jdlough
Master Chief Petty Officer
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2006
- Messages
- 824
Re: Fouled fuel? My hatred for all things ethenol grows...
Re: Fouled fuel? My hatred for all things ethenol grows...
What kind of access do you have to the top of your tank? There's often a round access hatch right over the sender.
If you're going with new impedence based gauges, spend the extra $20 bucks and get a good stainless sender, like the WEMAUSA http://www.wemausa.com/tank_sensors/tank_level_sensors.htm
While the sender's off, you'll have a 2" access hole on the tank top for your fuel sampling.
The pick up tube(s) may or may not be right next to the sender. The pick up tube (usually) screws into the tank top, has a barbed anti-siphon valve attached to it, and the fuel line to the motor attached to the anti-siphon valve. If you disconnect the fuel line from the anti-siphon valve, you usually just unscrew the pick up tube, and pull it straight out. It may be a real snug fit, pulling it out.
Google marine pick up tubes. They're pretty standard.
Your tube might have a screen at its intake end, at the tank bottom. Most folks advise removing that screen, and relying on your fuel/water separator to remove tank particles/gunk. It's just too easy for that little screen on the bottom of the tube to get clogged (especially since E10 will clean all the varnish/gunk from your tank walls, and you'll be sucking that gunk up the tube)
On my skiff, E10 cleaned 25 years of varnish from the gas tank. Little orange chunks, like hard candy, broke off and clogged my fuel system. I'm still working on it, but I think I finally got it all cleared out with Star Tron Fuel Tank Cleaner. http://mystarbrite.com/startron//content/view/95/125/lang,en/ I think it breaks up or mostly dissolves the chunks, which then get sucked up the tube. I had to change out the fuel/water filter about 4 times, but I think all that crap is out of the tank now. Before I did this, my fuel line primer bulb would get sucked flat, from the motor sucking on the line, and the orange chunks clogging the pick up tube. Running a low speeds was fine - only at high speeds was the fuel flow restricted enough to suck the bulb flat and bog down the motor.
Other lines you'll see at the tank top are the big fat hose to fill the tank, and the medium hose to vent the tank.
I use Seafoam as a stabilizer. I use it very concentrated each spring to decarb the motor.(search the forums here for decarb + Seafoam) Blows out lotsa smoke, (like spraying carb cleaner down the throat or your Corvette carb while the motor's running). I then add a full can to a full tank to stabilize the gas, and also to continue as a preventative carbon cleaner. I know using it to decarb the motor works great. I have no idea if it really stabilizes anything, but I do it anyway.
If your fuel in the tank is gunky, you can still save it. Google "fuel polishing" for your area. These guys suck the fuel out of your tank, run it through special filters to remove water and crud, and send the clean gas back into your tank. Over and over. Cleans all the gunk out of your tank too. It costs a couple hundred bucks, but you get to keep your 160 gallons of gas, and you end up with a clean tank.
Re: Fouled fuel? My hatred for all things ethenol grows...
What kind of access do you have to the top of your tank? There's often a round access hatch right over the sender.
If you're going with new impedence based gauges, spend the extra $20 bucks and get a good stainless sender, like the WEMAUSA http://www.wemausa.com/tank_sensors/tank_level_sensors.htm
While the sender's off, you'll have a 2" access hole on the tank top for your fuel sampling.
The pick up tube(s) may or may not be right next to the sender. The pick up tube (usually) screws into the tank top, has a barbed anti-siphon valve attached to it, and the fuel line to the motor attached to the anti-siphon valve. If you disconnect the fuel line from the anti-siphon valve, you usually just unscrew the pick up tube, and pull it straight out. It may be a real snug fit, pulling it out.
Google marine pick up tubes. They're pretty standard.
Your tube might have a screen at its intake end, at the tank bottom. Most folks advise removing that screen, and relying on your fuel/water separator to remove tank particles/gunk. It's just too easy for that little screen on the bottom of the tube to get clogged (especially since E10 will clean all the varnish/gunk from your tank walls, and you'll be sucking that gunk up the tube)
On my skiff, E10 cleaned 25 years of varnish from the gas tank. Little orange chunks, like hard candy, broke off and clogged my fuel system. I'm still working on it, but I think I finally got it all cleared out with Star Tron Fuel Tank Cleaner. http://mystarbrite.com/startron//content/view/95/125/lang,en/ I think it breaks up or mostly dissolves the chunks, which then get sucked up the tube. I had to change out the fuel/water filter about 4 times, but I think all that crap is out of the tank now. Before I did this, my fuel line primer bulb would get sucked flat, from the motor sucking on the line, and the orange chunks clogging the pick up tube. Running a low speeds was fine - only at high speeds was the fuel flow restricted enough to suck the bulb flat and bog down the motor.
Other lines you'll see at the tank top are the big fat hose to fill the tank, and the medium hose to vent the tank.
I use Seafoam as a stabilizer. I use it very concentrated each spring to decarb the motor.(search the forums here for decarb + Seafoam) Blows out lotsa smoke, (like spraying carb cleaner down the throat or your Corvette carb while the motor's running). I then add a full can to a full tank to stabilize the gas, and also to continue as a preventative carbon cleaner. I know using it to decarb the motor works great. I have no idea if it really stabilizes anything, but I do it anyway.
If your fuel in the tank is gunky, you can still save it. Google "fuel polishing" for your area. These guys suck the fuel out of your tank, run it through special filters to remove water and crud, and send the clean gas back into your tank. Over and over. Cleans all the gunk out of your tank too. It costs a couple hundred bucks, but you get to keep your 160 gallons of gas, and you end up with a clean tank.
Welcome aboard 
