Running non ethanal during layup

[jonny rotten]

I was thinking about disconnecting the gas line between the water separator and the fuel pump and sticking the hose in a can of Ethanol free gas ( the stuff they sell at HD) running it for 20 minutes to get it in the carb for winter storage.
Think it's worth the effort?
Getting old rebuilding the carb every three years and wondering if this would make a difference?
4.3 carbed engine
2 BBL Rochester
8 month layup

 

[Lou C]

Sounds like a good idea!

 

[Scott06]

I was thinking about disconnecting the gas line between the water separator and the fuel pump and sticking the hose in a can of Ethanol free gas ( the stuff they sell at HD) running it for 20 minutes to get it in the carb for winter storage.
Think it's worth the effort?
Getting old rebuilding the carb every three years and wondering if this would make a difference?
4.3 carbed engine
2 BBL Rochester
8 month layup

Or just disconnect the fuel pump if electrical or take fuel line off and run into a can, run the carb dry.

If you have to rebuild every three years I suspect there's something else going on like your fuel tank has crud in it. I've run ethanol fuel for ten + years never had an issue just putting stabil in at winter lay up

 

[Lou C]

Agreed take off your fuel separator and dump it out in a Mason jar and let it sit. See what shows up in the bottom of the jar....
Here's what mine looks like, 100% E10 for 15+ seasons....
I've been getting approx 6 years between rebuilds, I might up-grade to the Racor filter, to see if that makes a difference.

 

[jonny rotten]

When I rebuild the carb that I do myself there is always white crusty crud.. Mostly around the main jets and the bottom of the reservoir
I figured that was the Ethanol left behind. Doesn't seem like crud from the tank. No black partials or anything like that.

I thought I read using stabilizer, that I do every year at layup, only helps the gas in the tank and the gas in the carb is going to evaporate and leave the Ethanol behind to crust up.
My thinking was run some Ethanol free in there to sorta blow out the gas and there will be no Ethanol left to crust up...."seems" like a good idea but wasn't sure if it would really make difference.

I was thinking about running it dry and calling it a day but dry doesn't actually mean dry and I would think there would still be something left to separate and potentially give me issues. Trying to do whatever I can to avoid a rebuild

 

[Alumarine]

30 some years using ethanol and have never had carb issues because of it.
For good luck I put some stabil in the last tank of the year.

 

[Lou C]

Here's how mine looks before cleaning....nothing like that. So somthing else might be going on, maybe alu fuel tank corroding inside?

 

[JASinIL2006]

I use ethanol, too, and my boat is wintered after having run ethanol fuel every year. I've never seen that in my carb. I think something else is the problem.

 

[dingbat]

White powder is the result of stagnate water interacting with the zinc in the casting.

Check the bottom of your fuel tank for water and Install a quality 10 micron separator.

Hard to beat a Racor with the drain on the bottom for ease of use and monitoring in this situation

 

[achris]

I'm the same. Did some tank work (repaired a crack) about 25 years ago. Now16 years with this engine and about 9 years with the previous and never touched the tank, or put any snake oil in it. Not had any issues. Change the fuel filter every couple of years and that's it.

White crust sounds like water in the fuel. Throw a litre of metho in the tank, check your tank filler cap seal and make sure the vent isn't in a wet area...

Chris....