Ethanol gas and Yamaha 50

[Mike_J]

I have 2 2012 Y50s on my CD22 and wondered if there were any issues with using ethanol-containing gas. If so, any suggestions on how to get good gas before launching at Bullfrog UT on Lake Powell.

[bridma]

Hi Mike,

I used ethanol once in Friday Harbor. It was a horror story. I had not heard of ethanol before so did not use any additives. Do not use ethanol unless you know what you are doing.

Martin.

[colbysmith]

Mike, ethanol free gas isn't always easy to find where I boat. I have the Mercury 115 EFI Four Stroke, and a Tohatsu 6HP kicker. The manufacturers know that 10% ethanol is pretty standard, and the newer engines are built to handle it. I run regular gas all summer, but then in the fall try to find ethanol free so that the boat isn't sitting with ethanol in the lines over winter. Lots of scare stories out there. But the fact is, many of us ARE running regular gas with the 10% ethanol, and doing it without issue. Just make sure your operating manual doesn't say not to. Particularly on older outboards. (I suspect the reason has more to do with fuel line type and the fact that the ethanol is a solvent. Thus if you have build up in your tanks, the ethanol will dissolve some of the buildup into the gas...) Colby P.s., that being said, stay away from the E85. That's 15% ethanol!

[hardee]

Mike, Sure hope your trip goes along well. Stay safe and have a great trip.

Ehanol It's doable, and you will find that most places down here are pumping 10%. You will be running regularly, without letting the boat sit for weeks at a time so probably would be OK. But, I would follow my mechanics advice and run Startron fuel additive in each tank. Run it at the storage/maximum dose, not the light mixture, and you should be fine.

Don't think there will be any advantage to using Marine Stabil (Blue or 360) but you might want to put a dose of that into your tank to run through the engine before you pull the boat to truck it home. (Unless you are going to be home and on the water in a week or so.)

If your OB's are fuel injected it probably will make no difference. My OB's are carburated so I have to add the Startron.

Harvey
SleepyC

[Salmon Fisher]

I have used the Marine Stabil in my motors both on the 22 with carbed 40 hp Honda and the current fuel injected Honda 150 and carbed 9.9 kicker. No problems using the E 10 gas. As long as you are running and not letting it sit around in your fuel system for months, you should be ok, IMHO.

[Mike_J]

Thanks all. I will not worry overly for the short term and make sure I run the fuel through and then fill up with ethanol free when I get home. There are a couple of local gas stations in Victoria which sell "marked mid grade fuel" which I think is ethanol free and cheaper due to taxation rules.

[Barry Rietz]

Try and find an outlet for ethanol free gasoline using this website: pure-gas.org

[Sea Wolf]

Just a comment about E85. It's not 15% ethanol, but a variable mixture that can be from 51% to 83% ethanol, according to the source below:

"E85 (or flex fuel) is a term that refers to high-level ethanol-gasoline blends containing 51%-83% ethanol, depending on geography and season (see Fuel Properties and E85 Specifications). It can be used in flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs), which are available from domestic and foreign automakers. Use the Vehicle Cost Calculator to look up FFV fuel economy, fuel costs, and greenhouse gas reductions.

Other than lower gas mileage, motorists driving FFVs will see little difference when using E85 versus gasoline. Depending on the actual ethanol content, E85 has less energy per gallon than gasoline to varying degrees (the impact on fuel economy lessens as the ethanol content decreases)."

Source: Alternative Fuels Data Center-

http://www.afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol_e85.html

Joe.

[ssobol]

I buy auto gas from whatever gas station is on the way to the boat ramp. Works fine for my 2008 Honda BF90D. If I carry any gas over the winter (there is always some) I add StaBil in the appropriate quantity for the gas remaining in the tanks.

In the spring I just fill up and head out.

[colbysmith]

Sorry, my mistake about E85. I was assuming it was 15% ethanol. The rest of the story is good to know. My F150 is a "flex fuel" vehicle. And when I run the E85 in it, which is much cheaper, the mileage goes down noticeably. Enuf so, that the cheaper cost doesn't really pan out. Colby

[BrentB]

m2cw

Yamaha offers their brand fuel additives called Ring Free and another one for fuel stabilization

[gulfcoast john]

E-10 gas is designed to turn into crud at 90 days. I use it my car every day, and it’s all burned up a lot sooner than 90 days. I’m cheap, so I use 87 octane (permitted) even though I don’t get the rated 439 HP V8 I paid for. I find 430 HP or so is plenty enough for around town.
I would never put E-10 in the boat if I could help it. I like to have 1/3 tank full on the way home. We can call this John’s Stupid Gas Rule. If you too use John’s Stupid Gas Rule, you will always have some old gas in your tank, turning into crud and having dreams about getting into your fuel injectors. When a barge loaded with 100,000 gallons of benzene is bearing down on you. It’s arguable, but a near-empty tank can get water condensation running down it’s internal walls in cold weather if it’s not near full of ethanol-free gas. Even your lawn mower will do better with ethanol free gas. Ethanol does not have the energy density of real gas, so the price difference is not that much.
Barry, I for one yell “Right On!”. I use Pure-Gas.org (not .com) on the road. They don’t give prices, but you could call for them. Here in the hinterlands of south Mississippi, there are at least 7 gas stations within a 20 minute drive that have ethanol-free gas. Without pure-gas.com, I would never have found them, though we’ve lived here over 20 years. My rig measures 57 feet from front bumper to Yamaha cowling. The maximum length of a trailer on a big rig tractor trailer is 53 feet. I’m within a few feet of being as long as a big rig, so I do not like pulling into some of the ‘Bob’s Country Store Pie and Gas’ places. To avoid this, we use Google Earth maps to find the station, then zoom in on the satellite view to get an idea of how much room there is to pull in, back up, turn around, etc. On our first trip to Key West, we knew exactly where and how big the Valero station in Marathon was that carried real gas using that bird’s eye view. We knew the next alternate station, too. We also use it to scout out hotels and military bases that have big rig parking. ActiveCaptain.com is free and great, but the satellite views can’t zoom in nearly as close as Google Maps. I can count how many parking spaces there are at the boat ramp in Clinton before we get there.
Pure-Gas.org lists only one station in Victoria, BC, but also headlines this:
All Canada: Shell V-Power, MacEwen premium
Western Canada: CO-OP premium
British Columbia: Chevron 94
Ontario: Costco 91; Canadian Tire 91; Ultramar 91
We use a third free app on the road, GasBuddy.com, to find the cheapest diesel and gas. However, when it comes to the care and feeding of my Yamahas, I’m not cheap. Those Yami’s are chock full of expensive Japanese parts. My 5-star maintainer convinced me to always add Yamaha Ring Free additive, at least for the first 400 hours. I also use Star Tron (get it on sale at West Marine as a 2-for 1 sale in the most concentrated version). That takes care of any tank condensation issues during our vicious interminable winters, or my accidentally spraying the gas tank vents too enthusiastically during a wash-down. (You DO know where each and every through-hull leads, don’t you? Cat O’ Mine has 18 of them. There will be a test.) It’s not advertised, but you can put Star Tron for gas in your diesel tank rather than the more expensive Star Tron for Diesel. It’s all the same stuff, just different concentrations and colors.
Highly Recommended: Pure-Gas.org, Google Maps with satellite view, GasBuddy.com, ActiveCaptain.com and you’ll know what to expect before you get there. Virgin Mobile at $40/month all included uses the Sprint network, which has become pretty good.
Happy Boating!
John

[BrentB]

Yamaha has a tips online are

http://yamahaoutboards.com/owner-resources/FAQ/ethanol-topics

and

http://yamahaoutboards.com/sites/default/files/images/Ethanol_Fuel_Flyer.pdf

[localboy]

Ethanol is the devil.

[BrentB]

We try to buy only ethanol free gas but it is like other commodities subject to availability and over priced