Fuel Issues again

What is going on with my fuel this is the second time in 6 months this has happened. I go down to start the boat and it acts like it isn't getting any fuel I drain the racor and this is what comes out. I take the filter off and this is what I see in the pics. Anyone wnat a 25' parker I want out.

Whoosh! That's nasty! I guess the good news is that the Racor seems to be doing it's job. Is this fuel kept in portable tanks or is it stored in a permanent onboard fuel tank?

Do you fuel at a fuel dock? My first thought is that I would want to try getting fuel from other sources.

If you are transporting fuel from a service station I would change stations. Just speculation on my part but if they are using a lot of ethanol in your area, it could be oxidizing the metal in an aluminum fuel tank.

I'd be inclined to take that stuff to the closest refinery and see if somebody there could help do an analysis on what the heck all that crap is made of. Good luck.

That is seriously nasty. It looks like you have had some serious water contamination, which has probably been further contaminated with some sort of algae.

I think you are going to have to drain and clean your tank if you want to get rid of the problem permanently. Below is a description of what I have done in the past on my first C-Hawk, which is similar to your Parker from a size and construction viewpoint. In your case, bypass the part about the inline filter.

The way I have cleaned the tank is to purchase an aftermarket 12V electric fuel pump from an automotive parts store and rig up a plastic hose on the intake side that will reach to the far corners of the tank. Then I raise the bow of the boat and tilt it slightly to one side so the fuel will accumulate in one corner of the tank and pump the fuel out through a standard, clear, inline fuel filter rigged up to the outflow side of the fuel pump. That filter will show you how much crap you are getting out. You will likely need to clean it out often. Also, pump the first several quarts of fuel into a clear glass container to see if there is much water in the bottom of the tank. You can use the remaining fuel (less the water and gunk) in your car or truck. Then put in a couple of gallons of new fresh fuel, drop the bow and slosh it around in the tank as best you can to pick up remaining debris. Raise and tilt the bow again, and pump that out, using the same procedure. That will get almost all the crap out of the tank and the Racor should take care of the rest.

Your best access to the tank on your boat will be through the fuel pick up tube plate. So, when you remove that, be sure to clean the pick up thoroughly, or replace it.

If you have a full tank, it will take well over 24 hours to pump out the tank using this method, so you may want to invest in another solution, such as a commercial fuel transfer pump. But they tend to be pretty expensive.

By the way, that electric fuel filter can be used for many other tasks around the home, like draining lawn equipment tanks, and transferring other fuels. It's relatively slow, but works consistently and safely.

I have several bottles of that same crap in my garage, same filter too. Make sure the fuel fill cap o-ring is in good shape, my fuel fill sits flush with the deck and water can easily enter from the cap, poor design IMO. Let us know what corrects the problem, I still think part of my issue was bad fuel as well.

So USA fuel services came out, and first removed the sending unit from the tank and pumped out the bottom 15 gallons, which appered to be mostly trash and water. He then added their "Propietary" fuel additive and hooked up to a electric pump and a bank of 2 micron filters. He let the fuel circulate through the filters for about and hour and a half. We then ran a borescope into the tank sending unit opening and were able to see that the tank was as shinny and clean as if it were brand new aluminum. Changed all my filters racor and the high and low pressure fuel filter. opened up the vst and changed the insulator under the high pressure pump. Found the float needle to be partially stuck so I replaced as well. the high pressure fuel filter appeared to have a white powdery residue coating it completely. Put it all back together and everything ran like a champ. he recommeded not getting fuel from where I had been getting it (VBFC) as it probably has contaminated tanks and to use their Gas-Shok treatment on a regular basis with fill ups. Guess it's back to carrying cans down to the boat, what a pain.

Glad you got that under control. But I imagine it was pretty expensive. I've heard about those recirculating filters for diesel - didn't know they could do it for gas too.

The white powdery stuff on your HP fuel filter was likely residue from the water that was sitting in there and being pumped through. Make sure your LP filter and the onboard fuel-water separator are also well cleaned.

You might also want to consider changing out your fuel filler cap. That was a lot of water in your tank, and it's hard to believe that it all came from the marina where you bought your fuel.

Also, you might want to check other marinas that sell the Valvtect treated gas. They have both a stabilizer and decarbonizer in the fuel. http://www.valvtect.com/. It's about 10 cents a gallon more expensive, but you don't have to worry about adding stabilizers and cleaners to your tank. Economically, I found that it's a good deal. 100 gallons of Valvtect treated gas costs an extra $10.00. Adding Marine Stabil and SeaFoam to 100 gallons costs a lot more than that.