Ethanol Issues Getting Worse

profisher

Well-Known Member
I have posted a rant before on the evils of ethanol in our fuel and my struggles to keep my Yamaha 9.9 trolling motor in running order. I'm now at 6 times this winter with the carb apart as this time the motor would not even start. Everytime I have gone to run it to warm it up and keep oil on the cylinders and bearings to prevent corrosion the motor will not idle. So everytime I take off the carb and clean it out. The pictures included here show how much ethanol crap I found this time...and no wonder it wouldn't even run. The ethanol is not only plugging up the jets but it it eating away at the aluminum float bowl and that material also plugs up the jets. I wondering who I'm going to sue when my motor quits and I end up on the rocks or upside down because I lost power at a critical time. This is ridiculous!!! BTW the ethanol sludge in the bottom of the float bowl is obvious in the pic...there is some on to the left beside the brass jet in the pic with the float and more in the top half of the carb in the top right corner down at the bottom...which is actually the highest point when the carb isinstalled.
 

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So if you are having issues getting your small carbed engines to idle or run...you better learn how to remove, take apart and clean your carb....you'll be doing it often.
 
They are literally taking all the good things from our fuel and selling it back to us in things like additives. Gas and diesel
Yup I have stabilizer and an ethanol additive in the tank...i'm ready to call it snake oil.
 
The premium at the coop in Nanaimo says nothing about ethanol. Regular and mid grade says ethanol on the signs.
I've heard that the Co-ps from Duncan north may be carrying non-ethanol premium fuel..if so lucky you.
 
something...something...electric kicker motors etc etc.

the refinery itself (only 1 in BC) produces ethanol fuel only so youre hosed. unless you switch to non fuel motors. they are viable now so its likely worth the money you have to dump into them.
 
I have posted a rant before on the evils of ethanol in our fuel and my struggles to keep my Yamaha 9.9 trolling motor in running order. I'm now at 6 times this winter with the carb apart as this time the motor would not even start. Everytime I have gone to run it to warm it up and keep oil on the cylinders and bearings to prevent corrosion the motor will not idle. So everytime I take off the carb and clean it out. The pictures included here show how much ethanol crap I found this time...and no wonder it wouldn't even run. The ethanol is not only plugging up the jets but it it eating away at the aluminum float bowl and that material also plugs up the jets. I wondering who I'm going to sue when my motor quits and I end up on the rocks or upside down because I lost power at a critical time. This is ridiculous!!! BTW the ethanol sludge in the bottom of the float bowl is obvious in the pic...there is some on to the left beside the brass jet in the pic with the float and more in the top half of the carb in the top right corner down at the bottom...which is actually the highest point when the carb isinstalled.

I feel your pain, but must ask why run your motor up 6 times throughout the winter?

We shouldn't have to, but I do this below, its the world we live in, think diesel and def now!? .again just what I do.

I run stabilizer/cleaner (stabul sp? red stuff) in my tank all yr.
At end of yr service on winterize day I'll fog both main and kicker engines till they die.
Then I started doing this with kicker 6yrs ago because after a winter I had idle issue with it, and had to pull carb/clean jets.
Now when I winterize, on the 9.9 prokicker I'll remove screw from bowl on bottom right of carb to completely drain fuel ,then spray some merc carb cleaner in the screw hole, replace screw as quickly as I can to not drain the cleaner. I do not run up my motors over winter.
I de-winterized went over all my gear this past Sat/Sunday, fired up both main and kicker, ran like a swiss watch, they smoked the neighbors out for a few minutes till they burned off that fogging oil, but good to go now any day this coming season.
 
The marinas up in Sidney still have no ethanol in their gas. The stuff is BRUTAL in the marine environment. Unfortunately the peninsula co-op decided to put ethanol in the marked gas. My understanding is they are not required to since it's for off-road use. Hopefully they re-consider. Clearly there is a supplier still selling clean gas to the marinas, so it is available.
 
The marinas up in Sidney still have no ethanol in their gas. The stuff is BRUTAL in the marine environment. Unfortunately the peninsula co-op decided to put ethanol in the marked gas. My understanding is they are not required to since it's for off-road use. Hopefully they re-consider. Clearly there is a supplier still selling clean gas to the marinas, so it is available.
If it's like the coop in ukee, they use the same storage tank as the road gas. The dye is added on route to the pump, and hence it all has ethanol now. They aren't about to put a new storage tank in just to appease the marked gas buyer.
 
You could get your self a small outboard tank and run ethanol free through it at the end of the season. If there isn’t a gas station nearby with ethanol free you can buy Stihl Moto 4, it’s not cheap but it will save you the trouble,
 
I have posted a rant before on the evils of ethanol in our fuel and my struggles to keep my Yamaha 9.9 trolling motor in running order. I'm now at 6 times this winter with the carb apart as this time the motor would not even start. Everytime I have gone to run it to warm it up and keep oil on the cylinders and bearings to prevent corrosion the motor will not idle. So everytime I take off the carb and clean it out. The pictures included here show how much ethanol crap I found this time...and no wonder it wouldn't even run. The ethanol is not only plugging up the jets but it it eating away at the aluminum float bowl and that material also plugs up the jets. I wondering who I'm going to sue when my motor quits and I end up on the rocks or upside down because I lost power at a critical time. This is ridiculous!!! BTW the ethanol sludge in the bottom of the float bowl is obvious in the pic...there is some on to the left beside the brass jet in the pic with the float and more in the top half of the carb in the top right corner down at the bottom...which is actually the highest point when the carb isinstalled.
Not sure what’s going on there but I’ve run pump gas from shell in my Yamaha T8 for almost 10 years and only last year had to clean the carb. When I took it apart it wasn’t even ethanol sludge, it was water in the fuel. I do put a splash of seafoam in every tank.
 
Not sure what’s going on there but I’ve run pump gas from shell in my Yamaha T8 for almost 10 years and only last year had to clean the carb. When I took it apart it wasn’t even ethanol sludge, it was water in the fuel. I do put a splash of seafoam in every tank.
Ethanol also attracts moisture as well just like brake fluid
 
You could get your self a small outboard tank and run ethanol free through it at the end of the season. If there isn’t a gas station nearby with ethanol free you can buy Stihl Moto 4, it’s not cheap but it will save you the trouble,
There is that Aspen fuel they have now too. Supposed to last for years.
 
Might look into the Aspen fuel...never heard of it before...would be a good storage/winter fuel.
 
@profisher You must be very frustrated by now, that is some rotten luck.

It may sound like overkill, but I would pull a sample from your tank as is and have it analyzed at finning. You may have some contamination that is causing that buildup. It may turn out to be something like aluminum oxide or a residue created when combining different additives. This is not unheard of; in fact I see it fairly regularly in diesel applications.

I will echo @ClintR in that I’ve not had any kind of adverse reaction to fuel in the time since I purchased my boat in 2019, roughly 340 hrs to date. I use Motormedic(?) fuel stabilizer quite liberally but I generally try to stay away from other additives to prevent unintended reactions.

I have, however, had the following issues:
- Water ingress into the tank via snow/slush on the gunwale that caused a rapid fill up of my fuel/water separator
- Bad spark plug on Prokicker 9.9 that I mistakenly thought was a fuel issue as it presented as a hard start then rough running and low power

After the first issue of water ingress, I replaced the factory filter with a Racor S3227 fuel filter and bowl with drain valve. I check and drain this filter before and after every trip, and usually drain a little water in the process. I mention this because while Ethanol (Alcohols in general) can be hygroscopic, I believe the issue may be somewhat overblown. Finding free water in the filter bowl would suggest to me that current fuels are maybe not be excessively hygroscopic. Standing water in the tank, however, can certainly encourage biological growth as well as chemical reactions with different materials in the fuel system.

Filtration is very important, and perhaps a filter upgrade will improve your situation if you haven’t already explored that option?

Caterpillar arrived at the conclusion in the 1970s that a majority of engine break downs could be reliably attributed to contaminated fuel or poor storage and handling of fuel. They initiated a campaign to encourage better fuel storage and handling practices, including casting the sentence “Buy Clean Fuel Keep It Clean” onto aluminum fuel caps. I’m not suggesting you are careless with your fuel, but rather there is a long pathway from dinosaur to carburator/fuel injector and therefore a lot of opportunity for careless handling and storage, contamination.

1) refinery storage
2) transport truck fill hose
3) transport truck tanks
4) transport truck discharge hose
5) bulk storage tank (regional)
6) fill hose
7) truck tank
8) discharge hose
9) retailer storage tank
10) retailer metering system (pumps)
11) fuel nozzle
12) boat fuel tank
13) boat fuel lines
14) boat fuel filter(s)
15) carburetor or fuel injection system


With regard to additives, they can contain compounds that combine readily with gasoline but perhaps not so readily or not in a positive way with other compounds in other additives.

Good luck! I hope you get it sorted out quickly and easily!

Helpful Article outlining the very real risks of ethanol and how to prevent them, mainly keeping water out of your fuel tank.


This portion of the article outlines how the introduction of ethanol (a new solvent) into a fuel system can loosen old deposits and cause issues downstream.

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