Bad Gas Mystery in my 1995 Parker

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Beaverjc

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I have a 23' 1995 Parker with a 150 gallon aluminum tank. A month ago the engine stalled - result was I had bad gas. Had the boat pulled and professionally pumped out. FIlled the gas tank back up with fresh tank from a Gulf station (high volume place on the road) and then put boat back in. Had carbs cleaned and boat ran great. Last weekend boat wouldnt come up on plane and engine stalled when I gave it power. I checked fuel filter and it has water in it again and a bunch of small white particles that settle on the bottom. I called the gas station and they assure me they get fresh gas deliveries and have water alarms. No way its sabotage as I have no issues at marina and its security protected. Gas cap is sealed and seal is fine. No leaking gas in bilge or water in bilge. Vent is sound and facing down. I am at a loss of how water is contaminating gas.....any ideas?
 
I don't know . Either the tank cleaner didn't clean and remove debris and water sufficiently (doubtful to me) or since tank is enclosed area often called a coffin can absorb water and gas which doesn't always travel to the bilge but water from the foam and make it way back to the tank and eventfully lead to tank failure.

What does it look and smell when you pull the pie pate on the deck pie plate?
 
Time to pull the tank, replace with a new one (22 year old tank: don't waste your time pressure testing...just replace), replace all fill and vent and motor fuel lines, refoam, put new deck down and run her.
 
I don't know if I would go through the expense of replacing the tank and decking without doing some additional troubleshooting. Your tank MAY be at the end of it's life or it may not be.

You said that there was no gas or water in the bilge. This leads me to believe that there might be a hidden (and perhaps less costly) solution to your problem. I would seek out a few more options before I went with the tank replacement.

You may well have to go with the replacement, but why not be sure before spending the money ?
 
I had this same problem for 2 1/2 years. I had the injectors cleaned twice. I thought it was a bug in the engine. Had every filter changed. Had a lot of yo yos working on it. But, after running the engine for about 5 hours, I decided to stay on top of things and change my water fuel separator myself. As I screwed off the cartridge, I decided to go all the way and take off the housing of the Racor separator. What I found stunned me: The whole housing was completely rusted! I now use Parker/Racor snap cartridges. Love them! Change everything when you do this. Hoses, clamps everything......see if that helps....this ethanol is a bitch!
 
i believe I found the issue...a faulty deck plate with no silicone seal nor rubber gasket right above the fuel sending unit. Fuel sending unit seal wasnt sound and water was leaking into tank. New seal around sending unit and new deck plate with silicone seal will hopefully solve problem.
 
Brent":wvq52q66 said:
If there no gas odor,
!!!! :!: :!: :!:
I would place a box fan blowing to the sky over the hole for several days to dry out the foam.

It needs to dry out to save the tank


m2cw


That is a good idea! Thanks.
 
How much did it cost to have your tank pumped out and cleaned?

Thank you.
 
MikeMarkCA":13l59wxy said:
How much did it cost to have your tank pumped out and cleaned?

Thank you.

Total cost was $310. It was $165 for them to show up then they charge $8.00 per gallon of water/gas they have to remove and dispose of.
 
Thought I found the issue of how water was getting into the tank with the bad deck plate seal but evidently that wasnt the cause...tank once again has water in it somehow! I am baffled. Tank must have a leak or something!!! UGHHHHH!
 
Brent":1abw70fl said:
most likely the tank is failing. It can be pressure checked by someone who does it for a living

Yeah that sounds like my next step. I would think I would see or smell gas if tank was failing since you would think the gas is escaping somehow. I was hoping it wasnt the tank but thats where its pointing....still odd that water is getting into it though from somewhere!
 
Beaverjc":11qjd4er said:
I have a 23' 1995 Parker with a 150 gallon aluminum tank. A month ago the engine stalled - result was I had bad gas. Had the boat pulled and professionally pumped out. FIlled the gas tank back up with fresh tank from a Gulf station (high volume place on the road) and then put boat back in. Had carbs cleaned and boat ran great. Last weekend boat wouldnt come up on plane and engine stalled when I gave it power. I checked fuel filter and it has water in it again and a bunch of small white particles that settle on the bottom. I called the gas station and they assure me they get fresh gas deliveries and have water alarms. No way its sabotage as I have no issues at marina and its security protected. Gas cap is sealed and seal is fine. No leaking gas in bilge or water in bilge. Vent is sound and facing down. I am at a loss of how water is contaminating gas.....any ideas?

Your exact symptoms happened to me in my 2007. I'm afraid you may have holes in your tank and a leaking deck plate somewhere. The Tank compartment is sealed but leaking deck plates can let water in, water and probably fuel soaked foam is puddled in your compartment. There will be no signs of this with odors and in my case a pressure test will not reveal a leak. Even though the tank was pumped and cleaned the water can still get in easily if there are holes underneath the tank because it is literally sitting in a puddle of water. I can get into more detail and send you photos of what we discovered on my boat.

609-647-3282
 
Guys telling you to just replace the tank aren't paying the repair bill. There are tens of thousands of '95 and older boats out there with the original fuel tanks.If you had gas leaking into the bilge you could smell it. If water is getting in, and no gas is leaking out, it is a plumbing problem, not a tank problem.
My first guess would be that water is coming into the vent every time you hit a wave big enough to give it a good spray. Without changing anything about the way the vent line is run, disconnect it at the tank, and run it agressively with that line in an empty bottle and see if you get water. Attach another hose to the tank vent, and secure it high under the gunnel to act as a vent.
Tilt you boat on the trailer so that the low end of the tank is towards the inspection plate, or sending unit. Go to your local wholesale fuel distributor and buy a tube of water indicator paste, and smear it on the end of a wooden dowel for about 6 inches. Dip to the bottom of the tank, and it will turn pink, or some color, if you have water. Suck it out from the bottom until it is clear.
 
PKS1801":33itannz said:
Guys telling you to just replace the tank aren't paying the repair bill. There are tens of thousands of '95 and older boats out there with the original fuel tanks.If you had gas leaking into the bilge you could smell it. If water is getting in, and no gas is leaking out, it is a plumbing problem, not a tank problem.
My first guess would be that water is coming into the vent every time you hit a wave big enough to give it a good spray. Without changing anything about the way the vent line is run, disconnect it at the tank, and run it agressively with that line in an empty bottle and see if you get water. Attach another hose to the tank vent, and secure it high under the gunnel to act as a vent.
Tilt you boat on the trailer so that the low end of the tank is towards the inspection plate, or sending unit. Go to your local wholesale fuel distributor and buy a tube of water indicator paste, and smear it on the end of a wooden dowel for about 6 inches. Dip to the bottom of the tank, and it will turn pink, or some color, if you have water. Suck it out from the bottom until it is clear.


Its not coming in form the vent. I put on a brand new vent this year and its aimed towards the back so no water could possible enter there.
 
PKS1801":t3kt70a8 said:
Guys telling you to just replace the tank aren't paying the repair bill. There are tens of thousands of '95 and older boats out there with the original fuel tanks.If you had gas leaking into the bilge you could smell it. If water is getting in, and no gas is leaking out, it is a plumbing problem, not a tank problem.
My first guess would be that water is coming into the vent every time you hit a wave big enough to give it a good spray. Without changing anything about the way the vent line is run, disconnect it at the tank, and run it agressively with that line in an empty bottle and see if you get water. Attach another hose to the tank vent, and secure it high under the gunnel to act as a vent.
Tilt you boat on the trailer so that the low end of the tank is towards the inspection plate, or sending unit. Go to your local wholesale fuel distributor and buy a tube of water indicator paste, and smear it on the end of a wooden dowel for about 6 inches. Dip to the bottom of the tank, and it will turn pink, or some color, if you have water. Suck it out from the bottom until it is clear.

A correctly installed tank with adequate ventilation and space for water to escape and no way for moisture to build up will last 30 years or more, a Parker tank is not installed this way. Parker drops in a tank and surrounds it with foam to secure it in. I spent 1800 bucks trying to diagnose my water in fuel tank issues and I did everything from replaced fuel line, fuel fill hose, separator, sender, vent line fuel cap. If all of those items are new and in good shape and not leaking then other than sabotage there is only 1 way water can get into a fuel tank and that is holes in the tank period. I was in denial that my beautiful 2007 Parker could possibly have a hole in the tank,so I did everything but change the tank in hopes we could find the problem and fix it. 4 seperate 15-60 minute passing pressure tests later and still no answers to how its getting water in.

So a few observations throughout this process. First you will not always smell a gas odor in the bilge or tank coffin box area. The leaks in my case were underneath that tank and the entire thing is surrounded by foam, the fumes never made it to the surface. Water leaked through from the top and saturated the foam over time, corroded the tank with several holes some as large as half centimeter. These holes let large amounts of water in from underneath the tank. You may not get fuel leaks into bilge areas because the coffin box is sealed...however only by a thin layer of glass. The fuel can eat away at the glass over time and leak fuel into the bilge area. This is how we knew there were faulty deck plates and holes in the tank, only one way to find out, remove the console and cut the tank out for inspection.This is what happened in my case. At one point we drained cleaned every drop out of the tank completely dry, we let the boat sit overnight and upon inspection the next morning we were able to pump over 10 gallons of fresh water/fuel out. The water fuel mixture was sitting underneath the tank. The boat was on a dry storage in an enclosed garage. Upon removal of the tank there was still fuel and water in the compartment literally standing puddle in the eaten away foam that supports the underside of the tank. We discovered a faulty deck plate seal that over time allowed gallons of water into the boats coffin box fuel tank area. I would say if you already did everything else and still getting water you have holes underneath like I did. Text me I will send you the pictures. 609-647-3282
 
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