Re: [AMC-List] Globs in the fuel caused by ethanol dissolving fiberglass gel coat

["Dan E. Curtis" <d.curtis@xxxxxxx>]

Regretfully, the globs in the fuel tank are from the new 10% ethanol content in your gasoline (in place of the former MBTE) dissolving the fiberglass gel coat on your tank.  There is no other way around getting this resolved than to replace the tank with something other than fiberglass.  

This is a huge problem with older boats who now must use gasoline with ethanol particularly where the tank is contained inside the hull of the boat and dissolves to the point of causing leakage and an explosion within the boat.  It also deteriorates older rubber hoses like the ones that connect your tank to the fuel line and the fuel line to the fuel pump and carb.  

For older cars and boats, it is recommended that you replace all 1990 and older rubber fuel line connectors and seals with newer rubber hoses who's compounds are resistant to the effects of ethanol in gasoline. 

Other interesting secondary side effects of the ethanol are that the ethanol can eventually get overloaded with moisture if left sitting in a vented tank system for long periods of time and resulting in it completely separating from the gasoline causing a 3 point drop in the gasoline's octane and creating a water and ethanol mix at the bottom of the tank with the gasoline floating on top.  With a normal fuel pick up at the bottom of the tank, the separated water ethanol mix will be sucked up first and the engine may not run at all if there is enough water in the mix. In addition, the new gasoline is an excellent solvent and will dissolve most varnish build ups and result in clogged fuel filters and additional undesirable particulates to the gas mix that create much faster valve and cylinder wall wear and tear until the varnish has been run out of the system.  

On a car with a 20 gallon tank, most of the secondary side effects are minimal due to running  out of gas before the fuel separation will occur unless the car has been left sitting for long time.  For those of you who put your car away for the winter, it is recommended that you use new fuel stabilizers that are designed to eliminate the water ethanol mix and subsequent separation effect for up to a year.

As far fiberglass tanks go, they will soon be history whether desired or not.  There is no way around the gel coat dissolving process so the only thing that can be done is to replace a fiberglass tank with one made from a poly based plastic compound.

Bottom line on this new gasoline mix is that you can no longer use 

There is a large article on this very issue in Power and Motor Yacht magazine in the January 2007 issue.  Ting 
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Best Regards,
Dan Curtis
d.curtis@xxxxxxx
602 317 2018
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