232 Aux Tank clean-out Water in fuel

[grady23]

I've been fighting a problem with my '97 Gulfstream for abot 3 months now. I've drained, acutally pumped out both tanks and run Seafoam thru both. The problem has been the use of the Aux 56 Gal tank. EVERY Time I switch to this tank I end up with junk in the carbs. I've already pulled and cleaned all 3 carbs aon both engines once and all 3 on the starboard engine a second time. I've discovered today that the pick-ups for the Aux tank are stupidly located in the FRONT on the tank and not the rear as they should be. This means that everytime I pumped the tanks, I was not getting all the water out. The only way I see to accomplish this, is to drop the nose of the boat at least 15 degrees and then let the water settle up in to the front of the tank. Then when I pump the bottome of the tak, I should get ALL the water and not just some of it! This time I will go in thru the fule guage sending unit hole after I have removed the sender.
My question is, WHY would anyone design the main tank p/u different from the Aux tank. The main tank has both pick-ups in the REAR of the tank.

 

[ElyseM]

as far as the pickup, i don't know for sure, but just because it comes thru the front of the tank doesn't mean it isn't run inside to the back.

i think you are hurting things with the seafoam. that contains alcohol and won't help your cause with e-10. i use stabil with good results. ron

 

[grady23]

I used the Seafoam to clean the "Crud" out after the boat had set for 2 seasons and the fule went bad. I even tried using a piece of flexible tubing to reach the 3/8' clear tubing back to the rear of the tan. It seems that there is an internal baffle and I was un-able to reach the rear of the tank.

 

[BobP]

The baffle is only used in larger tanks, may act as a stiffener/roof support also.

Perhaps the tank was installed backwards ?
It makes sense for pickups to be toward stern end, when tank is long in that direction, my 50 gal aux tank is not long.

Are you using a 10 micron water separating filter at the front end?
If not, you should, to keep the crude from passing into motor system. Motor filters were never intended to handle high volumes of contaminants.

Good thing you don't have fuel injection, would have finished off motor by now.

i

 

[richie rich]

sounds like it was installed backwards.....I've never seen a pickup towards the front of a tank with the tube then running down and aft? Why would anyone do that? Fuel would have to travel up and over to the front and then back again towards the motor??

 

[BobP]

If the boat is blocked or on a trailer, he can still tilt the boat forward to get the last of the gas out, or at least most of it since the pickup is up off the bottoim a bit, maybe 3/4 inch. He will have to pull the sender out to get more.

According to MDR's EZORB literature, an equal amount of EZORB will absord and recombine an equal amount of wate back into the gas. Consider dumping 2 one pint bottles in there.

 

[grady23]

I plan to write to Grady tec support about this. The other plan is to connect the boat and truck and park the boat facing downhill in the driveway which has about a 22 Degree slope. Let the rig sit for about 3 hrs while I cut the grass and then drink 1-2 beers and climb in the boat. After I'm in the boat, I'll drink 1-2 more beers and then remove the sending unit for the gas thingy adn thn stick the hoes in the whole! Maybe it's time for another couple of beers**!
ANyhow, I 'mmm going to get that water junk out'a the tank and selttle this for all and once!

I do want to know WHY Grady installed a tank that I can NEVER get to the last 4-5 gals of fuel !!!

 

[JUST-IN-TIME]

that is not right

pick ups in back, unless they have the 45 bends on them

 

[BobP]

Easy on the beers.

Enjoy the beers after the job is finshed and you banked the savings as a DIYer, besides doing the job right.

It is normal for the pickup to be off the bottom in any tank, for three reason I can think of:
water separates from conventional fuel and always goes to the bottom, so as not to suck water into motor - makes sense, same goes for heavier than gas crud.
Same goes for car gas tank.
Same goes for boat FW tank
Same goes for boat waste tank

Also, the tank has flexion, if you step on the top even though the sticker reads "DO NOT STEP ON TANK" , the pickup can be damaged if it hits the bottom.
With fuel senders, typically it is 3/4 inch off bottom.
May be more or less, perhaps less on smaller tanks where standing on top does little.
Last, the tank bottom is flat, no cosly built in sumps in the bottom of tank.

You have to find out where water is entering tank from, most important, unless it was pumped into your tank from fueling station.
likely pace to check is the fill ports, get new O rings for the caps as a minimum. And make sure cap is snugged up always.

 

[Bob's Cay]

I recently had a fuel issues on my boat and went through some of the same problems after cleaning or filtering the tank. Turns out part of my problem was the old fuel linesthat was having ethanol problems. The fuel lines were replaced and have eliminated alot of goo that was getting caught by the filter.

 

[grady23]

After getting the boat repositioned with the bow downhill, I was able to siphon off the remaining 1/2 gallon of water. Hopefully, this is at an end.
I plan to replace the "O" rings on the fill caps and see if that has anything to do with the problem. I tend to think that it's a multi-phase problem where some water has come from condensation, some from leakage and alot from gas purchases.
Bob P --- Just kidding about the beers. Playing with gasoline and alcohol at the same time wouldn't be a good idea anyway. Heck -- I don't even drink when I'm running a boat.
I fully understand why the pickups would NOT reach the BOTTOM of the tanks in any setup. My question is why the pickups are in the FRONT of the Aux tank and not the rear like the main tank. Why not make them the same.
BTW --- I emailed Grady about this over a week ago and have only received the obligitory "Thanks for contacting us" email in return.