Another year and another Spring arrives while welcoming in the onset of #Ethanol induced problems not only for anyone engaged in a Marine service related business, but also for every single boat owner. The particular instance we experienced this week is such a good example of the detrimental effect of ethanol on Inboard Marine Engines and Marine Outboard Motors that we decided to create a post with the hope that someone will read this and take the necessary precautions.

Customer Complaint:
I followed the normal steps of having my boat winterized, and making sure my fuel tank was completely full with treated fuel. I put the boat in the water this year and the engine fired up on the first crank. I then back the boat off the trailer and proceeded to pick up my family at the dock when the engine started to stumble until it finally died and would not restart. I then had to be pulled on to the trailer. I then proceed to pull the spark plugs and found water on the plugs. I therefore changed out the plugs but the engine still would not start.  At this point I suspected the boat had been improperly winterized so I decided to bring the boat back to Performance Product Technologies for inspection.

Inspection & Analysis:
Boat – 2013 Tracker PB22DLX w/ Less than 20 Hours
Motor: Mercury Marine 90ELPT 4 Stroke Outboard
Upon our inspection we verified that the engine was properly winterized last fall per Mercury Marine Service Manuals.  We then attempted to start and run the engine however the engine would not start. After verifying that the customer had in fact purchased the correct spark plugs when he changed them out we continued attempting to start the engine. With no success in our continued engine starting attempts we decided to take a fuel sample from the engines fuel rails. Upon inspection we immediately noticed that the fuel was extremely “cloudy” in appearance. Upon further testing of the fuel sample for water we determined the sample taken directly from the engine to be made up of 90% water.

Resolution:
Due to the fact that the ethanol blended fuel in the engine and boat’s fuel tank were seriously contaminated with water we  began preparing to pump the 30 gallons of contaminated fuel completely out of the boat’s fuel tank, as well as completely purging it from the engine. In these cases we manually pump the boat’s fuel tank into a fuel reclamation container and then use the fuel pump located on the engine to pump the bad fuel out of the engine fuel system. We then removed the new spark plugs the customer had recently installed, and we replaced these with new spark plugs.

At this point we then began attempting to start the engine again and it would in fact now start and run, but not on all cylinders. We then shut the engine back off and reinspected the spark plugs to which we found the new ones to have traces of water. We then installed a push button starter switch to turn the engine over manually with the spark plugs removed. The purpose of this was to blow out any remaining water still left in the cylinders. We then installed yet another set of new spark plugs and restarted the engine. This time the engine started and stumbled for about 5-10 seconds before finally smoothing out. From this point forward the engine ran perfectly while being supplied fuel from our shop tank with known good fuel. At this point the engine fuel supply was reconnected to the boat fuel tank that had been drained and refilled with known good fuel.

Performance Product Technologies winterization process includes the following steps;

1. Introduce Fuel System Treatment and Stabilizer into the boat’s fuel tank according to how much fuel is in the tank.
2. Start the engine and let run up to operating temperature to make sure the treated fuels makes its way up to the engine fuel rails.
3. Remove the pencils coils and spark plugs followed by spraying approximately 1 Fluid Ounce of Storage Seal Rust Inhibitor into each spark plug hole.
4. Crank the engine using a remote starter switch through one start cycle and reinstall the spark plugs and pencil coils.
5. Drain and refill the gear case with fresh gear lube
6. Change the engines oil and filter if needed
7. Disconnect the battery and prepare it for winter storage

**The winterization steps were completed properly in 2013 per the Mercury Service Manual. HOWEVER, after the customer picked the boat up he filled the boats gas tank up with Ethanol fuel and then parked the boat until this spring. Ethanol is an alcohol which draws moisture from the air. This water fuel mixture can then cause a formation of acid during storage which will damage the fuel system. This customer’s issues were caused from the Ethanol fuel that was put in the boats fuel tank prior to parking the boat for 5-6 months winter months.

Purchasing the cheaper Ethanol fuel ended up costing this customer over $750.

Use of Alcohol Blended Fuels (Ethanol): Alcohol In Fuel Concerns

Situation

Based on recent, and increasing EPA legislation the use of alcohol blended fuels “Ethanol” is becoming more and more common in the USA.  Its becoming apparent that us #boaters are not that important to the outcome of these decisions. I base this on the fact that regardless of the issues we’ve continually raised with the alcohol based fuels, the EPA continues pushing them on us as a society whether they really make sense or not. Therefore its important for the regular boater to be aware of the risks that come along with using these fuels be it ethanol or methanol. Also be aware that the higher the % of alcohol in the fuel not only is it more likely you will have a problem BUT also the severity of the problems increase as well. If nothing else this article will make you wonder whats driving this push.

• Corrosion: Alcohol is 100% soluble in water. Basically you can think of the alcohol as a binder that attracts moisture and then attached itself to it. Now applying this to a vented fuel tank in winter storage you can think of the alcohol in the fuel tank just sitting there attracting moisture during storage. Then as this concentration of water builds and builds it separates from the fuel as shown in the illustration below. The list of problems that result from this concentration of alcohol/water can include organics issues that lead to fuel system restrictions all the way up to catastrophic engine failure due to detonation issues.

• Fuel Line Permeability: Because the molecules of alcohol are smaller than those of gasoline, the alcohol may pass through some rubber fuel lines where gasoline would not.
• Degradation of rubber/plastic parts: Nonmetallic components of the fuel system such as rubber or plastic have the tendency to absorb alcohol due to its molecular make up and size. Therefore as a result these rubber components may have the tendency to swell along with other changes to their physical properties, all of which may have an impact on their strength. Among other concerns these changes may effect their ability to seal and prevent leakage.
• Difficult Starting and overall poor operation: As a general rules alcohol has a lower boiling point than gasoline and therefore when blended with gasoline increases the Reid Vapor Pressure increases which causes the fuel to vaporize at lower temperatures. The end result is Vapor Locking in warm weather conditions. Normally, Vapor Locking happens in a couple of ways:
• Engine Compartment Heat Build Up – As the engine runs and builds heat the compartment itself retains heat. This has become even more prevalent as the noise concerns have driven boat builders to build quieter engine compartments. Once the engine is shut down it allows everything to “heat-soak”, which then has the effect of vaporizing the fuel in the fuel lines and engine fuel system components WHICH leads to vapor locking.
• Fuel Pump Suction – As the fuel pump pulls fuel from the tank to the engine the low pressure created from this suction is essentially trying to tear the fuel molecules apart. The alcohol in the fuel allows this to happen much easier.

Fuel Recommendation

STANDRAD FUEL RATINGS

Most all Marine Engines will operate satisfactorily when using gasoline that meets any of the following specifications:

USA and Canada: having a posted pump octane rating of 87 (R+M)/2 minimum. Premium gasoline [91 (R+M)/2 octane] is also acceptable and required for some Mercury Racing sterndrive products. Do NOT use leaded gasoline.

Outside USA and Canada: having a posted pump octane rating of 90 RON minimum. Premium gasoline (96 RON) is also acceptable and required for some Mercury Racing sterndrive products. Do NOT use leaded gasoline.

USING REFORMULATED OXYGENATED GASOLINE (USA ONLY)

Oxygenated fuels are required in certain areas of the USA and seemingly becoming more and more common. The two types of oxygenates used in these fuels are alcohol (ethanol or methanol) however Ethanol seems to be by far the more common. In the case of Ethanol blended fuels, certain Ethanol blended gasoline’s are acceptable for use in Mercury Marine engine. Mercury Mercruiser engines manufactured after 1996 are capable of operating with 10% Ethanol blended gasoline however anything greater than 10% can lead to severe problems including catastrophic engine failure.

IMPORTANT:

Periods of storage longer than a week are common to boats and create unique problems. If possible try to avoid long term boat storage if you operate your engine with an ethanol blended fuel.  Although automobiles normally use their fuel quickly enough to avoid problems with the alcohol blended fuels, boats often sit idle long enough for phase separation to occur. In addition, internal corrosion may take place during storage if alcohol has washed off protective oil films from components of the internal fuel system and engine. The other issue resulting from long-term storage created fuel separation is that of engine detonation once the boat is re-commissioned. Once fuel separation occurs it is not uncommon for the engine to get a “shot” of the separated alcohol/water mixture in the fuel tank. This will commonly cause the engine to detonate and seems to be increasingly becoming the cause of more and more catastrophic engine failures.

**NOTE: In most cases engine failures that result from detonation as described above are NOT covered under warranty. Therefore it is important to realize that you could have a brand new boat/engine with a 5 year warranty. However if you allow it to set for as little as 6 weeks with Ethanol blended fuel the fuel can separate enough to cause a detonation related failure. We experienced this 2 times just this year.

WHAT DO WE SUGGEST

1. Avoid Ethanol fuel if at all possible
2. Always use a fuel treatment/stabilizer throughout the boating season. This is just becoming a part of boating for 2010 and beyond that we all have to get used to.
3. Always use a fuel stabilizing storage treatment product if the boat is going to sit idle for more than a week.
4. Fill the tank full (so it can’t attract and condense as much moisture from the air) with a non-ethanol fuel when putting the boat up for long-term storage such as over the winter.
5. After you burn through the 1st 1/2 tank of fuel once the boat is re-commissioned, fill it full with fresh, non-ethanol fuel.
6. If you ever end up storing the boat with non-treated fuel (especially ethanol blended fuel) for any length of time greater than 2-3 months, pump the fuel and start fresh.