| |
Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board
Re: Fiberglass gas tanks and ethanol
Posted By: Carl In Response To: Re: Fiberglass gas tanks and ethanol (Ken Scheben)
Date: Monday, 19 June 2006, at 12:01 p.m.
Peter,
As Capt Pat said you can do a search here and get all the gooey details(punn intended)But to save you a search I will tell you my problem started three years ago after receiving 30-40 gallons of fuel on an empty tank. Boat was running great on the way in for fuel, but on the way out the Port engine would not come up to speed, so I turned around and limped back to dock. Replaced filter and it seemed to run Okay, other then hard starting.
Withing the next few weeks starting got harder and harder,fuel consumption went up, a mis developed, all of which I assumed was the need for a tune-up. After tune up it ran a bit better, then a valve got stuck. I freed that up, then a rod bent, fixed that, then another and another. Fuel consumption went from 11-12/hr at cruise to 16-18. Within the next few weeks I could not run boat at any speed other then idle and most of the time a rod bent at startup after a nice backfire.
I had heads rebuilt, new carbs, new ignition components and tons of additives where used to try and clear the problem.
Second year with problem- I cleaned the tank out and ran fuel from Jersey (no Ethanol) I found using carb cleaner, or better yet Foaming Carb cleaner (Amsoils- PowerFoam) helped stop valves from sticking on startup, I would fog engine after each trip. This did not help with running though, I still could not get up to cruise without a Rod bending, pretty much due to the valve stems sticking. What seemed to work there was Techron an additive from Chevron. After a 2x dose I noticed a big difference as I was able to get to and hold cruising speed and old fuel burn. By the second tankfull I was almost at WOT again without a rod bending.
Figuring the problem was over with, I got some local fuel and by the next trip, I was back to hard starting, then backfiring and Rod bending. It was around then I heard the tank may be the issue. That is when I put her away last season.
After the past few years I am sort of at my wits end about what to do. Not being 100% sure the fix is a new tank I opted for an Alum tank, may not be the best choice, but was easier on the wallet and will give several years of service. Hopefully by the time it rots out I'll be looking to up size it anyway in the Diesel Conversion, or the trade up to a bigger/newwer boat.
Boat is a 1962 31 Express with 440's for power.
Dad had similiar issues, he has a 1962 Hatteras and had 440's prior to conversion to Diesel.
Guy behind pops has a 1976 31 Bertram Sportfish with New 454 Fuel Injected Engines, same issues. He put in new tank, had engines totally redone and is running perfect.
Anything I missed, please let me know, as you said we learn from others here.
| |
Bertram31.com General Bulletin Board is maintained by Patrick McCrary with WebBBS 5.12.