Ethanol Fuel storage
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 1,458
Likes: 1
From: Collinsville MS
St. Jude Donor '08
Ethanol Fuel storage
I came home last week from Afghanistan on my mid tour leave. I go and get in my C3 and crank it up and pull it out of the shop. As its sitting out there idling it starts to have a slight miss.... WTF???! I put it down to not being run in awhile and shut it off. I pull my IROC into the shop (planning on sticking new fuel injectors in it the others were the originals) start on it and the fuel comes out looking like 3 week old mule ****. I tear the injection system down, everything is just nasty. I drain the tank, fill it up with new gas everything is fine.
Go to the lake with my boat, start out across the lake and halfway across it starts sputtering. Say what the heck, load it up and go home. Next day go to the marine dealer and tell him I thought it might be the fuel pump or fuel line sucking air and he said pull the filter and look at the fuel inside. I do, its half full of water. He told me that the ethanol in the fuel now attracts water, not to mention the corrosion problems down the road.
Last fall right before I deployed I filled all my cars up (I have always heard keeping them full keeps condensation to a minimum) and put the fuel stabilizer in them. All of them now are showing water in the tanks. All were stored inside and were started monthly by my brother. My C3 has a brand new fuel tank on it and now it has water in it. Is the ethanol the cause and if so is there anyway to beat it? I am about to leave again and wont be back before Christmas..... Do I have to throw another couple hundred dollars worth of fuel out again then?
Go to the lake with my boat, start out across the lake and halfway across it starts sputtering. Say what the heck, load it up and go home. Next day go to the marine dealer and tell him I thought it might be the fuel pump or fuel line sucking air and he said pull the filter and look at the fuel inside. I do, its half full of water. He told me that the ethanol in the fuel now attracts water, not to mention the corrosion problems down the road.
Last fall right before I deployed I filled all my cars up (I have always heard keeping them full keeps condensation to a minimum) and put the fuel stabilizer in them. All of them now are showing water in the tanks. All were stored inside and were started monthly by my brother. My C3 has a brand new fuel tank on it and now it has water in it. Is the ethanol the cause and if so is there anyway to beat it? I am about to leave again and wont be back before Christmas..... Do I have to throw another couple hundred dollars worth of fuel out again then?
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 840
Likes: 4
From: Syracuse IN
yes, ethonal is the problem, I service and store upwards of 175 boats. This year we have seen more, water in gas, ethonal damage to carbs, and plugged fuel filters. Ethonal absorbs water, even from the atmosphere. I have been suggesting my customers to use STA-BIL for ethonal at every fill up. a quart cost $20 and will cover 320 gallons for daily use. Use one ounce per gallon for storage. The color is Blue, Green. Are you storing the equipment inside a heated building or unheated? You might consider a fuel / water seperating filter on all of your vehicles. Allan
