Water in petrol has anyone tried meths to get rid of the water?

L

lynall

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Boat died on me yesterday 1 mile upriver from my marina!
Lots of faffing about, including an eyeful of petrol im pretty convinced theres water in the fuel.
Been doing some googling and it seems methylated spirits is the way to go as it absorbs the water and allows the mix to be burnt, has anyone tried this?
It all started when i went down to the boat a month ago and first thing i noticed was the fuel cap laying there, i hadnt been down the boat for two weeks and there had been a lot of rain.
Strange thing in my mind is if you walked past a boat with the fuel cap laying there wouldnt you refit it?
Anyway fired it up and yes some fuel was missing approx 30/50 litres, thanks boaty comrades!, drove the boat around to the hoist and it ran fine, when on the hard tank cover and fuel sender out visual inspection, no water present, of course as the tank is baffled i could only see into the centre section.
I have the carb off and stripped in my garage its totally spotless as to be expected as its only 4 years old.
So plan today is buy some meths, refit the carb, bung on another fuel filter and take it for a run.
Oh yes and as the tide was coming in pretty fast i got Lisa to drop the enchor so we didnt end up on the bank, then when i got the engine running, the anchor clutch started to slip and the motor was trying to pull the boat underwater, bit of nifty shifting about by lisa and it started to come up but was struggling, i went to give it a hand and what came up with the anchor? a bloody car tye full of mud;)
Waste of a day




Lynall
 
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Down boat this morning, filter off contents were 95 percent water, new filter and carb back on, will it start? will it hell.
Carb off and back home, someone i dont know who fitted the gasket back to front and blocked the acc pump feed port:rolleyes:
So going for another go this afternoon.



Lynall
 
The problem is obvious from your second picture and I'm surprised you haven't fixed it yet. Somebody has left a great big bloke in your engine.
 
Meths is a very expensive way of trying to rid water from petrol, even if it works. If you need to buy large quantities on Meths (a gallon at a time), get your local hardware shop to buy the 'catering pack. This is usually sold to people who do printing and I have been told the Off-set Litho guys need it in large quantities.

That said, Meths is not the way to go in my opinion. Syphon the lowest part of your fuel tank into external petrol containers and take onto the shore. Place the petrol can on a table and let them stand as water is heavier than petrol and will sink to the bottom of the can. The reason for placing on a table is that you can now use windscreen washer pipe and repeat the exercise by syphoning the lowest part of the petrol can into a tall thin container. The container has to be tall and thin (the thinner the better) and you will clearly see the layer of water where it changes to petrol. I use those glass non-fluted drinking glasses they used to give away with 5 gallons of petrol in the 1970's, two inches wide and 7" tall.

Yes it will take time but it is probably the only method apart from ditching all the fuel and re-filling with fresh?

BTW, you will possibly find that someone was in the process of stealing your fuel, that is why the filler cap was removed and not replaced. They are not interested in your boat, they only wanted to steal your fuel !! :O



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Try Quicksilver "QUICKSTOR" Fuel Stabilizer to treat the mixture and then fit a proper fuel/water like a Racor Racor

CJL
 
Right all sorted.
Bear in mind the tank is the width of the boat and you can see how its all happened, petrol stolen, cap left off rain water got in, i then drove it around to the lift, i sit on the starboard side and the fuel pick up is on the part side, so the water is on my side of the boat.
On the hard when i checked in tank no water present, but as i never gave it a thought to the boat being level the water was probably hiding behind one of the baffles.
Again when it was put back in, i was on my own so same applies for water on my side and fuel pick up clear.
BUT when we both went out in it wife was steering and i was leaning on the port side screen so boat would be listing that way as im a bit heavier then her, but love to wind her up and tell her theres not much difference!
So the fuel pick up got all the water, hence it died.
So yesterday, i ran the boat as we both stood on port side, engine died removed the fuel filter full of water, carried on doing this a few times until it kept running, then a few times more until hardly anything came out, then an hours run upriver and filter off again, less than a teaspsoon full of water drained from filter.
Added two litres of meths and im going to go for a longer run today, best thing is with petrol, its quite literally takes 30 seconds filter off and back on again and no bleeding required, but 24 hours later i can still smell petrol on my fingers, obviously the worst thing is it uses to much!
Im going to have a look at out filter selection today and see if we have anything larger with a sediment drain tap.
The Racor ones look real nice quality

Thanks for the replies much appreciated
Lynall
 
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