Xpac

Earlier this year i cleaned out my internal fuel filter and this is what was in it:


at first i thought it was varnish from the fuel tank but a few trips later i lost about 1000 rpms on my way back from the edge but fortunately i was able to hold about 3000 to get in. i replaced all 3 fuel lines and cut them open. this is what i found in the bulb line. it was the culprit of the stuff in the filter:

the engine hasn't had ethanol fuel in over a year but as you can see the damage was done. if someone has a similar rpm loss issue i hope this will help with your trouble shooting. i recleaned the internal filter and ran pipe cleaner through all the connections and short hosed. spent $50 on fuel line and hose. ran it hard yesterday and no problems at all.

Deeplines

Thanks for the post. I'm running new hoses after snapper season, of it makes it that long. Been 10 years since they have been changed.

SHO-NUFF

The older hoses had a liner in them. I replaced all of my hoses with a polypropylene hose that does not have a inner liner on the main fuel hoses. And used a yellow colored Tygon tubing after the fuel pump to the carbs on the smaller lines. I try and avoid E10, but no problems with fuel line failure so far with it.

SHO-NUFF

regardless of the fuel hoses you use, the ethanol is hygroscopic, attracts water, and causes severe corrosion problems on any alloy, aluminum base metal. Like the carburetors on most outboards and inboards. And the carbs only holds a few ounces of fuel in the bowl, so it does not take long to cause a problem. Unlike your daily driver that does not sit idle for extended periods.

Xpac

Fortunately for me it was an easy fix with just the fuel lines. I though I was going to have to remove the VST and replace filters. Planning on doing that perhaps in the off season.

Telum Pisces

As someone that has been stranded 17 miles out when the motor's decided to suck up nothing but phase seperated ethanol garbage, I know the pain of ethanol. When back on the hill 5 gallons of phase seperated junk was pulled from a 110 gallon tank. Smelled like pure alcahol and burnt like pure water. It was nasty.

Xpac

TP i consider myself lucky i made it back from 26 miles out especially after i saw what was in the fuel line. For what it's worth, I add star-tron to every fill up of pure gas and change my separator every 6 months at least. I sure hope it will help avoid a situation like yours.