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BF225 Water Separator Issues... STILL... argh! Help Anyone!

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fishingdad

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I'm having a continual issue with water getting into my fuel line AFTER my in-line Racor.

It started about a month ago, after owning this motor for over a year with zero issues at all. I began to get the water contamination alarm after about 6 miles of travel. At first I thought I bought a bad tank of gas, but my Racor bowl was full of fuel, and no water at all. (I've replaced the Racor with a new one in case it was a faulty filter). Yet the Honda separator bowl was full of water...

Here's how my system is plumbed. My gas tank runs into a Racor filter, after the Racor it's split into two lines, one for my main Honda and one for my small kicker. My kicker runs flawlessly, and it gets the same gas. The only difference is that the fuel to the kicker is run through it's own line after the Racor, so there must be a problem with the actual fuel line (crack, hole, etc.) from the Racor to the Honda... right?

I replaced the entire line, all the way up to the Honda fuel separator itself this weekend... guess what... after about 6 miles at 3/4 throttle, boom.. the alarm started again... checked the separator, and sure enough it was full of water, and the Racor had zero water in it... WTF!?

Has anyone else had an issue like this before? Is there anywhere in the motor that water can get into the line??? This is making no sense at all!
 
There are only two possibilities - 1. The fuel line is going under water somehow, (like in your bilge) and the suction through a fitting or crack is drawing in that water into the fuel line. If that is the case, find the leak and re-route the fuel line. 2. The connections at the Racor are screwed up.

First things first - eliminate any water in your tank. Tilt your boat on a trailer or lift and pump out some fuel from the very bottom of the tank. You can use a squeeze-bulb pump to do this, or you can purchase and after market electric fuel pump from your local auto parts store and hook up a pick-up hose long enough to get to the very bottom corner of your tank. You will likely find a good bit of water (and other junk). Next, pull the Racor - head, fittings and all, and make sure your hooks ups are correct. If I recall correctly, there will be two inflow fittings and two outflow fittings, marked by arrows. If everything is plumbed correctly, then replace the head.
 
My lines don't even go under the waterline after the Racor. This is truly confusing to me, while I'm no mechanic, this seems completely confusing.

I did some more work on the boat today, and noticed that my Racor did infact have about 1/2 ounce of water in the bottom of the bowl (have ran the boat for 200-300 hours on this filter, so that seems appropriate), I bled the bowl and now it's all gas in there. Can you tell me if the Racor extracts all the water in gas? I would imagine that almost 100% of the water is extracted, and if you allow the clear bowl to fill with water, then eventually water will pass through to the motor.

I'm not sure about the racor connections being screwed up, the bracket and plumbing was there when I bought the boat, but it worked flawlessly for well over 400 hours with the current connections, so I'm not sure that could be the issue, although I'll check tomorrow.

Also, the kicker isn't getting any water in it, it's a yamaha 4stroke and from what I understand they are rather fussy when it comes to any water gas line.

At least I'm learning a ton about the boat!

Thanks for all the advice.. keep it coming!
 
If you are getting water in the onboard fuel/water seperator, but not the racor, then the Racor has failed for some reason. You said you recently replaced the Racor filter element. Are you sure you used the correct filter replacement? See http://www.maesco.com/products/racor/r_gas/r_gas.html

It is possible you did not see the problem previously because you didn't have any water in the fuel during that period. So, get as much water out of your tank as you can and replace the Racor, head and all.
 
I'll replace the Racor today.

My only question is, why is the kicker motor (8HP Yamaha) not being effected by this? (it's plumbed to the same gas and goes through the same filter) Is it possible the Racor is faulty only at higher volumes of fuel?

Hoping today is the day that this is solved.

Thanks!
 
It is possible that the Racor has good flow on one, lower volume outlet, but not the other higher output one. I've really never torn one apart, so I don't know for sure. Just for grins, I would take the old head and see if there are any blockages in it.
 
I just wanted to update this thread, so you know the resolution.

Turns out that my Aux tank had a water issue or a bad tank of gas was pumped into it.

The Racor was a bit sketchy, and would do an adequate job separating H2O when my small kicker was running, and I was trolling. However, when I engaged my Honda 225, the rate of fuel going through the Racor overwhelmed it, and a lot of water was getting though. I've replaced the Racor, and am only running on the main tank until I get the AUX gas tank emptied. I'm religiously checking my bowl on the Racor to see if any water is in the bottom, and I'm also taking the cover off the Honda after every trip to inspect that bowl... no signs of H2O in either since replacing the the Racor and exclusively using the Main Gas tank.

Thanks for all the input! saved me a bunch of cash!
 
I had experience this very issue and was told that the over flow line coming from the VST tank can get a vacuum on it and actually suck water into the tank there by causing the high pressure pump not to be able allow the enigine to run over 2500 R"s - The local Honda rep said he did something to fix
(recall) although I do not know what - I did have a good run last year. Maybe a check valve to stop back flow on vacuum - My engines sit low and that area can be under wash at times .
 
I had a similar issue. My solution was related to the vent tube on my main tank. it was obstructed and that created a good amount of water everyday with the temperature and presure transition. When i found it out, i had not need to replace the racor but drain the VST, clean the water sensor on the fiter and replace the vent tube. Hope this helps in the future.
 
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