Fishing Forum

I have been looking into websites and cant find anything solid on ethanol and water and what it does to outboards and how do we filter it out? From what I read no outboard is immune what do we do??
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I know NOTHING about boats, but I know a little about ethanol. And as far as I know, both 2 and 4 cycle engines have similar troubles with it.

Ethanol is an alcohol, of course, and like most alcohols attracts water, unlike gasoline which won't mix with water. When added to fuel it can attract condensation and prevent water in the fuel system from passing through the fuel system (where it would normally just be steamed away). It accelerates oxidation/reduction reactions, making rust faster.

Basically, this water can cause rust in tanks, lines, and eventually inside the cylinder and piston. Burning gas with dissolved rust or having rusty internal engine parts will crap up your engine fast. This is exacerbated by the fact that alcohol is a polar solvent and strips away motor oils, gas residue, and "varnish" that might otherwise protect steel and iron parts from the rust.

So, drain your tank when not used for long times, don't use gas with too much ethanol additive, use a gas line dryer like HEET (in the yellow bottle) which contains either methanol or isopropynol, use fuel stabilizer if need be, and try not to get any more water than necessary in your gas tank.

That's all I know. Works for cars and chainsaws.
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Add Seafoam
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[quote walleyebob]Add Seafoam[/quote]

+1 and try and find stations that don't use it...had issues with it but adding SeaFoam cleared it up on the outboards.
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From my understanding American ethanol is a joke it has a 1 to 1 ratio meaning it use up the same amount of energy it provides so no benefit to environment.

Its mixed with fuel to supposedly relieve the demand on petroleum based gasoline but in reality it uses just as much petroleum to create it. If you do in fact run it in your outboard or vehicle I would suggest adding a fuel additive like mention earlier seafom or lucus
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]Here's what I know about it. I have a 2005 Mercury Optimax 75 that I've been using since 2005. I've never bothered worrying about ethenol fuel because a search of the Mercury Marine website will turn up the following information regarding its use. I've never used an additive other than Stabil and always store the boat with a full fuel tank.[/#800000][/font]

Quote: The fuel-system components of Mercury engines will withstand up to 10 percent ethanol in gasoline - the maximum level currently allowed by the EPA in the U.S. There are some efforts to establish E-20 (20 percent ethanol mixed with 80 percent gasoline) for use in some areas, but that will require agreement from EPA to grant a waiver. Part of the EPA waiver process will require verification from studies that demonstrate that higher levels of ethanol do not create problems with fuel-system materials or operation of hardware. E-20 has not been extensively studied by Mercury and is not acceptable for use in Mercury products. E-85 fuels must not be used in any Mercury engines and could seriously damage current Mercury products. It is not legal in the U.S. to market any ethanol fuel as gasoline if it contains more than 10 percent ethanol.

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Check out this website. At the bottom click on our state for a listing.
http://pure-gas.org/index.jsp
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Well based on our Merc 150 and 9.9 4 stroke Verados the manual states to use 87% including Lee informed us of the same. We stay away from ethanol the best we can.

Next with the Polaris snowmobile we purchased the manual specifically states not to use gas with ethanol.

So FWIW...again going on what the manual states plus what our mechanic stated WRT what fuel to use.
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[quote k2muskie]Well based on our Merc 150 and 9.9 4 stroke Verados the manual states to use 87% including Lee informed us of the same.[/quote]
[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I can appreciate your wanting to protect your investment and am in no way trying to tell you what to use in your boat. Everybody has to make that decision based on their own knowledge base and experience. However, further research on my part turned up the following, again from the Mercury website, with regard to the Verado 150 and 9.9 kicker - Recommended Fuel: 87 octane/up to 10% ethanol. I assume you meant to say 87 octane in your last post, not 87%.[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]I’ve always used the 87 octane fuel in my boat and have never worried about whether or not it contained ethanol. It’s getting harder and harder to find stations anywhere that don’t sell ethanol laced fuel. And if you find yourself nearly out of gas and have to fill up at Hanging Bridge on Powell and all they have is ethanol fuel, what are you going to do?[/#800000][/font]
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[font "Comic Sans MS"][#800000]And Mercury steadfastly claims that up to 10% ethanol will not hurt any of their products. So as long as I can purchase 87 octane fuel, I’m good to go. Your mileage may vary. And above all else, be safe and have fun.[/#800000][/font]
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Hey Bob you are correct about the 87 and also with the other info...just going on recommendations from Lee...plus he also had us use Seafoam when we were having issues with a rough running kicker couple years ago. Didn't want to charge us and told us to get the Seafoam and if the issue persisted he'd have us come in...seafoam worked and didn't need to bring the boat in.

Anyhoo...I agree finding stations not using ethanol is get'n harder...but the Triple Stop I believe on 4800 in Roy doesn't have it...thats where I put gas in the snowmobile.
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I totally agree with Bob. My Yamaha manual says the same as his Merc. Also, my Honda 4 stoke can also tolerate 10% ethanol. I'd be careful of adding the "dry gas" that was mentioned earlier in the posts. Methanol is a very corrosive alcohol and is hard on the rubber gaskets, etc in your fuel system. Not bad, if you're going through a lot of gas quickly, but for long term things isoproanol (iso propyl alcohol) is much better. Seafoam is dam expensive to run with every tank of gas (my boat needs about two bottles @$9 a pop, per tank of gas), but it works to cure some short-term problems like uneven idiling, etc. During the winters and for long term storage I do use Stabil in my tanks of ALL my engines (chain saw, wood splitter, weedeater, lawn mowers, snowmobile, boat engines, etc.).
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My main motor is a 2000 model 225 HP 2 stroke Evinrude and my kicker is an 8HP 4 stoke Yahmaha. My gas tank holds 60 gal. I run Stabil in it year round and try to never let my tank get below 1/2 full. I have never had a problem with either motor. I am the original owner. I have gassed up in Idaho, Wyo.,Montana, and Utah and have never worried about ethanol. Stabil has a treatment just for ethanol, after using a Stabil treatment going into my rig's 12 season with no problems other than changing water pumps in each engine and a set of plugs in my kicker, guess I'll stick with it. [fishin]
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Wow lots of good info! I thought my 97 Yamha 200 Pro V had ethanol problems so I took it to Robertsons marine to have them put in one of those BIG fuel filters they are the size of a small oil filter and screw on like one. They told me ethanol eats the fuel line from the inside out and sends the black from the line in throught the carb. They have a stabil made to treat ethanol. Any way they decarbonized the engine and said it was really dirty. It runs like a champ again. I think I am going to run stabil in mine in the fall so its there when I put er up for the winter. I always run Yamaha ring free and Robertson said that should take care of the ethanol crap. They said the fuel filter would work also but there is not much room on my boat for one. I might run Stabil for ethanol all the time.
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Most of your outboards are set up to run E10, fuel with up to 10% ethanol. However, EPA has authorized E15 which is 15% ethanol. That is the problem. BASSMASTER Magazine has an article in the current issue that talks about the problem. Get a copy and read it. Currently there is no additive that will fully solve the problem. All of our engines are at risk with this crap. Seafoam and Stabil help with the water problem, but the dissolving of parts is not addressed.

Guarandamntee ya this. If'n ya kin git strate ethanol an ya drink enuf then all's this uther stuff aint so 'portant no more.
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FWIW a topic of discussion on another outta-state-forum on this issue...

Here's the link which may get removed but is worth the read:

[url "http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=59271&posts=25&start=1"]http://muskie.outdoorsfirst.com/board/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=59271&posts=25&start=1[/url]
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The only problem with your solution is that other people in uniform get involved !!! Yours works only if you stay at home !!!

Jist gotta keep ta yerself and don't drive nuthin'.
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I fueled up at Harts in american fork and there were no stickers on the pump saying it contained ethanol so I guess it does have it? I got the idea from the wed site above.
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I added my local gas station to the list, when I did not see it there but I think you are right,they are suppose to label the pump if it has ethanol in the gas.
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