I tried to use a syphon [more common spelling is siphon] pump to remove fuel from the fuel tank of an OUTRAGE 17, but it did not work.
Q1: do I have to open one of the ports that are on the [cockpit] deck to access the fuel tank more directly?
BACKSTORY
I have not run my E-TEC 115-HP engine on the water for about a year. I do run the engine about every 30-days on a hose adaptor. The gasoline in the fuel tank was treated with a gasoline stabilizer.
I am concerned that water is condensing in the fuel tank.
I live in southern Georgia.
How to Siphon Gasoline from Fuel Tank
Re: How to Siphon Gasoline from Fuel Tank
If the fuel with treated a stabilizer product when it was new, it should be good for at least 16 months in my experience.
The E-TEC has a formed fuel line in the engine that runs approximately one-foot forward of the engine where it is joined to the boat's fuel line using a hose barb and either Oetiker clamps or hose clamps.
It is recommended you drain some fuel so you can assess its condition.
To drain fuel:
Detach the clamps and pull the hose sections apart. Use the primer bulb upstream of the barb to fill a large glass jar with fuel so you can inspect it.
If there isn't a primer bulb already inline, install a OEM branded primer bulb that fits the interior diameter of the fuel hose. After market primer bulbs have been shown to fail after only a few years.
After letting the jar sit for an hour, observe if there are separated layers. If there are no layers present, reassemble the fuel hose (replace used oetiker clamps with stainless hose clamps) and use the fuel as is. If there are separated layers, drain the tank and fill with fresh fuel.
[Do you have] questions?
The E-TEC has a formed fuel line in the engine that runs approximately one-foot forward of the engine where it is joined to the boat's fuel line using a hose barb and either Oetiker clamps or hose clamps.
It is recommended you drain some fuel so you can assess its condition.
To drain fuel:
Detach the clamps and pull the hose sections apart. Use the primer bulb upstream of the barb to fill a large glass jar with fuel so you can inspect it.
If there isn't a primer bulb already inline, install a OEM branded primer bulb that fits the interior diameter of the fuel hose. After market primer bulbs have been shown to fail after only a few years.
After letting the jar sit for an hour, observe if there are separated layers. If there are no layers present, reassemble the fuel hose (replace used oetiker clamps with stainless hose clamps) and use the fuel as is. If there are separated layers, drain the tank and fill with fresh fuel.
[Do you have] questions?
1992 Outrage 17
2019 E-TEC 90
2018 LoadRite 18280096VT
Member since 2003
2019 E-TEC 90
2018 LoadRite 18280096VT
Member since 2003
Re: How to Siphon Gasoline from Fuel Tank
An E-TEC 115-HP engine has its own fuel-water separating filter under the engine cowling. The filter has a sensor that will alert you to a problem with water in the fuel. Read the operator’s guide for your engine to learn more about it.
Your concern that water will enter the fuel from condensation is probably a needless worry. Boaters talk about water condensing out of air, but I do not believe this actually happens in any amount to worry about.
The real ways water gets into the fuel tank are:
Some years ago I made an experiment with a glass jar of gasoline. I intentionally added water to it, then shook the jar to get the water into emulsion with the gasoline. I let it sit like that for several years in a closet that experienced a lot of temperature variations from summer to winter. The water never separated out from the gasoline.
You are welcome to fiddle around drawing off gasoline from your fuel tank to satisfy your curiosity. Or you could just (very carefully) unscrew the engine’s canister fuel filter and pour out its contents (while not damaging the sensor electrodes). But there is not likely to be any water in that filter. If there were water in the filters, the engine would have registered a fault code about it. Having a fuel-water separating filter with an integral water-detector in the filter housing is another example of good design in the E-TEC V-block engines.
I tend to prefer the if-it-is-not-broken-do-not-fiddle-with-it approach, and I don’t take apart components of a working system just to look for imagined problems that have not occurred yet.
Your concern that water will enter the fuel from condensation is probably a needless worry. Boaters talk about water condensing out of air, but I do not believe this actually happens in any amount to worry about.
The real ways water gets into the fuel tank are:
- from a leak in the top surface of the tank and having standing water sitting on that surface, or
- from buying contaminated fuel from a retail fuel station that has poor facilities and sells contaminated gasoline, or
- from a leak in the fuel filler hose that allows water draining off the deck to get into the fuel tank.
Some years ago I made an experiment with a glass jar of gasoline. I intentionally added water to it, then shook the jar to get the water into emulsion with the gasoline. I let it sit like that for several years in a closet that experienced a lot of temperature variations from summer to winter. The water never separated out from the gasoline.
You are welcome to fiddle around drawing off gasoline from your fuel tank to satisfy your curiosity. Or you could just (very carefully) unscrew the engine’s canister fuel filter and pour out its contents (while not damaging the sensor electrodes). But there is not likely to be any water in that filter. If there were water in the filters, the engine would have registered a fault code about it. Having a fuel-water separating filter with an integral water-detector in the filter housing is another example of good design in the E-TEC V-block engines.
I tend to prefer the if-it-is-not-broken-do-not-fiddle-with-it approach, and I don’t take apart components of a working system just to look for imagined problems that have not occurred yet.
Re: How to Siphon Gasoline from Fuel Tank
Q2: what is the purity of the gasoline in the fuel tank with regard to dilution with ethanol?
Re: How to Siphon Gasoline from Fuel Tank
Regarding attempting to remove fuel from a fuel tank by using the fuel filler inlet, there are two significant problems:
- unless the fuel filler hose makes a perfectly straight downward plunge into the fuel rake, the filler hose path probably contain at least two 90-degree bends created by elbow fittings; the chance of pushing a small hose down the filler inlet and through those elbows and getting to the tank bottom is very unlikely;
- if the purpose is to check for water sitting in the tank in a phase barrier separation with the gasoline, unless you draw off from the lowest point in the tank you will miss any water; water is denser than gasoline, so it is always at the bottom of the tank in the lowest area.