|
I took my boat out for the first time this season about 10 days ago. It ran fine for the first 2-3 hours. After that it ran sluggish. By the way I have less than 25 hours on the boat since I purchased it in the fall.
I took it to a dealership to have them check it out, not sure what the diagnoses is yet, but I suspect is has something to do with the fuel. The engine is a Yamaha F115. Anyway they gave me some interesting information that I thought I would share, I won't swear to the legitimacey.
Regarding the fuel, I was told that gasoline loses 1 octane per week it sits in the tank; therefore, if it sits in the tank for 20 weeks over the winter, 87 octane is actually 67 octane. The reason this is important is because these Yamaha engines are built to such tight tolerances that 87 octane is what they are designed to be ran with for the best performance. E-10 shouldn't be ran and higher octane won't run that good either. The service guy actually said that the majority of the gas should be ran out at the end of the season. If moisture collects from condensation, simply add a product like Sea Foam. By the way if you use a gas stabilizer every 2nd or 3rd tank you should be sure to add it at the end of the season to the tank (I'm sure everyone knows this but me), then most importantly, run the motor for about an hour to ensure the stabilizer goes through the fuel lines and treats the engine as well. The service manager suggested running stabilizer in every tank, but the mechanic said that every couple of tanks is fine.
Back to my woes for just a second, I will hear tomorrow what the deal is, I'm sure it has something to do with the gas that sat in the tank, I put the Yamaha treatment in it last winter, but didn't run the engine. I'm not sure that I used enough treatment based on the amount of gas that was in the tank either.
Live an learn... the hard way I guess.
|