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Fiberglass fuel tanks

14K views 29 replies 20 participants last post by  ap67et10 
#1 ·
HEY GUYS I POSTED A THREAD A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO ABOUT MY 460 MAKIN NOISE ONLY WHEN UNDER A LOAD I PULLED THE MANIFOLD OFF AND FOUND THE INTAKE PORTS COVERED IN A STICKY VARNISH LOOKING LIKE BAD GAS BUT IM CONCERNED WITH THE FUEL TANKS THEY ARE FIBERGLASS AND THE BOAT IS A 76....JUST WONDERING THE EASIEST WAY TO CLEAN THIS UP WITHOUT PULLING THE WHOLE MOTOR APART AND IF ANYTHING TO TRY AND CLEAN UP THE INSIDE OF THE TANKS ANY HELP WOULD BE APPRCIEATED.......THANX:)devil
 
#2 ·
time to cut out those tanks and replace em, the ethanol in gas has eaten them up:)bulb there's no repair, its a replace kinda deal;) start looking for some alum saddle tanks.
 
#5 ·
I highly doubt its the tanks going away.. i would bet its old dead fuel that has built up a film on the inside of the tanks.. just a FYI for the ones that don't know 99% of all fuel tanks used at gas stations are and have been fiberglass for many years. in Commyfornia they have C.A.R.B. (one of the most controled states) that sets the standards for all stations and I highly doubt they would let you put a tank in the ground that eats its self away after yeas of service.. just my .02
 
#6 ·
÷קmᮆÚš×÷;699895 said:
I highly doubt its the tanks going away.. i would bet its old dead fuel that has built up a film on the inside of the tanks.. just a FYI for the ones that don't know 99% of all fuel tanks used at gas stations are and have been fiberglass for many years. in Commyfornia they have C.A.R.B. (one of the most controled states) that sets the standards for all stations and I highly doubt they would let you put a tank in the ground that eats its self away after yeas of service.. just my .02
every fiberglass storage tank in my area has leaked and had to be replaced within the past 2yrs;) not making that shit up(i end up being the 1 to repair em), they'll leak out the fuel, then water creeps back in. wasn't 3wks ago i was at 1 of the stations fillin up my lil blazer with unleaded, went in and paid, started my blazer up, lit a cig, and made it 2blocks before it picked up the water. they took care of it(my bill), but they had to replace both of their unleaded tanks due to ethanol damage. the manager of that store is a friend of my wife's, she said the storage tank company told her they were overloaded with unleaded tanks that needed to be replaced asap due to leakage related to ethanol.

could be you cali folks get a different unleaded formulation than we do, the shiat is no joke here.
 
#7 ·
I just replaced my fiberglass gas tank due to ethanol in the gas that ate up the tank. If you google it you will see that there is alot, alot, of people that own boats have sued the oil companies due to gas leaking in the water from their tanks from the ethanol eating em up.:)st
 
#8 ·
Well known problem on boats.
 
#9 ·
Every gas station in IL. has had their tanks yanked out, and replaced since using ethanol since the early 90's, most all are soil contaminated too. My buddy bought a low time jet boat, had sat for 20 years. upon using the boat the second time the tank started to fail. Glass tanks have had their day, but in todays world of green that day is gone. Glass tanks are however, still being used in aircraft, oem and retrofit, but there is no chance in hell of getting an "auto fuel S.T.C." in these aircraft.
 
#10 ·
We've had/seen and replaced several of these glass tanks over the recent past , seems like more Spectras than anything , have never done a fuel analisys but I've heard and read that the modern fuels attack the fiberglass, the biggest issue Ive seen is flex and crack . (Not that this doesn't take place in metal tanks as well) my feeling is if theres a doubt its not worth a disaster The bottom picture as I understand could possible been from a fuel leak Tom




 
#12 ·
you can buy an additive that neutralizes whatever it is in the fuel that attacks fiberglass. i know alot of 2 stroke outboard folks run it now to keep from damaging rod bearings(2 strokes have roller rod bearings). i seen it on the quicksilver mercury sight awhile back. here in my town, the stores are compete'n and some of them have big signs out frt. " 100% gasoline/no ethanol" so i've been getting my boat fuel there.
 
#15 ·
I build gas stations and in the past 9 years of doing so, none of my stations have undergone any tank replacement single or dual walled tanks and all ave been fiberflass. The lines for fuel delivery and vapor recovery is also fiberglass. I would doubt that the fuel would eat up these tanks and somehow I doubt that modern fiberglass is better than pre air recource board regulations.
 
#16 ·
thanx for the response on the fuel tanks any way i can clean the motor up without breakin the whole thang down the builder said he has to rebuild the heads because all that varnish stuff is in the valve guides and evrything else....just wonderin if theres a way i can clean it all up my self the motor only has about an hour of run time so i hope its not in the cylinders.....
 
#18 · (Edited)
More fuel for the fire so to speak. This article speaks of the black reside the OP talked about.
http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/fueltest.asp

On an unrelated note, I had to take my 2007 Lexus in for a recall on the fuel lines not long ago. It seems the ethanol is eating away the lines. I have two friends that are long time Lexus mechanics. One at each of the Dallas dealers. They have both seem first hand lines with pin holes in them for the erosion caused by ethanol. According to my one mechanic fried fuel pump failures were also on the rise with the addition of ethanol as an additive.

As for the post about the "competition" between gas stations, It has to do with emission and non-emission counties, It is not up to the station if they have ethanol as an additive or not.
 
#19 ·
I am in the process of replacing my fiberglass tanks after the boat ran very poorly. What I found inside the two predators' fuel bowls was about an inch of congealed resin, I believe. Can't think of anything else it would be. It turned solid (grainy) when it dried and it made it past two functioning fuel filters. I disassembled them to make sure. I'm not trying to jump on the bandwagon blindly, but the tanks were cracking and leaking also. It could be sediment/varnish, but I have seen that and this looked nothing like what I have seen in the past.
 
#22 ·
I am in the middle of fabbing up a replacement alum bow tank for this very reason. My old fiberglass bow tank is riddled with soft spots and small pinholes where I assume the resin has been attacked by something, assuming ethanol since ohio has up to 10% blend for at least 5 years.
My aluminum intake ports on old engine showed a black glossy hard substance coating each of the intake runners. I assume this is recrystallized resin where it was in solution with the gas/ethanol thru the carb, then hit the hot runners and stuck to them. Anyone know a good way to clean this crap off??
My next concern is the rubber fuel lines. I was thinking it would be safer to replace it with hardline anyway, so I might do that. But is normal black fuel/emission hose rated for ethanol? I cant run hardline the whole way, will have to have some rubber transition pieces here and there.
 
#26 ·
Don't worry about the cylinders, just get the heads (valves and guides) cleaned up and drive it.
 
#27 ·
÷קmᮆÚš×÷;699895 said:
I highly doubt its the tanks going away.. i would bet its old dead fuel that has built up a film on the inside of the tanks.. just a FYI for the ones that don't know 99% of all fuel tanks used at gas stations are and have been fiberglass for many years. in Commyfornia they have C.A.R.B. (one of the most controled states) that sets the standards for all stations and I highly doubt they would let you put a tank in the ground that eats its self away after yeas of service.. just my .02

You may be correct to some degree but The west coast has yet to put ethanol in our fuel( yet ). I beleive from texas east, they run a multi grade fuel 20% to 80% ratio. I beleive it'e due to temp. fluctuating. I learnd about this crap in a C.A.R.B. class I had to take to make all the "little" engine complient.I didnt pay much attention to this part of the lecture.....lol. Whole different ballgame the out here.

Remember the Nordic? The tanks were deterating from the inside out.
 
#30 ·
its easy to see that there isn't too much regulation on the quality and consistency in the blend of the fuel we buy...it should say at every pump that it "CAN contain UP TO 10% ethanol"...so pretty much between 0 and 10% ethanol.

if its e85 it has 85% ethanol, that is the stuff you can find all over the midwest. and from what i here, can be even worse on consistency in the blend. however...i still am hoping to run it in my boat when its more available in cali.

AP
 
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