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Gunk from tank getting in carb
I bought a 2nd, 3rd, or something hand Bass Tracker a few months ago.... When I bought the boat, the gas in the tank had been there for at least 2 years. I pumped out as much as I could and filled it with ethanol free gas. I've run 4 or 5 tanks of gas through it since. It's a 13 gallon plastic tank. 1996 Merc 40 ELPT
A month or so ago I took a weeks vacation. My son was out of school for fall break and we planned on fishing every day. The first day we went fishing, the water was pretty rough and when we got about 3 miles from the boat ramp the motor started running so rough that I wasn't sure we would make it back to the boat ramp. Due to having a church service that night, and wanting to fish the next morning, I took the boat to a mechanic that I know and let him check it out instead of working on it my self. There was a hole in the diaphragm of the fuel pump and there was also trash in the carb. He also replaced the old inline fuel filter.
The boat has run great since, until one day last week. We left from the boat ramp and again it was a windy day with a rough chop on the water. Sure enough not far from the ramp the motor starts running a little rough again. Gunk from the bottom of the tank is getting stirred up on the rough water. It running nothing like it did before I took it to the mechanic, but you can feel and hear a dead "skip" every so often.
I'm almost positive that I can't take the tank out of the rear hatch, so this afternoon I removed the sending unit, and used a fuel pump that we use to prime diesel engines to pump every bit of gas out of the tank that I could get out. There is a little gunk in the bottom of the tank but it's not as bad as I expected. I honestly don't know how I'd get it out. I might put a shop rag on a stiff wire and try to swab some of it out.
With the less than month old inline filter there, I don't know how, whatever got is in it now, got through that new filter. It's a white filter, so I could see if it was clogged. My question is, will adding a 2nd inline filter, help prevent gunk from reaching the carb? If they are the same particualte size, I don't really know if adding the 2nd filter will help.
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If you have the space, you might consider putting a water separator filter on the gas line. Most are 10 microns, which is small enough to stop water from going thru, but allows gas to pass thru. That should stop any "gunk", too.
Not sure how you'd get the "gunk" out, but your idea might work to clean a good part of it out.Do you have any idea what that "gunk" consists of ??
Barnacle Bill LIKED above post
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Originally Posted by CrappiePappy
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I'll eventually put one of the water separator filters on but for now I just put another inline filter on it. I took the carb off, sprayed carb cleaner through it and blew it out with the compressor. There was some black specks on the float that looked like grease when I smeared it. I got that all cleaned up. Before I took off the carb, I poured a bottle of Seafoam in the gas tank in hopes that it would dissolve the little bit of crud that was in there. Once I got the carb put back on I sloshed the seafoam around in the tank, then pumped a gallon of the gas I removed yesterday back into the tank. I sloshed it around for a bit and then I put a block under the trailer jack and raised the jack as far as it would go. I then pumped the tank back empty. With the bow raised up a foot it allowed me to pump nearly every bit of gas out. I went fishing tonight and she's running great again.
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Actually, that was something I was going to suggest doing, but wasn't really sure what you were calling "gunk". I didn't know if that was the "varnish" deposits & gelled gas or if it contained actual "particles" that SeaFoam might not have any effect on. I run a can of SeaFoam in every full tank, and add a can after every 2nd or 3rd refill (if more than 1/2 a tank of gas is added in those refills).
Even though I'm the third owner of this boat/motor (1999 model Merc 90HP), the two previous owners did not use it very often. So little, in fact, that the motor looked "show room" clean when I took the cowl off. The owner that I bought it from was a childhood friend, and he used SeaFoam AND Sta-bil in the gas. That's a bit of overkill, IMHO, so I've just kept SeaFoam as my cleaner & stabilizing fluid. She smokes a bit when starting, but runs like I stole it when I put the hammer down, pushing my fully loaded 16' ProCraft at ~50mph @ 5200rpm.
Hope your "cleaning" out of the gas tank is all that was needed, and you get continued good performance !!
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Thanks CP. I’m about to head out this morning and try them again. Since it’s 38 degrees here the motor won’t get the opportunity to stretch her legs to hard this morning. Gonna be a cold fish.
Trophy King
Hello: Why wait to put the fuel filter water separator on. Why have it ruin another fishing trip. Not hard to do. Good Luck O-R
HaHa: 
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