture and will not degrade so quickly. If you have an engine that is suffering from a lean running condition you should correct that. 10% ethanol will make it worse but not a lot, that is a bad condition in a boat engine no matter what your burning.

 

[dingbat]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

Been running E10 in a 1997 200 HP Ocean Pro for 3 years now. No problems to speak of. Had to change the filters a few times at first as it cleaned out the tanks but that passed after the first couple of tanks of gas. No problems after that.

Make sure you drain your tanks before adding E-10. Chances are you have quite a bit of water in your tank whether you know it or not. Pumped roughly 3 gallons out of my 92 gallon tank that had accumulated over the years. Had I pumped E-10 without draining the water I would have been in deep.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: ethanol is all I got!!!!!!!!!!! 95 175hp oceanpro

closing 5 year old thread, that has been beat to death. use alcohol resistant lines and go boating.