Old Fuel Problems - Filter/water seperater did it's job.

[vabeach1234]

I had some pretty old fuel in my port side fuel tank. Shortly after I switched over to it I started loosing RPM's. I was running at around 3000 rpm at the time. So I slowed down to about 500 rpms and then couldn't get over that. So we started heading back to the slip at a slow 2 mph. After about 30 minutes the motor started running smoother and was able to increase the rpms. I didn't go over 1600 rpms just to be cautious. Got back to the slip and pulled off the fuel filter. I drained it into a gallon water jug and with in a minute it phase seperated. There was a clear band about 1/4" thick on top. Replaced the filter and I ran it in the slip for about 15 minutes and then took her out for about a 2 hour cruise and she ran great. There really wasn't much junk in the fuel, just the seperation.

So what I learned... Use the boat more often to use up old fuel and occasionally switch tanks that I'm running off to minimuize the amount of build up/junk at the bottom of the tank so the filter can do it's job little by little and not all at once.

FYI, I have the Fram FCS1136M Fuel/water Separator with a Wix filter element.

Oh yeah, the coast guard tried to board me again but I had the paper work from the labor day boarding so they just wanted to see life jackets for all on board. I guess I've got a target on my boat now.