TOPIC: Ethanol blended fuel, E15 specifically

Fellow marine engine users:

A new article was released today by Boating Industry news:
www.boatingindustry.com/news/2011/10/25/department-of-energy-e15-causes-severe-damage-to-marine-engines/

Note that at the end of the article you can click on the actual studies, and a short read is the executive summary in either test.

We all need to watch our fuel with the increased distribution of ethanol blended gasoline in today's market. I used to see mostly ignition related problems, now most problems I encounter are fuel related. Enjoy.

Interesting article. Ethinol problem started cropping up several years ago in older outboards but was hard to diagnose at first. Here is a link to a thorough explaination of the problems. Although it is an Evinrude/Johnson site it has a wealth of information. I am not endorsing their products only the info.
www.evinrude-parts.com/boat_ethanol_danger_precaution.html

The water/fuel separator is something I would not be without on my Sabre and now I'm thinking of adding it when I install my fuel tank on the Herters. Any form of insurance would help.
Those are the ones that look like a screw on type oil filter. EBay is loaded with them.

There has been a lot of 'chatter' about ethanol, both in the boating forums and the vintage vehicle forums... I've read a lot of arguments for both sides, but since it doesn't hurt, I just use ethanol free gas in my boats AND my '66 ford... Luckily, I've got two stations within a few miles of where I live that sell it!

So far I'v been fortunate with the AMC 327 in my Century, haven't had any fuel problems and that gas sits in the 35 gallon tank a long time over winter. I add stabilizer but I doubt if that does anything for the separation. I hope I just didn't put the kiss-o-death on my honey.

Inside of a fuel bulb. Case closed.

The end of leaded gas was going to ruin my old cars I drive regularly. Didn't happen. Ethanol was going to ruin my old cars I drive regularly. 60,000 miles later....Didn't happen.

I fail to see how taking a Chevrolet engine, calling it a Mercruiser, and putting it in a boat some how causes it to wear differently than t would in a car.

I can see where Ethanol can cause problems for 2 cycles, although it has not for me.

I don't believe it's the V8 engine per se that suffers, valves can be saved by adding lead substitutes. It's the rubber and other soft seals in the carbs, chokes, floats etc that are affected. My AMC Graymarine has rubber valve stem seals, I think my older Ford truck 460 had the rubber stem seals also, can't remember for sure. These things soften up or get brittle and break apart, clog the little passages and screens causing stalls and breakdowns ruining a nice afternoon on the water. Clog the low/high speed jets on your older outboard and it won't be long before you have a hole in a piston the size of a nickle.

First of all ethanol absorbs moisture and eats rubber parts. The primer bulb was supposed to be ethanol proof but was not. My carb was getting plugged every few trips out. The bulb also when you rubbed your finger on the inside surface left black residue on your finger. It does not give the same mileage as regular no ethanol gas. I wish I had a station that sold it around here. The nearest one was in Clarion last time I checked. I also run a stabilizer year round now for all my small engines. If you look in the bottom of your gas tank and see a brownish glob you can thank ethanol for it. Clean your tank before it get sucked into the carb.

pure-gas.org/ will give you a state by state list of ethanol free gas stations. I have no idea how often it is updated but it has to be a pretty good start. Good luck!!!

I forgot to mention I run a 4 stroke 2003 outboard.

Shipster wrote:

pure-gas.org/ will give you a state by state list of ethanol free gas stations. I have no idea how often it is updated but it has to be a pretty good start. Good luck!!!

Oooo, I'll give you a Karma point for that one. I like to use real gas if I can find it, but I'm just not going to waste a lot of time or money driving around looking for it. I'd prefer to use non-ethanol fuel in some vehicles, although like a said, I've not had any of the problems other people have mentioned.

Curious....I was taught to always run the gas out of everything. Turn off/unplug the fuel and let it die. Do other people do this religiously like I do or not? That could be the reason I never have problems.

Remember that summer in the 80's when Super America ran the ad campaign telling us they would always be there for us with alcohol free gas for our older cars?

I thought I seen this link on here before. If not it was Boating Pittsburgh.
pure-gas.org/