Mercruiser Alpha one, water in petrol

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onleyb

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Hi, I have had to remove water from the fuel tank that had previously contaminated the carb on one engine. The previous owner had never winterised properly. After going up onto the plane more water shifted and again came through the fuel filter. Can anyone recommend a decent fuel filter that will not let water through? I think the present fuel filters are from JCB's!
thanks in advance Bob
 
Sounsds like you need a water seperater/filter and not just filters. If theres that much water in the tanks it may well be worth emptying the tanks completely to get rid of all the water/crud.
 
Agree with BarryH. A complete tank cleanout would be a good idea if this is a recurring problem. A filter separator is a good idea as the fuel floats on top of the water and you can drain the separator regularly, but it would be better to get rid of it from the tank first and then fit one or you will be forever clearing it. If memory serves, I think the techie name for these things is an Agglomerator!

What worries me more is how the water is getting in there. Suggest you check the deck filler seals and vents and have a look at the tank and see if there is any corrosion. The last thing you need is petrol leaking out of a perforated tank.

Hope this helps

JH
 
I would:
a) Make every effort to pump out all the fuel in the tank and refill. You have no idea how much water is in the tank and ya could spend month's draining and refilling the filters every time you get on the plane. And if water sits in the carb or fuel pumps for any length of time it's quite likely they could be damaged.
b) If there's a possibility of the tank or pipework being damaged to allow water in - stop using the boat immediately until the problem has been fixed. Petrol vapour, especially if it's in an enclosed space (engine compartment, cabin etc) is lethal.

Having said that, if it's a no on both counts, the normal mercruiser/mercury spin on fuel filter assembly is also badged as water seperating, and you can spin the filter off, empty the water out, and carry on using it again.

Hope this helps
Matt
 
As others have said, you need a separator.

I had the same problem with a 3.0 lt Mercruiser last year & am still having a battle with the dealer over it.

The 3.0 lt engine is the only Mercruiser engine not fitted as standard with a separator & it wasn't mentioned when I bought the boat new (4 months before).

As I discovered, it takes very little water to completely [oh really!] up the carburetor, pipework & fittings, there is no protective plating on any of the internals of the fuel system.

After draining via a separator & cleaning the tank it would appear that there was only a few tablespoons of water in the tank.

I have no idea how the water got into the system, but have been told that a number of customers of the garage I bought fuel from have had similar problems.
 
There is a quiksilver(mercruiser) product called "dri-fuel" which you pour into the tank. Unfortunatly it would not cope with huge amounts of water. Like the gang have said drain tanks etc etc.... But once this is done it could be worth putting some in the tank. It basically bonds all the water together and breaks it down.

We normally stick it in the tanks a few weeks before a winterise. This allows the onwer to still use the boat and gets into the pipes and carb before we lay-up.
 
Bob, any Uk Mercury/Mercruiser dealer, its listed in the quicsilver accessories book. to add, I recommend fuel stablizer added to the tank over lay-up it prevents fuel degridation.
 
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