How To Check Fuel For Water?!?!

[nosliw]

Hi all,

I have a 455 Stacer Sunmaster which I believe has a 70L underfloor fuel tank. After all the recent rain we've had my boat collected a lot of water as the bow was sitting on a slight downhill the water stayed in the boat.

I recently have had a few problems with starting up in which I richened the mixture which has helped dramatically. Im just a bit concerned that because the boat was full of water maybe some got into the fuel tank. One other thing I noticed when I took the boat for a run is at one stage after anchoring I could hear what sounded like compressed air slowly coming out, sort of like when you open a can of coke but only much more suttle and slower.

I would just like to know how to check for water in the fuel. I tried pulling the fuel line out from the motor and draning it from there but can only get a tiny bit out because of the clip. Also how would I remove the fuel filter? This may be a stupid questions but I've got one of those standard white fuel filters, does this have a water seperator as well or is it only the ones with the glass bottoms?

Cheers and thanks in advance.

[rooster]

I had the same problem when I left the boat on the river

for a couple of weeks with a lot of rain

Same symtoms and will quickly get harder to start very quickly

Pull the spark plugs out ,

Use a torch and look inside the block,

look for milky oily deposits will indicate water in the fuel,

the tank may need to drained and cleaned to remove excess water

don't know how to clean the block I paid someone to fix it from here

cost a coupla hundred bucks including new fuel etc

By the way it was a stacer 5.2 bowrider

[pjbink]

The fuel filter can be unscrewed with a special wrench designed for this purpose. It's not supposed to be re-used after this. Yours should be a water seperating type, but a bowl type one is more useful as you can drain it regularly. You should be able to siphon fuel via the fuel line. I'm not shore what the 'clip' you refer to is. If you mean the valve that clips onto the motor then you just remove it and give the primer some pumps.

To check for water tip the fuel into a bucket or some sort of open container. If there is any water in the fuel then it should be evident on the bottom.

Edited July 3, 2009 by billfisher

[pjbink]

I had the same problem when I left the boat on the river

for a couple of weeks with a lot of rain

Same symtoms and will quickly get harder to start very quickly

Pull the spark plugs out ,

Use a torch and look inside the block,

look for milky oily deposits will indicate water in the fuel,

the tank may need to drained and cleaned to remove excess water

don't know how to clean the block I paid someone to fix it from here

cost a coupla hundred bucks including new fuel etc

By the way it was a stacer 5.2 bowrider

The water shouln't get into the 'block', if it does it can cause major problems such as stuck pistons and other corrosion damage such as with the bearings and crankshaft. The problem is usually confined to the carby. You can usually fix this up by draining the bulbs at the bottom and flushing fresh fuel through.

[nosliw]

Thanks for all your help,

I have currently drained out 2-3L and am letting it sit to see the results.

[pjbink]

Thanks for all your help,

I have currently drained out 2-3L and am letting it sit to see the results.

You will need to drain it all out as the water, if there is any, will be sitting on the bottom of your fuel tank. As well as the fact you will want to get rid of this water in any case.