worse than that. I worked on a 17 whaler last year that the tank had gone soft from ethanol. I checked compresion on the engine(4 stroke Mercaha), and found two cylinders at 0. I could hear the vlaves tapping, so I pulled the intake off and sprayed power tune on the intake valves till I could free them up. Everything had a red gluey substance on it. took forever to get the carbs cleaned(and the kits retailed for $150 each, took four). By the time I put a new tank in the boat, replaced the fuel lines, installed a water separating filter,replaced all the filters and primer bulb, got the compresion back up, rebuilt the carbs, set up the carbs(PIA), tuned the motor, changed teh oil and filter, water tested it, etc. The bill ended up being around $1600, and I didn't charge him no where near the actual amount of time I had in it. The ethanol disolved the resin from the tank, and once air hit it, it turned back into glue. This guy was lucky I was able to save the motor. As far as i know, it affects all fiberglass tanks(poyester/vynilester resin), not sure about epoxy resin, I emailed MAS epoxy about it, they didn't recomed epoxy for fuel tanks period, neither would West. Point of story, if you have a fiberglas tank, get rid of it. If you are using cheap plastic portable tanks, throw them away every four to five years and replace them with new one(don't ask how i learned that lesson), its cheaper to replace them than to repair the problems that arrise.
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05-15-2010, 12:34 PM
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