Spring launch with old gas
06Rinker270
Member Posts: 1,277 ✭✭✭
When I was buying the boat she was hauled out and winterized without the fuel system being properly treated. I poured in additive but was not ran through. I Think I may have some trouble starting next Friday. This being the first time I spring commission myself, any advice is appreciated. I will be changing oil after I get her started. Anything to be done before I fire her up once I splash? Thanks everyone.
Patrick
06 Rinker 270
06 Rinker 270
Comments
If you're real concerned, and it sounds like you are, top off with ethanol free and as high an octane count you can find.. hedge that by adding additive that raises octane even more, and advertises in rands, not just marketing mumbo jumbo.
Your fuel lines on the engine and south of the pump is pretty much sealed... water didn't make it in there, as its still likely holding pressure, but elements may have fallen and varnishes formed... I seriously doubt it though. Even if it has, you can turn that through the engine until she fires, or even hedge that bet with some starter fluid...
In short... Don't worry about it..
What should I do besides changing the filters and running some seafoam to help get rid of any damage that may have been done...varnish etc. I have gone through a gas tank replacement and never ever ever want to go through that again.
Update: previous owner said he put "blue stuff" in anytime he filled up but it sounds like the gas in the boat right now is very old...as in over a year.
06 Rinker 270
06 Rinker 270
Seafoam doesn't bind with fuel... So, if you're at speed and operating closed loop, and the engine is advancing timing while all of the sudden a shot of seafoam passes through, you're engine will sound like its full of marbles with all the predetonation... One good predet could vent your pistons... A bunch of small predets can bend valve rods and crack valve seats and guides...
A good gas additive usually doesn't have stupid flames and such on its label, and in the description they will mention increasing counts in entire rands, not just faulty promises... Insofar as the ethanol, get a bottle of starbright startron, and use it accordingly... There is no product available that counters ethanol like that stuff. I could write out my specific and detailed experience with that, but I won't bore you any more... Startron works, and works very well.
Back to seafoam, I would like to get the system a good cleaning as I do not know how well it was taken care of(although owner says it was properly treated). When do you recommend I use to it avoid all the nasty side affects you mentioned above...bent rods and cracked valve seats.
All very interesting stuff. Thank you.
06 Rinker 270
Get a bottle of seafoam, and a stretch of two feet or so of clear tubing.. on a vehicle I rec the brake booster vacuum line is removed and the tube for it stuck into the seafoam container, but these don't have those..
On the bottom of your throttle body there are vacuum ports.. remove one and stick the other end of the one in your seafoam to that port... Start your engine and allow it to slowly ingest, under its own vacuum, the seafoam.. when you've got the bottle half gone, kill the engine and replace the original vacuum line.. toss back a beer and have a Sammy, as you need to wait at least twenty minutes while the solvent attacks the carbon. After time elapsed, fire then engine up and watch the smoke show... It'll be thick and white... It will go away before too long... After it does, use the next half of the bottle and repeat...
If there isn't a lot of smoke, then there isn't a lot of carbon.. so.. no need to repeat.
Afterwards, just head on home knowing your engine is cleaner... That simple.. seafoam is great for that, but not great as an additive to gas or oil... Check that... It's great for oil you're about to change.. add it, run to temperature, kill it, and drain it... works great, but beware: crud will be dislodged and it will find it's way to lifters.. lifters find every bit of trash in oil- fact... so.. avoid this if you can or if you don't know the condition inside that thing... If you owned it new and always took care of it, or if it's a rebuild you've just done, you can use seafoam in this manner all the time at every oil change interval... On an engine you don't know a lot about?... Up to you... But... I wouldn't..
Go Steelers!!!
06 Rinker 270
What you can do for engine performance, is run a stouter coil or coil booster, jumping from 35kvdc to upwards of 60kvdc, which allows you to widen the gaps on the plugs to around .057~.060.. that provides a wider surface of spark to ignite the air to fuel load more uniformly and completely, which will allow better burn and response, albeit with higher exhaust gas temperatures. A more uniform initial ignition and a hotter burn not only helps performance, but burns off archives from the fuel or anything that slipped past your air filter, making all cleaner and smoother. It's **** near a must with ethanol laden fuel.
Also should additive be added to non ethanol fuel?
06 Rinker 270
Concentrated or not.. I prefer it concentrated so I can have one bottle pretty much last a season so its easier to keep up with.
It doesn't do anything to help recreational (non ethanol) fuel, but it doesn't hurt it, either.. so.. Prevention>cure.
06 Rinker 270
06 Rinker 270
Octane is an expression of stability.. The higher the octane the more stable, which means less likely to detonate under compression or heat, and rely solely on spark, which is what you want.
High octane is a requirement in high compression engine, because a predetonation on a really tightly crunched wad of air fuel would be catastrophic to a finely machined engine with tight tolorances. These engines aren't that... They are low compression engines and solely so predetonation can't take them out. well, as easily, anyway.
The reason why predet is such a concern on water is because quality of fuel, and the likelihood of water infusion. For this reason engines are controlled at a lower temperature via the thermostat thantheir road counterparts... They run richer, too, because more fuel (rich) is tougher to ignite than lean, which will almost detonate on its own. remember we're burning air using fuel as the catalyst.
Not all, though.
Your engine has knock sensors and computer controlled fuel trim and ignition timing. When it reaches full operational temperature, it begins to use data from the sensors to run it instead of tables scripted on the computer. When it does that, it starts firing spark earlier and earlier, which equates to more use of the power stroke. The sooner it's lit, the more robust the burn, not to mention, the cleaner. Your advance will be greater the higher an octane the engine drinks, as it senses it can advance until a knock sensor reports.
How much does it help? Considerably, but whether it's worth it is up to you and your engine... I rec you experiment... Each engine is different.
06 Rinker 270
Only my opinion.
Paul.
the advertised/spoken ratio may be 9.4/9.3:1, but that is somebody taking into account ONLY the displacement of the cylinder and the stroke of the piston...
the REAL compression ratio that matters is 'dynamic compression'.. this takes into account the valve events... let's say you're 5.0 mechanical ratio is 9.4:1, and the piston is at bottom dead center, and it's next move is north in the compression stroke... the intake stroke just finished, well, almost finished- the valve isn't seated yet.. the valve isn't going to be seated until the piston has covered several degrees travel north, which lessens it's displacement and therefor it's actual compression...
the valvetrain is actuated by the rockers which pivot under influence from valve rods which are pushed by lifters which roll on the lobes of a camshaft, right? So, the camshaft geometry controls valve events... guess what marine engines have? A camshaft that allows almost zero overlap of intake an exhaust valves (and that overlap event happens near top dead center of the pistons travel)- all so you can't suck water in from the exhaust side when the pressure inverts...
I'm getting winded, again.... sorry.. bottom line: that 9.4/9.3:1 ratio mechanically, is actually closer to 8.1/8.2:1 dynamically. Spark on a marine engine rarely advances beyond 20*. Temperature on a marine engine is thermostatically controlled around 165~175*... Air to Fuel ratio is nowhere near stiochomoetric 14.7:1, as they are designed to run richer, or around 13.5:1 during closed loop operations.... every one of these are to disallow predetonation and build a safety margin, and because the engine has constant load on it at any engine speed, and because they hold a steady and consistent engine speed in most circumstances, which would make a predetonation a significant and catastrophic event.
if you're running your engine a lot? no worries... 87 is fine.