ethanol blues (?)

[steven]

Atomic 4 was purring like a kitten. Then just stopped. No sputtering or smoke or anything. Mechanic looked at it and couldn't find anything obviously wrong, except maybe ethanol + humidity gummed up rubber tip of the fuel valve needle.

Cleaned it (and replaced fuel filter - even though that was not the problem). And a tune up, because it was due for annual anyway. Purring again.

anyone running into similar problems with ethanol? or could there be something else going on?

--Steve

 

[rwthomas1]

I had a problem with my outboard. The ethanol killed the needle tips, swelled them up so the needle would stick in the bore and not allow fuel intermittently. The solution was a carb rebuild but no one could tell me if the new parts were ethanol resistant or not since its an older outboard. My solution has been to remove the fuel line about 80 yards before I get to the dock and run the carb bowl dry if I am leaving the dink for more than a day. So far it has worked very well, no issues at all.

What I am getting at is you may want to get in the habit of shutting off the fuel and running the carb bowl dry if you are leaving the boat for more than a day or so. Its really easy to do on most engines.

RT

 

[SurabyaKid]

I followed the same procedure of shutting the fuel line and letting the engine run itself dry on my previous boats A4 for 8 years and never had a problem with the carburator.

Pat
E26->"Pronto"

 

[jkm]

Steve-

The quality of cheap gas is terrible. If you let fuel sit for a few months it will coagulate in the float bowl resulting in your engine always starving for fuel. You'll have this lump of material that reminds me of old maple syrup.

I now add a bottle of Chevron Techron, fuel injector cleaner or other product that will dissolve the gunk each time I fill up the tank. Of course I toss in a little Marvel Mystery Oil for good luck.

In the last year I've had to clean the float bowls in my old Triumph, Ericson and scooter couple of times each. I'm swearing off cheap gas.

My A4 runs like a top and the only issue I had in the last five or six years was replacing the coil, as she would shut down after motoring for four or five hours. Just quit, no sputtering, just off.

Some old salt in an auto parts store suggested that I replace the coil as he claims that an over heated coil will do just that. He swore that he recalled that was a problem with A4s back when he was a young man.

Since changing the coil I've had no problems, except the gunk in the float bowl.
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John