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What in the hell is this in my stock 1984 Outrage 18' gas tank? This boat flooded (rain) 6 years ago and sat on a trailer until I picked her up 4 weeks ago. 2 tank drains, 3 Yamaha 10M filter's and 3 injector cleaning's later this crap is still lingering. Not nearly as bad today after another tilt & clean but would love to hear your thoughts. CG Wilson, you can't play, I'm afraid your right and the thought of tank replacement right now make's me ill. My Q is this, could this be residue from fresh water intrusion that sat in the tank for over 5 years?
Whatever it is, old water, bad gas that has gelled into varnish, phase separation of an ethanol blended fuel, you're going to have to get the tank professionally cleaned. I wouldn't run that through the engine even with all those filters. I used to live on my trawler in a marina and it wasn't uncommon for people to have a fuel polishing service clean their fuel in the tank but that was diesel. Don'tknow if they do that for gasoline. That "stuff" is probably moving around the bottom of the tank and is picked up when it happens to pass the pickup tube. You could be changing filters for a long time and that could get expensive. If you can't have the tank cleaned or the fuel polished, I would position the boat to make one corner of the tank lower than the rest, remove the access plate and start removing fuel for disposal from that corner until you get clean gas.
Edited by wing15601 on 07/16/15 - 3:38 PM
I winter in Ft. Myers and summer in St. Joseph, Michigan. It’s now about 12 years since I’ve joined this group. I gave my 1972 whaler to my daughter and sold the 17’. Bought an O’Day 28 sailboat and sailed on Lake Michigan. Yesterday I bought a 2005 130 Sport.
I would remove one of the fuel pickups and stick a tube into it and at least pump the bottom of the tank. Tilt the bow up as high as you can before you pump it.
If you even think it is foam from outside the tank you should get the tank pressure tested.
You could probably figure how to do this yourself with a simple plumbing pressure gauge and and adapters that will connect to your tank. Remember that the tank has a vent that you will have to disable for a proper pressure test,
I bet that stuff is gelled e-gas but you thought it was worse. Hope I am right for your $$$.
