ethanol

Hi guys There starting to mix the petrol with ethanol in our country New Zealand ,Wat can this mean for the outboard motors here, In my manual it says not to run with ethanol, Herd a story from a boat shop up north a motor had blowen up and they mean blowen up it melted the tops of the piston and put the bits down to the rest of the motor made a real mess also the rubber seals were all blowen up and fell to bits So they looked into it to find out there starting to mix the fuels but havent told any one My question is what do you have to do to run your motor on this type of fuel safley are they bring out seals that are ethonal proof do you have to regap rings with more clearance My motor is a 02 90hp with 150 hours on it Dont want to touch it yet but if it saves the motor from blowing up will be the lesser of the 2 evils ,Your feed back would be very helpfull Cheers from down under

The main problem as I understand it is compatibility of older fuel hoses and pump components with the fuels containing ethanol. I'd have thought that perhaps a 2002 model already had ethanol resistant parts .

There may also be issues with storage. You may find that fuels containing ethanol deteriorate more quickly and that a fuel stabiliser is required for storage exceeding a few weeks.

Ethanol actually keeps your whole fuel system cleaner than (regular) gas.

Yes, it can cause problems for old rubber fuel lines, but generally anything produced from the mid 1970's onward is ok. If you have any concerns a couple feet of bulk hose from any automotive place is a cheap fix.

Ethanol however, is not without it's issues.

It attracts moisture and then over time phase separates so you end up with a watery mess at the bottom of your fuel tank (or in carb bowls if they sit idle long enough).

To combat this the best advice is to ALWAYS run fresh, stablized gas and install an inline water separating filter if you are running any motor larger than a portable.

Why stablize if running fresh all the time? Unless you completely drain your entire fuel system (which can actually be a bad thing), the stablizer will stop the ethanol from phase separating in the system.

Despite your best preventative efforts, you may still end up with fuel system clogs when you initially change over to ethanol enhanced gas.

That's because the ethanol will break down all the varnish, gum and other "cooties" that are stuck in your fuel system (that up until now have sat there silently).

Most "blended" fuels are "no more than 10%" ethanol. I have been running E15 (15%) in four of my outboards (three are mid-80's models, with the "new" one a 91 model) for two seasons now with "zero" adverse affects.

I run portable gas tanks and at the end of the day, the left over gas (even if it's mixed 50:1) goes in my pick-up truck - it doesn't seem to mind when a couple gallons of 50:1 goes into it's 30 gallon gas tank.

If you can't drain your gas tanks then definely run stablizer (rated for ethanol gas), keep the vents tightly closed (to keep moisture out) and for prolonged periods of storage, fill the tanks completely. Less air means less moisture....

Way to go New Zealand!!!! The Italian nightmare!!!
Cheers!
Ok...I'm a soccer fan! Happy boating everyone!

I have a 115hp Fitch..per the dealer the e-gas has destroyed my fuel rails and fuel pump.

If that were true every direct injected motor out there would have fuel rail issues, and every motor with a fuel pump will also have problems - there has to be more to it than that..

E-10 is kinda like a VRO pump - a convenient thing to blame that rarely is the true cause. More often, failures with outboards can be tracked back to improper care or improper storage.

I called Bombardier directly and they told me that the fuel rails are failing on a large amount of DFI motors due to the E-Gas. This is mostly happening on the 200/250 models. In fact they told me the new parts won't be available untill mid July at best and not to use any older parts becuase this is causing dangerous fires. They said the problem lies with the shrader valve which is being eliminated in the new part. I didn't beleive the dealer so I did the reseach myself. Luckily a couple sets of fuel rails (older ones) have been found and are being shipped.

Some of the early Ficht motors did have an issue with fires and explosions due to an issue with the rails.

And I'm suspicious of BRP's comments - they are either admitting that the (former) OMC mis-engineered the product to the point where ethanol enhanced fuel, which was well into the market when they developed the Ficht motors or they are passing the blame for a poor part that was mfg before they owned the company and subsequently scrapped the Ficht powerheads.

And it still goes back to my original comment. If E-10 eats Ficht fuel rails, why is limited to a couple of horsepowers.

There are hundreds of Fichts out there running fine. Are they saying that ALL of them are running "un-enhanced" fuel?

I know sounds fishy to me as well. I just bought this boat at the end of last year. The motor has only 166 hours. Had the plugs changed, fuel filter, tps sensor, gas lines. Boat runs great under 4k rpms...anything over that engine cuts right out after a minute or two. After a two hour water test with mechanic they found the high end fuel pump was bad. That has been replaced but they found the gas leaking from the fuel rails. Hope to have this resolved soon.

My biggest issue with that statement coming from the "company" is -

When I flip open my 1986 OMC Service manual (the factory one, not an aftermarket like Seloc's), under the "Fuel Requirements" section it states "Any automotive gasoline or a gasoline with no more than 10% Ethanol" but "gasoline with Methanol is not acceptable".

So at least 12 years or so before the first Ficht ever hit the market, E10 was considered a (safe) fuel for OMC outboards.

Now, is the company trying to say that over a decade after they made that statement, that they engineered (at the time) the most technically advanced outboard on the planet (which was going to be their saviour from bankruptcy) and they either forgot about E-10, which they had already deemed "acceptable" or that they were somehow surprised that someone would run it in a Ficht motor and that is the cause of the issue - non-sense.

Something was mis-engineered, or built faulty and it's easier to point a finger, first at the owner, or second, some "outside" force (the fuel) than to admit that the problem really is a "factory defect"....

Being told these are shipping this week. I can't beleive I still don't have these parts. They have been in the testing phase. I'm being told there is a new vendor making them. My dealer had 5 boats waiting for them.

Still no fuel rails...BRP says they will be released 9/8 but this is the 3rd time they have given a release date...they have over 200 back ordered. The entire season was lost. Completlely disatified with this compane especialy there customer service and there ability to not produce a $235 part.