Water in Fuel?

[biffdotorg]

So I made a bit of a mistake the other day filling the boat on the lift.

I dropped in another 15-20 gallons of gas and left the cap off the tank. Needless to say, we had a couple storms go through so I am 90% sure water had to have gotten in the fill spout.

The question being, is there some sort of water separator in these fuel systems, or do I have 30+ gallons of gas I need to drain out of my boat before running that engine again?

Any advice is golden. If I do drain all that fuel, I have heard of devices for separating water from fuel as well. Suggestions are golden at this point.

Thank you,
Mark

 

[biffdotorg]

So after a bit of research, there seems to be a water separator in the system. But a few links on YouTube are showing that Heat or rubbing alcohol may break up the water enough that it could be run through the fuel injection system over time.

I may just run a couple cans of Heat through on the next couple tanks of fuel.

[video]https://youtu.be/ElbgPhujl_M[/video]

 

[Dr Honda]

1) Use a heavy dose of Marine Stay-Bil. (it will help pass water)

2) The big spin-on filter is also the water trap. It can be drained... but it's a pain, and may still give you a warning. (The water in fuel sender in on the bottom)

If you think you got water in the tank... I would grab a new filter... and once you think it's all passed... I would change the filter.

The big issue is with water and new fuels. You can get a phase separation with new fuels. (with Ethanol) The Marine stable will help with keeping the fuel together.

Heat will work... but it's not my favorite product.

 

[biffdotorg]

Thanks for the advice Tony. I ran into town and was going to buy Heat, But the bottles in the store said for 2-stroke use Iso-Heat. In other words, the straight Iso Propel Alcohol. So I bought two bottles of another brand Iso and dropped them both into my full 36 gallon tank. I lowered the boat on the lift and got it rocking real good to allow it to mix in.

Time to fire it up and let 'er buck. I made some solo passes as I wanted to adjust my AM ride plate as well. It was pulling to the left. So I had plenty of time to be sure the Iso was working it's way through the system.

A couple of stops on the lift to adjust the plate and all is good so far. I made a couple of speed passes and it indicated 54 on the Speedo, which is within 2mph of GPS! A little alcohol was not hurting yet. And it stopped pulling one way.

So I got the girls and did some double tubing off the tower followed by a nice surf session. Just so happened I had one of my best surfs on both sides of the wake be it very short on the heel side.

All is good on Little Pine Lake in Central MN. Let's hope it stays that way.

Good luck everyone! Have a great weekend!!!

 

[biffdotorg]

So after running over 20 gallons of fuel through this animal each weekend since early July, I would say I got lucky on the potential water in my fuel.

That being said, is there a diagram showing the water separator/fuel filters I should be replacing on a regular basis? I can't seem to find any, but I suppose I would see them in obvious places if I stuck my head under the deck. I thought I could grab them on my way to the cabin this weekend.

Thanks guys!

 

[Dr Honda]

The water separator on these engines is the big "Spin-On" filter on the starboard side of the engine.