Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

[rs2k]

I took out my 100 gallon aluminum tank to clean it the other day because I noticed fuel filter would clog up after only a few hours of use. I power washed and soaped the inside of the tank and was able to get out a boat load of crud. I kept filling and emptying the tank with soapy water until I stopped getting crud. I then let the tank dry, stuck it back in the boat, filled it full of premium and a few cans of sea foam. Now I've made things a few hundred times worse. I think the sea foam and the motion of the boat has knocked a whole bunch of tank crud loose that the power washer couldn't reach. I can only go about a mile before the fuel filter clogs so badly I can't plane any more. After about another 10 minutes at displacement speed I finally have to either replace or back flush the filter because the engines can't even idle any more.

I'm getting 3 basic sizes of crud. Pea sized, sand sized, and silt sized. To stop the fuel pump inlet screen from clogging I created a 3 foot long fuel screen using a cone of fiberglass door screen placed in a steel pipe. The has stopped the pea and sand sized chunks from keeping the system from running, but the normal fuel filter is clogging from the silt sized crud that's in the tank. I figured there can't be that much more crud in the tank so eventually it will all filter out, it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon though.

I think I will keep replacing filters until I finally burn the other 70 gallons left in there, but what do with the tank after I can remove it from the boat again?

 

[rbh]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

fuel should break all the rest of the crud free, remove power wash, drain and inspect.
rob

 

[NoGin]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

I drained 50 gallons of bad E10 from my boat before launch. I also put in 2 new fuel/water seperator filters and cleaned the crud from my small fuel filters on my carbs. I then filled with fresh 89 octane and ran up to 2500 RPM. Starboard engine wouldn't go any higher and actually stalled out several times. Inspected my small fuel filters on the carbs and noticed a ton of crud back in them. Cleaned them then was able to run up to 3500 RPM before experiencing the same problem.

I would say keep changing/cleaning the filters and let the clean new fuel help burn the rest of the crud.

This E10 is horrible!!!

 

[Glastron_V210]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

If the tank is bad you can clean it out and get some tank sealer like POR15. It's been reported to work great.


Chay

 

[rs2k]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

Do you have a suggestion for a REALLY big fuel filter until all the crud is gone? The ones at autozone only last a few minutes at best. I thought about buying 10 cheap fuel filters and a few tee connectors to make a parallel bank of fuel filters.

I had a marine fuel filter fail last week because the pressure of the fuel pump squeezed the paper element until it bent the metal ring at the top which created a large hole that bypassed the element. It allowed bad gas to get to the carbs. Fortunately, the carb inlet screens stopped the crud as I was able to clean them out easily. I have since checked them and have not had a problem with them clogging since.

 

[rs2k]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

I don't have any problem changing out fuel filters, but I can't even get out go a mile and the filter is already clogged sometimes. I literally have to change or reverse flow the filter about 6 or 7 times to get to the end of the lake.


I believe the fine particles are iron oxide rust. I pulled out the remnants of a fuel level sender and half of it was missing.

 

[rbh]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

raycem diesel filter with water seperator, 2 feet long

 

[gostephen]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

i had a smiler problem in my boat what i did was got a bunch (a cheep coarse screen type and couple hire grade) of fuel filters and took an electric pump and looped it back into the tank through the filler neck.
i put 2 fuel filters inline (coarse screen then the fine)and ran the pump till the filters started plugging and cleaned out the course screen filter and resume till the filters stopped plugging.

it took a while but it worked i ended up with a tank of really clean fuel

 

[gadget73]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

Sounds like you guys might benifit from a process called fuel polishing. Basically its a rig with a pump and big bag filters. There is a suction line that is fed into the tank, usually through where the level indicator goes, and a return line that goes into the filler port. They pump the fuel through and get out all the garbage thats in the tank. We did this after having ongoing problems with the Rinker probably 7 years ago, and it was definitely one of the best things we've ever done. I got so tired of changing fuel filters 2-3 times a trip that having the garbage cleaned out professionally made it worth it. I can't pull my tanks in a practical manner without removing both engines, so for me this was definitely the way to go.


In my particular case, I found the initial issue was defective fuel filler caps. The original design allowed water to leak into the tanks during a rain, and the water corroded the aluminum tank walls. After having it polished, and finding out there was a recall on those fillers, the problem has been permanantly resolved. I've gone from sometimes a dozen filters in a one week trip to one per engine per year.

 

[rs2k]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

I installed a large water filter that I got from a local store and I also got 3 replacement filters. The first filter lasted for about an hour. I'm now on the second filter. I have a feeling the problem will go away as soon as this tank of gas is gone.

 

[cr2k]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

The "silt" sized crud could very well be your tank. Ethanol, as in E10 fuel, will dissolve the aluminum tank and turn it in to silt. Not overnight but it is going to be a big problem for those of us who have aluminum tanks.

Trailer Boat Mag. ran an article on this last year.

You might check in to a large water sep filter that has a drain in the bottom so you can just drain it every so often.

Other possibility (as stated above) have the tank inside coated. This will seal over the contamination and keep the E10 from eating your tank.

 

[NoKlu]

Re: Fuel filters take about 2 minutes to clog up. Any ideas?

If you google sediment bowl you will find a inline fuel sediment bowl used on tractors that might do the trick. The large particles will get trapped in the bowl and it only takes a few seconds to clean it. It will help till your tank clears up and they are around $20.