Gas tank faulty?

[ClintGerus]

Hi,

Last weekend I put the boat in Friday night & tried starting it.
It's had trouble starting in the past & I expected no different.
Ended up killing the battery trying to get it going.
Pulled the boat out & got a charged battery & tried again.

As I killed the second battery, I noticed that the primer ball wasn't really hard... more spongy.
As I squeezed the ball I could hear air going in and out of the tank in sync with my pumping the ball.

When I took the hose off the motor & the tank, I gave it a pump and it was air tight (ball stayed hard)

I then went to take the hose connector off the tank and cannot since the screws are really rusted. The reason I wanted to remove it is that the book for the motor says there is a primary fuel filter located on the pickup tube that I thought might be plugged (or the whole shooting match rusted off)
Since the thing is rusted in place, I assumed that a new tank is in order.

Question(s) being;
1. Does this sound like a tank problem? If I think back, my starting woes could be related to this kind of problem.

2. How do these plastic tanks rank? The metal tank in question is vintage (1969) Can I expect comparable performance out of a plastic one?
Will gas/oil mix sitting in the tank during the week (when I'm not there) have an adverse effect on the tank? (Break down the plastic)

Thank you in advance for your consideration,
I have never been steered wrong here, just detailed accurate advice.

Clint

 

[jmburock]

Re: Gas tank faulty?

Try hooking up your fuel line to a spare plastic 3gallon tank and see if that solves the problem.

If you have a fuel pump, which I suspect you have, the fuel diaphragm may have a small hole in it causing a loss of pressure in the primer bulb and an inability to get the motor started. I would take that fuel pump apart if a plastic tank doesn't solve the problem. You may also need a new primer bulb as these also go bad w/ the check valves in them.

 

[hkeiner]

Re: Gas tank faulty?

2. How do these plastic tanks rank? The metal tank in question is vintage (1969) Can I expect comparable performance out of a plastic one? Will gas/oil mix sitting in the tank during the week (when I'm not there) have an adverse effect on the tank? (Break down the plastic)

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A plastic fuel tank for an outboard motor will hold up fine to any conditions related to the gas/oil inside. They are made for that purpose. There will be no breakdown of the plastic.​