Fuel/Water Separator issues - HELP!

[Davem5353]

Hello all,
I'm hoping I'm putting this post under the right topic, if not just let me know and I'll move it.

I have a 1999 Lowe GLS 190 fish and ski boat with a 2003 Johnson 150hp outboard.
I bought the boat back in 11/16 and from auction and it sat for several years. (This was actually a PA Fish and Boat commission boat)
Without removing the gas tank since the deck is a solid piece of aluminum, I drained the poly fuel tank through the fuel sender opening to where it looked clean and there was no visible liquid in tank. Since I wanted to put a Moeller Fuel/Water separator on it and had to wait for it to come in, I ran the boat using a 6 gallon marine tank and the boat ran like a champ!
My problem began when I put the fuel/water separator on the boat. I mix the oil (50:1) directly in the fuel tank and it seems like the separator is filtering out the oil.
I've attached (hopefully) two pictures. The first one is fuel directly from the tank (on left in pic) and through the filter (on right in pic 1) Picture 2 is a close up of the liquid filtered from separator. After a day or so, there was a very slight amount of water in the container directly from the tank, but it wasn't even enough to cover the bottom of the bottle. (Had to tilt on site to even see it)

I'm at a loss on this. Could the filter be filtering the oil out?
Any help for this newbie to boating would be appreciated!

​Dave

 

[dingbat]

That's water....classic phase separation.

Remove fuel level sensor from tank. Raise the front of the boat and siphon the water from the bottom of the tank.

 

[Davem5353]

Thanks Dingbat! I thought I had all the water out before I put the fresh gas in. I actually pumped quite a bit of water out. That seems like a lot of water vs fuel in the bottle from the separator. Fuel in container from tank looks pretty good. I'll do as you recommended and pump tank again. Is there a way water can be getting into the tank? Last thing I want to do is cut the one piece aluminum deck if I don't have too. (Not sure if I mentioned but tank is poly and unsure of actual size)

 

[Chris1956]

Water can leak into the tank via the fuel gauge sender or fuel pickup fitting (if you have one). Water could also leak in via the vent or fill hoses, where they attach to the tank, although this would be rare.

It can also splash into the vent fitting, more common, but still rare.

Most likely the water leaks into via the fuel gauge sender unit or fuel pickup fitting. Make sure the gaskets are good. Caulk the fittings to the tank if you have to.

 

[dingbat]

Check the o-ring on the gas cap and make sure water can't collect around the fuel cap if you have a ventless fuel cap.

My fuel fills are recessed in a cut out on the gunnel. Never an issue (recess open on one side for drainage) until I parked the boat leaning a different way than normal allowing the recess to fill with water.

Turned out to be a known problem with the boat. Installed the recommend spacer under the fuel fills, problem resolved

 

[Davem5353]

Chris/Dingbat, thank y ou very much for the responses. I think it was a little of both!
I did as Dingbat suggested and pulled all the fuel out of the tank from the sender and when I open the sender, there seemed to be some wetness on the gasket and screw hole looked to be stripped. I put 3M marine sealant so hopefully that helps the situation!
I also noticed one of the vents lid wasn't covering it so I'm sure rain water was pouring in. (See attached pic but don't judge on the paint job!)

Hopefully these two fixes work! I won't be able to run the boat until next weekend but I will keep you updated.

I did have one other question.
The boat had a VRO unit on it that was removed and I mix oil directly into the gas. Would there be anything on my motor associated with the VRO that would make the alarm go off??

Thanks again for all the help,
Dave

 

[dingbat]

Looks like you found your problem

 

[oldboat1]

If the VRO harness is removed/unplugged, there will be no low oil alarm. Maybe you are getting an overheat alarm.