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ethanol in fuel gonna be a problem for storage

themudshark

themudshark

Member
Any Ideas about how to winterize my O/B with ethanol in the fuel, should I put in stabilizer run it a bit then disconnect the fuel line and just run the carbs dry? my motor is a johnson and am running the VRO's still. Will that be a proplem running them dry with the VRO'S. I don't want that ethanol sitting in all those little primer lines or fuel lines rotting them out, theres alot of them to change on a V-8:confused:
 
May be helpful...

First a disclaimer: I don't currently have an O/B. I have the 454 I/O...

That being said here's a few things on the ethanol and winterization:

As far as the fuel tank - if you can't get it bone dry (and most situations you can't accomplish this) then fill it with fresh fuel and stabilizer.

On the engine - running an engine completely dry can also be troublesome. If you can trule get it completely dry, clean, and winterized - go for it. Otherwise I would run a good concentration of fuel/stabilizer through it and complete your other winterization steps.

The ethanol scares me and I called Mercury Corp. directly. I also called the top 6 largest, best reputation marinas in my area and the answer was the same from everyone. Ethanol sucks. If you can't get it bone dry and clean fill it up, stabilize it, winterize everything else, and hope for the best. It's much worse to have half empty tanks than to have full ones.
 
why is it bad to have a half empty tank?

what does the ethanol do if it sits rather than being used?

I run a premix at 32:1. I have heard this helps stabilize the fuel. is this true?
 
matt i may be wrong but i think the ethonol is higher octane and can hurt fuel lines seals and many other things- i may be wrong but that is the way i took it when i was looking at buying a 2007 dodge that was a "flex fuel"..... i know that with a boat it is different but my 2 cents......
 
In the tank, the ethanol absorbs water. If you fill the tank to the top there is no room for condensation to occur and get into the fuel.
In the engine ethanol eats away at the seals, o-rings and rubber hoses. I run the engine out of fuel and then drain all hoses, filters, float bowls etc. Don't forget to fog the engine as well.
 
mark- i thought that is what i was told..... wasn't sure but you just confirmed it!:thumb:
 
what is the difference if you run the engine year round v/s storing it with fuel? the fuel is still in the lines either way.

I have always run it out of fuel but did it so the fuel wouldnt varnish up the lines.
 
So many opinions....But untill I have a problem with something I'll probably keep doing the same thing I've always done. I've never used 'stabile', I've never 'filled my tank' and the fuel I use contains 10% ethonal, which probably attracts more condensation, but It has NEVER caused me a problem so I'm not gonna do any different this winter than any other.. Right now my boat is fully winterized, it probably has 10 gal. of 91 octane in it and maybe 4 hoses disconnected on the lower portion of the headers and the petcocks sitting in the cupholders and antifreeze in the t-stat housing and dripping out the petcocks. Next year I'll just put the hoses back on and put my petcocks in and put my 100$ of 91 octane in it and go like nothing has ever happened like I've always done. It may be different in another climate, but this works for me.
 
illMATTic said:
what is the difference if you run the engine year round v/s storing it with fuel? the fuel is still in the lines either way.

I have always run it out of fuel but did it so the fuel wouldnt varnish up the lines.
Click to expand...
No difference. The alcohol is hard on the lines either way. Especially hard on fuel injectors.
Any fuel left in the lines partially evaporates and leaves residue that can clog up everything.
 
Mark said:
No difference. The alcohol is hard on the lines either way. Especially hard on fuel injectors.
Any fuel left in the lines partially evaporates and leaves residue that can clog up everything.
Click to expand...

i just wanted to make sure i wasn't missing something.

I will most likely just run the fuel out and fog it. although i will have to learn how to all over again to get it just right with this EFI.
 
Marine Formula

Be sure and use the marine formula of Sta-Bil. It specifically address's the ethanol problems. If you have an older 2-stroke outboard you should be using it all the time (not just for winter storage) Ethanol laced gas has a very short shelf life compared to straight gasoline. Also the marine formula treats about 4 times the gas as the pink stuff.
 
I'm not sure about boats, but the fuel pumps we do for E85 flex fuel vehicles are totally different than the older pumps. The old ones just don't live in the E85 environment - I believe all rubber components were changed. This just supports what everyone else has said about ethanol being aggressive and hydroscopic (my 50 cent word for the day...).

In the shop manual, they say NOT to fog EFI engines. My mechanic buddy confirmed this - but the reason they give is that it can clog the injectors. I don't know exactly how far the injectors are away from the spark plugs in a throttle-body-EFI setup, but it seems to me that it the oil shouldn't make it to the injectors? Maybe this no-fog recommendation was for DI engines? The manual says to fill a small tank with premix and a high concentration of stabil and run that through.

I don't think oil stabilizes the octane in gas, maybe it helps with the varnish issue? I'm not sure...
 
Needafunboat said:
In the shop manual, they say NOT to fog EFI engines. My mechanic buddy confirmed this - but the reason they give is that it can clog the injectors. I don't know exactly how far the injectors are away from the spark plugs in a throttle-body-EFI setup, but it seems to me that it the oil shouldn't make it to the injectors? Maybe this no-fog recommendation was for DI engines? The manual says to fill a small tank with premix and a high concentration of stabil and run that through.

I don't think oil stabilizes the octane in gas, maybe it helps with the varnish issue? I'm not sure...
Click to expand...
Yes, Merc doesn't want you clogging up the injectors...but that would only happen if you ran the fogging oil through the EFI system. Up here in the great white north, where our motors sit 6-8 months, I always fog. I do however just do it by pulling the plugs, spraying directly into cylinder and then turning it over by hand on the EFI. You could always do the same thing with 2 cycle oil which for sure won't hurt.
 
Here's what I've done to my boats for the last 25 years. ( and I've had to adapt as the technology got better and the gas got poorer...)

Fog all carb two strokes thru the carbs while they're running, get them smokin' good and shut them off. Run them at them same time on gas treated w/ " Sea Foam".

EFI motors run the last tank of gas on "Sea Foam" and fog the cylinders thru the spark plug holes.

4 strokes just treat the fuel. In fact the efi's we have treated the fuel all season as the injectors are so easily clogged. " Marine Stabil" has also been used but "Sea Foam" has never let us down.

We used this procedure for over 100 outboards in our camps in Ontario and now on 35 outboards here in Wisconsin. Every motor w/o fail fires right up in the spring. And we have long winters....
 
Winterizing

I add stabilizer, run it up to operating temp, fog it , turn off motor, drain the carb bowls, grease all fittings, drain and change lwr unit oil, done. My two cents anyway.Some of the newer VRO's have a fitting to hook up the fogging oil spray directly to the VRO. Check you're manual.


Steve
 
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