Is this varnish?

[Levie17]

Seemed gummy at first but as I cut open the filter it looked like this:

The filter is 2 weeks old

 

[Swagonmaster]

Since *varnish* is a rather catchall phrase for *crud that develops in fuel systems* then yes it is and to see that much in two weeks your fuel tank and/or hoses really need some cleaning or replacing.

 

[Faztbullet]

Looks like inner liner of fuel hose is degrading...suggest you replace supply hose. Bad thing as its in fuel pump also.

 

[Levie17]

Thanks! I'm in the process of swapping out the fuel lines. Hopefully it helps so I don't need to do any tank work.

 

[RideNFishCA]

I went through this on a boat I recently bought. I'm a first time owner and bought my boat out of state where it was run on non ethanol gas. I brought it to CA and and I am forced to run on 10% ethanol. My boat is 2005 model year along with my 115 4 stroke Merc and I ran for about 20 minutes and my fuel lines clogged the filter and the motor died. Pulled the fuel line off of the primer bulb and had a ton of those flakes.

Short story long (Ha!) I had old fuel lines. I called a boat shop in town and as soon as I told him of the problem this is what he asked. "Do you have grey fuel lines with red lettering?" Me: Why yes I do. Him: "You need grey fuel lines with blue lettering." The way he said it was funny. Like everyone in the world should know.
My fuel lines were old and not made for the ethanol fuel and it dissolved into those flakes. So I changed those out.

Just my .02¢ and it may not be worth that.

Cheers,