Fuel additive

If you are asking if there is some kind of mousemilk that will prevent phase separation or will reconstitute the fuel after separations occurs, no. There is nothing you can do or product you can add. Throw out the old fuel, clean the tank and move on.

Can you buy gas without ethanol over there?

In Fort Lauderdale you can. Bahia Mar, Lauderdale Marine, and probably most of the others with a fuel dock.

While ethanol blending is mandated for gasoline, Florida has made an exception for marine fuels.

Good to hear there is still intelligent life on Earth...

Star Brite makes a product called Startron Gasoline Additive which we've had pretty good luck with. All the marinas in the NE have ethanol blends.

You mean that stuff that is greater than 99.5 percent naptha (coleman stove fuel)?

And what kind of luck with that stuff is "good luck?" It hasn't wrecked your engines or you figure reducing the fuel's octane is OK?

If there was any kind of chemical that when blended at rates below 0.5 percent would eliminate the problems associated with alcohol blends there wouldn't be an aftermarket for that sort of stuff. That magic mouse milk would be blended at the refinery or the distributor and this discussion would never have started.

The reason marine are exempted is because there is no way to eliminate the problems created by alcohol blends.

Prior to using the Startron we were having intense problems with clogged primary fuel filters located internally on our tender engines. The problem was worse during our transition seasons from New England to Florida/Caribbean; it seemed that climate change, coupled with the change in ethanol content, was contributing with to problem.
After spending way too much of the boss' money changing filters and even pumping tanks clean, I wrote to our Yamaha dealer, who was the one that specifically recommended the Startron. Perhaps I am a fool for trusting the dealer but, since I purchased the engines from them, I am pretty confident that they will stand behind their recommendation if a problem arises. As a side note- I've probably put more than 1000 hours on those engines since I started using the product. I have yet to notice any signs of damage, but will continue to monitor.

I have been using Pri-G in a 27' whaler and 2 waverunners yamaha 4 strokes and have not had any ethanol related issues or any fuel issues with them, and they all see very little use. The whaler sees 50-75hrs of use a year and the waverunners 10-20 hours of use per year.

It appears that your tank cleaning efforts were effective.

Did you know that the amount of magical mystery sauce in Startron other than Coleman fuel, when mixed 1 ounce to 16 gallons of gasoline according to the instructions amounts to 0.5 parts in 10,000. That is some kind of powerful sauce!

Ethanol Fuel...CRAP

First off I didn't see a reference to the construction material of the fuel tanks?

I was looking up potential problems that might occur with Honda 225 outboards and ran across a reference to a clogging of the fuel filters due to ethanol fuel stored in alum tanks. Has anyone else experienced such problems with these two??

I'm looking at a gas powered craft and I'm real concerned with this crap ethanol fuel they are pushing on us...doesn't seem like too many options to avoid it.

Hi,

What is the current quantity of Ethanol in Fuel in the US these days?

In Germany I see they tried to push a fuel called E 10, after warning many to check their cars could use it it seems no one used it in any sort of worthwhile quantities and now many servos show 888.88 in the display for that fuel and the dispensing nozzles are marked out of service and secured to the pump casing.

There is now some finger pointing and discussions in the Federal Govt, it makes one wonder what will come next in the country where the plan is to tax bio fuel as much or more than regular fuel to feed the coffers and protect the oil companies.

The EPA has just approved increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent from the previous 10 percent or (E10) that everyone loves to hate.

It's a political game here since it appears to be as much a kickback to the farm lobby as an environmental and energy independence issue.

As far as E10 is concerned, all cars built since 2001 (about 75 percent of those on the road today) were designed to use that fuel. The latest cars can handle higher ethanol content since the computer controls are programmed to handle varying proportions. No one except a boat owner cares what impact the stuff has on boats.

Fortunately for those of us in Florida, teetotal gas is readily available at the marine fuel stations. I still see lots of people fueling at roadside gas pumps though so either ignorance is bliss or they burn through it fast enough not to have any issues with phase separation. My little 4-stroke gas powered tender sits on the trailer for extended periods so I don't mind the extra money for alcohol-free fuel.

My 2008 Ford Expedition says NO E85 right on the fuel cap, so that ought to be interesting. Ethanol has proved no benefit in fuel savings, if the fuel has 15% Ethanol you get 15% less milage per gallon. I really don't understand why the US government is pushing it.

As in the 225hp honda 4 stroke, just use Startron or Pri-G and it should be ok, UNLESS the tank has a lot of crap in it that the Ethanol will break loose. Also stay away from the grey outboard fuel lines with Ethanol, it disintegrates the clear inside core of the fuel hose and throws it in the carbs on the engines. I know in the yamaha 4 strokes, they have a lot of problems with the fuel screen on the motor clogging from ethanol relates issues. I haven't seen or heard of the Verado's having fuel related issues from the Ethanol in the fuel.

I remember reading earlier post on YF that the ethanol mixed in fuel was damaging fiberglass tanks and rubber fuel lines/seals/fittings not suitable for ethanol. I was under the impression that basically a vessel needs to be built for the ethanol blend or you can expect some issues.

Yes and no. Fiberglass fuel tanks have been eaten through. Luckily few gas boats were made with fiberglass tanks. So far they have not added Ethanol to Diesel here in the US. The rubber fuel lines have been a big problem and luckily on most boats they can be changed fairly easily. Even the newish boats with the grey/silver fuel lines have issues. Also a lot of marina's still sell non-ethanol fuel, although some states even the marina fuel has to have ethanol.

I filled up the tender 1990 Novarania with a 2006 honda 60hp 4 stroke in Virginia in 2008 with fuel with ethanol in it. We had run the tender around for 5 hours prior with NO issues. On the 2 mile run from the fuel dock back to the boat, the tender on plane came to a complete stop and the motor shut off. I took the fuel filter off (primary), it was full of a milky white yellow nasty liquid. I dumped it out and re-primed the line with the primer ball. Went another 1/2 mile and same thing. Same process and got back, changed the fuel filter and it has been fine ever since. Luckily it only had a 10 gallon built in gas tank. I could imagine the mess of changing/dumping the fuel filter 40 times if it had a 200 gallon tank.

It's currently "up to 10% ethanol" in the US.

Ethanol

Would it be logical that the EPA etc, never reads sites like these, where are these people from ?? some space colony ? surely it's time for a major lobby to fix this crap...or, has society just lost itself to the "man"

'These People' are from our Congress. This is one of their many brainly ideas of how to attack our energy problems...lets 'grow our own fuel'. I believe this was one of the best solutions they could come up with...without really working out the problem.

I believe it came up under the Bush adminstration. And now it has gotten a life of its own...sort of like a lot of our subsidized programs...so it may prove very difficult to kill....like our sugar subsidy that has faaaar outlived it usefullness.

The real shame of it is that if you were using alcohol produced from other sources such as sugar cain as in Brazil you would be FAR more efficient in your yield than corn based alcohol.

At any rate its allowing the petroleum companies to dilute there product down with a cheaper product and raise the price on the finish product to us....great deal for them that I don't imagine they want to change. And I don't imagine the republican congressmen want to upset nor bankrupt all those new ethanol businessmen they put into business with that legislation.

....and the USA still DOES NOT have a 'comprehensive energy policy' for the future.

Ethanol

What the issue needs is a "tea party" style attack, get this item fully explained and then let the public be educated by the tea party as to what the blazes is going on..there is a "window" here...it don't come along too often, surely someone on this forum has access to the right people to make this a national issue and keep it hot, because it is one of the most serious thing thats helping to kill the US economy, the lack of a true strategy to actually reduce energy costs...everything so far does the opposite and thats the killer, no one can prove that current programs actually save the consumer and create employment/

Who ever said saving consumers and creating jobs was on the American agenda?

The people who own the political system could care less about the consumer as long as he consumes. As far as jobs, high unemployment means cheap labor and higher profits., at least until the whole house collapses for good but then a handful of those same people just benefit even more from the mess.

There isn't a lot of difference between our leaders and the kleptocrats of those African hell-holes that we shake our heads about.