Cloudy fuel

[scottwvyc]

I just last week installed a pair of Racor 1000's. The bowls are much easier to see into than my old smaller Racor spin ons. What I noticed yesterday is the fuel in the port side bowl significantly cloudier than the starboard side. ( I have port & starboard tanks) . Whatever it is seems to be evenly suspeded in the fuel. Any ideas what it is ???

 

[Trojan]

Try switching bowls. Or tank feeds. May be it's just the bowl. Could be the fuel age or brand of fuel. I'm not sure I would worry.

BILL

 

[Capt.Erich]

You may have algae growing in the tank. It's not uncommon. Or you may have gotten the "bottom of the barrel" fuel the last time you fueled up. Marina's that don't move a lot of fuel will tend to have sludge in the bottom of their tanks. You can drain some into a clear jar and get a better look. Either way extra impurities can't be good for the engine.

 

[Brian Degulis]

Take about 2 gallons of fuel and put it in a glass container let it sit for a few days and see if anything seperates or anything settles out of it. If you don't see any change after 2 days I would not worry about it.

Brian

 

[brico]

Well, i own this boat now since March 2014, and it would appear that the problem is pretty much the same 7 years later, the port fuel oil filter bowl is showing much cloudier fuel than the Starboard one. Guess it cannot be too bad if it is same after 7 years and engines still running. There is very little, or nothing separated on the bottom of the clear bowl, but the fuel is very murky. I am at just under 1/4 tank (the lowest ever) so it may be the crap that is in the bottom of the tank and fuel clears up when new fuel is filled up in the tank....

 

[saltshaker]

Well, i own this boat now since March 2014, and it would appear that the problem is pretty much the same 7 years later, the port fuel oil filter bowl is showing much cloudier fuel than the Starboard one. Guess it cannot be too bad if it is same after 7 years and engines still running. There is very little, or nothing separated on the bottom of the clear bowl, but the fuel is very murky. I am at just under 1/4 tank (the lowest ever) so it may be the crap that is in the bottom of the tank and fuel clears up when new fuel is filled up in the tank....

If that's the case then I would run it as low as possible then pump out the tank. May be some water in there and your getting contaminated fuel at the fuel/water level. Only way to really stop the growth of bugs is to get rid of the water. BTW are those real Racors or the knock offs?

 

[rsmith]

This is why I run the 2 micron filters. I want as much crap out of the fuel as possible. IMHO polishing the fuel is a wast of money. Unless you pull the tank access plates and suck all the crap off the bottom that the fuel pickups won't get your wasting your money.

 

[saltshaker]

This is why I run the 2 micron filters. I want as much crap out of the fuel as possible. IMHO polishing the fuel is a wast of money. Unless you pull the tank access plates and suck all the crap off the bottom that the fuel pickups won't get your wasting your money.

That is the only way to do it. I pulled the sight gauge out on the tank on my 46C. I got water in the tank from a bad O ring on the fill cap. Pulled the gauge and stuck a line down to the bottom to get rid of the water.

 

[Finalee]

When I bought my boat 8 years ago it was clogging filters every hour. First step was to pump from the bottom of the tank until it looked like diesel only. I got about 5 gallons of water and black sludge out of each tank. I changed filters early 2 or three times more. No problems since.

 

[brico]

Does anyone know how low are the suction pipes inside the fuel tanks? How much of the fuel is unpumpable unless I stick a hose/pipe to the far bottom of the tank to try and get rid off the water and other crap that may be lying in there?

 

[gbharrington]

I was told by Steve McPherson at SAMS that the pick up tubes were 1 tube diameter above the bottom of the tank. However, it has been reported that some removed pick up tubes have had pin holes in them as a result of corrosion. Once the pin holes are exposed you can no longer lift fuel. That exlains why I ran out while showing 4" (~40 gal.) on the dipstick.

 

[Avenger]

Some additives will emulsify water which can create that cloudy effect. It's also what you don't want because it allows the water to flow through your fuel system. Water in fuel injection systems is like sand. The end result is the same.

The proper plan is to "demusify" the water and allow it to drop out of the fuel so your filtration can handle it. So if you're using an additive, read the label.

 

[Glory]

Did you try adding some "sun", it can help when it's cloudy?!?

 

[bobk]

Get the cloudy fuel analyzed for water at least. My guess is water. If so, check the O ring on the fill pipe. These need regular changing. Cheap and easy to do, just don't drop that tiny screw.

Bob

 

[saltshaker]

Get the cloudy fuel analyzed for water at least. My guess is water. If so, check the O ring on the fill pipe. These need regular changing. Cheap and easy to do, just don't drop that tiny screw.

Bob

Drop that screw or the chain on an Ocean and you'll be replacing a fuel tank. Aluminum tanks don't like stainless.

 

[REBrueckner]

"How much of the fuel is unpumpable unless I stick a hose/pipe to the far bottom of the tank to try and get rid off the water and other crap that may be lying in there?

On my 1972 48 YF, 250 gallon tanks aft, about roughly 30 gallons seemed remaining.
I "expertly" tested by running out of fuel when I first had the boat. [LOL]
may vary by tank size,shape,model,....maybe 10% -12% in other tanks???

I also found on another [also a 'scientific' test ] event that bow rise gave me more usable fuel because my pickups were at the back end of the fuel tank. So one time I slowed, fuel leveled out and we began coughing sputtering on one engine.

I never had problems recovering fuel prime after such events as others have said they did. I shut the engine down immediately, switch to another tank, and within a ten or few seconds the restarted 8V71TI is running smooth again. But I always carried two or so gallons of clean diesel fuel to refill RACORS just in case and to accompany filter changes.