Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

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lkbum

Chief Petty Officer
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Sep 1, 2008
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I know what Vapor lock is and how to prevent it (if you're interested see this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapor_lock.)
This weekend, three boats including mine experienced vapor lock. None of them driven very hard prior to shutdown, ambient temp in the mid 80's. All mercruisers, one 4.3 v-6, one 7.4l V-8, and mine, twin 5.0L. All restarted and ran fine after a couple of hour cool down. The only thing we all had in common was using Non-ethanol (recreational grade) gas (89 octane) from the local marina. Maybe a bad batch of gas? Anyone others using non-ethanol grade gas had this problem (I know the problem is supposed to be worse with ethanol).
 
oldjeep

oldjeep

Admiral
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May 17, 2010
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Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

Sounds like bad gas. Neither straight gas or ethanol should be magically causing vapor lock in a bunch of different motors.
 
Bob_VT

Bob_VT

Moderator & Unofficial iBoats Historian
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Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

Why are you starting another thread when you already have one going on vapor lock??
 
T

TyeeMan

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Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

I have a volvo GS 4.3 H.O. and have never, ever had any trouble vapor locking with, or with out ethenol. Same goes for the 3.0L Merc in my last boat. Likely crap gas from the Marina.

That said, , , with all these posts about bad gas from marinas, ethenol this and ethenol that, , is it me or does no-one bring in cans of gas to their boat. I mean I get it, you're not going to bring in 150-200 gallons of fuel in 6 gallon cans, but how bout 20 gallons at a time, purchasing fuel from a high traffic filling station. There are plenty of times when I'm up north Mn and I see some cat roll in to the local high traffic filling station with 4-5, 6 gallon cans. :confused:
 
S

shrew

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Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

TyeeMan said:
.......is it me or does no-one bring in cans of gas to their boat. I mean I get it, you're not going to bring in 150-200 gallons of fuel in 6 gallon cans, but how bout 20 gallons at a time, purchasing fuel from a high traffic filling station.
Click to expand...

Many marinas won't let you fuel your boat using a jerry can. Neither my marina nor any marina around me will allow it. We don't have a gas dock at my marina. It's more about environmental spills, fire safety and liability than anything else.
 
Philster

Philster

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Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

TyeeMan said:
I have a volvo GS 4.3 H.O. and have never, ever had any trouble vapor locking with, or with out ethenol. Same goes for the 3.0L Merc in my last boat. Likely crap gas from the Marina.

That said, , , with all these posts about bad gas from marinas, ethenol this and ethenol that, , is it me or does no-one bring in cans of gas to their boat. I mean I get it, you're not going to bring in 150-200 gallons of fuel in 6 gallon cans, but how bout 20 gallons at a time, purchasing fuel from a high traffic filling station. There are plenty of times when I'm up north Mn and I see some cat roll in to the local high traffic filling station with 4-5, 6 gallon cans. :confused:
Click to expand...

Wow... seriously.... your applying everything about your boat and its size and location to everyone?

It's impractical for many, many people to drag cans of gas to their boats.
 
L

lkbum

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 1, 2008
Messages
445
Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

Bob_VT said:
Why are you starting another thread when you already have one going on vapor lock??
Click to expand...

It was moved to a trouble shooting section. I was curious about boaters experience with recreational grade gas. I guess what I was asking went over the head of the moderator that moved it so I re-worded it so as not to confuse the mod.
 
L

lkbum

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Sep 1, 2008
Messages
445
Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

TyeeMan said:
I have a volvo GS 4.3 H.O. and have never, ever had any trouble vapor locking with, or with out ethenol. Same goes for the 3.0L Merc in my last boat. Likely crap gas from the Marina.

That said, , , with all these posts about bad gas from marinas, ethenol this and ethenol that, , is it me or does no-one bring in cans of gas to their boat. I mean I get it, you're not going to bring in 150-200 gallons of fuel in 6 gallon cans, but how bout 20 gallons at a time, purchasing fuel from a high traffic filling station. There are plenty of times when I'm up north Mn and I see some cat roll in to the local high traffic filling station with 4-5, 6 gallon cans. :confused:
Click to expand...

Our local marinas are the only location I know of in my area that sell non-ethanol gas. Thought it would be better for the boat. I also buy a little over 100 gallons per fill up.
 
A

Another retired guy

Ensign
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Jun 17, 2012
Messages
940
Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

I run a Merc 4.3 with Rochester carb and have no problems with either ethanol or non- ethanol gas.
I believe that ethanol is only a problem if boat is not used much and even then there are additives available to counteract ethanol problems.
As someone else mentioned, best fuel is that which comes from a high-volume station - you know it's not old gas.
 
R

rallyart

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Jun 7, 2008
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1,177
Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

It's sounds more like bad gas than the fact that it's recreational gas. Vapor lock is more related to the overall volatility of fuel than it's octane or ethanol content. If you have a winter fuel mix used in Canada which needs to vaporize easily or a summer fuel mix from Arizona which you don't want to vaporize there can be a big difference. The AZ fuel won't start in the cold. The CDN fuel will vapor lock right away in high heat.
 
jestor68

jestor68

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Re: Anyone had issues with "recreational grade" non-ethanol gas

"The only thing we had in common was getting gas at the local marina".:rolleyes:
 
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