Volvo penta 57L 572A does it have a safety fuel shut off

"I have a 1993 23ft Excel with

"I have a 1993 23ft Excel with cuddy cabin. It has a Volvo Penta 572A 5.7L engine. I just bought the boat and before running it on the lake with my family I wanted to make sure that the cooling system was good to go and wouldn't over heat, I'm not sure when the last time the impeller was changed, however the previous owner said that it was winterized last winter and just needed to be dewinterized and it's ready for water. I took it to a nearby boat ramp and just backed it in so that the drive was under water. It started just fine and I checked to make sure the water was circulating (it was) so I reved it to about 1000 rpm and let it run for a minute. Still running great. The when I put the throttle back in neutral the engine shot off. My question is that I had the boat on the boat ramp at a fairly steep angle with 1/2 tank of gas, I was wondering if there is a safety shutoff that shuts the engine down at steep angles or if it was possible that the incline shifted the gas in the tank and it just ran out in the fuel line? Any info would be great, thanks in advance, Jeremy"

"No shut off... hopefully ran

"No shut off... hopefully ran out of fuel... (best scenario) Fuel pickups are usually towards the back of the tank.

It is always possible, that even though the P/O "winterized" the boat, that he did not stabilize the fuel. Ethanol blend gas, especially with a 1/2 full tank, are VERY hydroscopic. More likely that you sucked up enough water from the bottom of the tank to shut the engine off.

If the engine has a fuel filter with a water seperator, and you remove it and drain what gas is in it into a glass jar and wait a few mins, you will most likely see the water seperate out in the bottom. If you don't have such a filter, install one.

If there is water in the fuel, you'd best just drain the tank and get rid of it.

Alternatively... replace the existing fuel filter element with the RACOR one that has a drainable water filter element and keep running the engine until you get all the water out of the tank.

IF you don't have an owner's manual let me know."

"Robert,
Thanks for the re

"Robert,
Thanks for the reply, you are right on the money. I took it to the lake today just to see how it would do. It would start and run for a second or two then die again. Fortunately as that was happening a man came over to see what was wrong who happened to be a mechanic at a nearby boat shop. He took a look and recommended changing my fuel filter. I drove to his shop and he took it off and poured it into a glass jar just as you said. sure enough water and lots of it. He put new filter on and ran it a while. then said when I get it on water run the heck out of it to get the water out of it. I also purchased another filter, becuase he was certain it would do it again. So should I go ahead and drain the tank and put a new filter on? Also, you mentioned gas with ethanol. Should I not use gas with ethanol? I am new at this so please excuse any beginner questions that I probably need to know before even owning a boat. The more the boat was ran the better it ran, however I still think it should have performed better. What would be your next move? How would I go about draining tank and getting all the water out? Thanks again Robert.
Jeremy"

"There is a RACOR P/N B32020MA

"There is a RACOR P/N B32020MAM filter assembly that is intended to replace MERCRUISER spinon fuel filters. It consists of a replaceable filter element and a permanent water seperator that is drainable.

While you could drain the tank there will still be some water left in the bottom that you will have a hard time getting out. What I suggest is to install this filter assembly and drain the seperator on a regular basis until you get all the water out. When I did this on my boat, I went thru about 15 gallons of gas before the water stopped accumulating in the seperator.

RE: using non ethanol gas.... Lots of Luck on that. Non is available even though the damage to marine engines and fuel systems is probably in the millions of dollars. For example, Bertram was a pioneer in putting fuel tanks in their boats that were fibergalss and fireproof. Unfortunately, the fire retardant resin they used was soluable in ethanol. Many Bertrams have had engines totally trashed due to dissolved resin getting into the combustion chambers and many many gas tank ended up leaking. Basically every Bertram built from day one until the late 80s will need new gas tanks. Personally I had problems with both my 260 HP inboard and with an outboard on my sailboat...seems the aftermarket fuel line from the gas tank to the motor had a lining that was also soluable in ethanol. It was a major job redoing the carb and the fuel pump on that motor.

Pumping the gas out of the tank has some safety risks."

"That sounds like a much bette

"That sounds like a much better solution than draining the tank. I don't want to waste the 30-40 gallons I still have in it and I don't have a suitable place to hold the gas when it is drained.
Well I am off to the marine center to get that filter. After getting all the water out of the tank, will that filter need to be changed again or will it still be good after all that water being in it? Thanks again Robert. You are very helpful, I'll keep you updated once I get the filter on and start to run the water out."

"The partical seperator portio

"The partical seperator portion of the filter should be changed annually. The water seperator as indicated can be drained. Be careful with this, you can get some gas out of that port when draining as well."