Ethenol fuel concerns

[Jan from Humboldt]

I'm happier than I was as Yamaha stepped up and had the shop completely go through the carbs, rebuild and rejet them so a big Thank you! to Yamaha and another big thank you to the Outboard center here in Arcata for the outstanding customer service.
<Remember, this is a motor purchased 5/9/05 and has less than 75 hours on it>

Anyway the boat is fixed and home again, I plan on a shakedown run to the bay this weekend just to make sure.

I did have a couple of conversations with the Yamaha folks in Georgia about this stuff and was advised to;

A. Have a ten micron water seperating fuel filter on the boat. (Did that last year)

B. Use fuel stabilizer (Also advised and done starting last year)

C. Use Ring Free at the rate of 1 oz per ten gallons of fuel (Not advised last year)

E. Never store the boat with a partially empty tank as this causes condensation.

The only kicker is they specified an Enzyme based fuel stabilizer, I found on after some searching , it's called Startron.


Now the bad news, Yamaha says to the dealership in so many words, "Yeah there's a problem with the motors and ethanol fuel, fix the motor on our dime and no we don't know what to do to keep it from happening again".

Oh crap!

[MolarBoater]

here's something to read, http://www.burrbros.com/fuel.doc

[Jan from Humboldt]

I've talked to a lot of other people in real time and on other boards who are starting to have the same sort of problems. There are a lot of filters being changed out and some dealers are "Fixing" the motors through a process of parts change out elimination This is a real expensive way to fix a motor.

The interesting thing is that it's not just the Yamaha line of motors it seems to be across the board as to the brand.

Yamaha asked me had I changed the filters and I told them yes, twice as a matter of fact both the one on the motor and the Raycor.

The reply was "Mayby they are clogged again" I sort of bristled and told the guy on the phone that they wern't clogged in the first place and the boat was new and the fuel tank was clean enough to eat out of.

I pointed out that since the insides of the carburetors were being eaten away and turning to a white goop when wet or powder when dry and this white stuff was in turn clogging the low speed jets all the filtration in the workd wasn't going to help.

I've pulled the filter and dumped it into a jar to see if there was any visible water and the fuel appears clean and clear rather than cloudy when overloaded with water.

I also took the boat out on the 16th and it ran somewhat better but there is still a noticable low end sputter and hesitation. I must have fifty bucks worth of fuel treatments in this tank and I'm foing to run this through and see if things improve otherwise it's back to the shop for the third time.

I'm recomending that if you are having motor problems that you can attribute to E10 fuel first call your state government and complain, tell the dealer and also register your gripe with your motor manufacturer even if your motor isn't under warentee as ther guys will react if there's enough bad press.

An interesting side note here is that I stopped in to get some parts for my little tiller and was talking to the guy behind the counter and he told me that fuel related problems and repairs have trebled. They are a Sthil, Kubota, Snapper dealer and they deal in everything from chain saws and weed eaters to quads and tractors, they found my outboard problems pretty interesting as they see the link.

[Jan from Humboldt]

Just a quick update on the fuel/motor issues it appears after running a couple of treated tanks of fuel through the motor (21 gallons a tank) the problems may be cured it starts and runs fine now.

The filter, Star-Tron and Ring Free may have solved it.

[MolarBoater]

Suzuki says 10% OK. I always go with Premium gas when the boat is on the trailer and Stabl, added the fuel/water separator....too bad there is not a fuel/ethenol separator out yet. Seems there's a market for Racor or at least one that decreased the ethenol content by 50% or more.
Anyone out there active in the chemical engeneering world? An additive that would bind ethenol and the fuel/water separator would catch it or would burn cleanly. Or is this simply a water in the fuel system problem?
We all should know the power output of ethenol based fuel is lower hence we may be faced with lower powering motors. Should we be adding octane booster or is that risky with four strokes and modern fuel injection?

[OspreyVic]

Being concerned after reading the above posts that recommended Star-Tron, I sent an e-mail to Sta-Bil. Their answer is below. My guess, after reading the response, is that Sta-Bil is re-packaged for Yamaha to sell as their own fuel stabilizer. Why would Yamaha recommend something other than their own product? Guess I still have more questions than answers, but I will stick with Sta-Bil for my Yamaha 150 four stroke.


Stick, with proven technology products, that you know, and have used like Sta-Bil. Yamaha also carries a great Fuel Stabilizer part# ACC-FUELC-ND-12 Yamaha Fuel Stabilizer Direct from Yamaha.

These are proven and work. Up here in Illinois (the heart of Ethanol 10% and E-85 ) Sta-Bil has proved it’s value with 10% ethanol blends for more than 12 years. That’s how long we have proved Sta-Bil with 10% ethanol RFG blends.


Robert "Tom" Wicks
Manager of Product Development
Technical Marketing
Gold Eagle
773-326-6354
twicks@goldeagle.com

[Jan from Humboldt]

Let me be clear Vic, Yamaha did not recomend Star Tron by name, they recomended an Enzyme based fuel stabilizer, the guy's name was Wilson at the outboard help line.

I mentioned the brand name as it was the only one I was able to find here.

However the bottom line is that as I stated in the previous post it sure seems to work and my motor is running fine now

[MolarBoater]

Hmmm, what stock symbol is StaBil traded under?

[ksr5]

I need some help i can't find the new 10 micron water seperator filter for my yamaha. Online places say they have it but when i call they are out of them. Dick do you carry these filters?

[tarheelborn66]

There is an article in the current BoatUS magazine you receive as a member that talks about this very thing. I haven't read it in depth but when I do, I will post the highlights of the article.