fuel injection and ethenol blended fuels

[basscatter]

Hello fellow boaters. I've got a Suzi Df140 ( '03) with only 78 hrs on it. I recently took her to the shop to get my filters changed. I did this b/c I don't use the boat that often and it sits for up to 4 months at a time. t
The motor sits on an 18 ft basscat. My holeshot was only about a 3 second count. Now its up to about 6. The shop said I might need to replace the injection filter, which they did not do b/c it's only recomended at 500 hrs. ( I don't know this, thats what they told me ) The shop said that they have been seeing some problems with this that they attribute to the ever increasing ratio of alcohol in the fuels, which leaves a white sticky coating on these filters, and I'm assuming would damage or ruin the injectors themselves. top end seems to be o.k at about 62. Anybody heard of this ? Are there any " over-the-counter " injector cleaners than can be used. Are there any gas treatments for these blended fuels. The station I was using ( which was land based automotive ) I have just found was 10 % ethenol. Thanks for the help guys

 

[Rancherlee]

Re: fuel injection and ethenol blended fuels

Suzuki outboards run the same bosch style injectors that 90% of the cars on the road have been running for many MANY years. Minnesota has had e10 gas since before I got my drivers liscense 11 years ago and I've never had trouble with the injectors, and some of my cars sit all winter in storage and still have no issues.

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: fuel injection and ethenol blended fuels

Got any water below deck? A heavier hull could make it more sluggish.​

 

[Silvertip]

Re: fuel injection and ethenol blended fuels

Rancherlee is correct. We've been using E10 for years and the only three issues with it: 1) if the fuel system is old and dirty, E10 will clean it up and deposit the debris in the fuel filter. 2) If the fuel tank is an older fiberglass variety (not plastic) E10 will raise havoc with it and gum things up. If both your boat and the engine are low hours and you are having fuel filter problems -- you may be experiencing #3 which is water absorption. If you don't have one, you might consider adding a water trapping fuel filter. As for fuel treatment, SeaFoam (available at most auto stores) can be added to the fuel. E10 will not harm fuel injectors but E10 is wrongly being blamed by techs that like to shotgun problems rather than actually diagnosing them.

 

[Skinnywater]

Re: fuel injection and ethenol blended fuels

The auto dealership I work at has 11 car lines, 3 seperate garages side by side. Our shop houses Volvo, BMW and Mercedes Benz.
I can't speak for the other car lines but with the 3 that I'm in contact with there isn't any issues with ethanol blends, except for the '07 C230 and some SLK320's have a current recall to reflash the (M)otor(E)lectronicsCU for minor cold start/warmup issues with ethanol blended fuel.

The EPA engine sticker on my new '07 Honda BF90d (PFI) under ethanol fuel says to "see owners manuel". I scoured the manuel for any mention of ethanol fuel.
The only thing it says is to "use any automobile regular grade fuel".