Just FYI, my 2004 F150 left me stranded last weekend. Never had any issues before. Mechanic says VST filter was very dirty/clogged and starved the high pressure pump from getting enough fuel. The pump burned up. Now replacing the pump $300+, all the filter, and cleaning the injectors.
He took a fuel sample and said fuel in the tank is clean. Suspects this was build-up over a number of years of having some trash in the fuel. I told him I still don’t see how it gets past all those filters - 10 micron, the one under the cowling, etc.
Only thing that I did notice was you can open the VST drain and when I did I saw some trash coming through the clear drain (while I was stranded and trying to figure out what was wrong). Maybe if I had done that prior to this weekend I would have known there was some trash in there that needs to be cleaned out before burning up a pump.
The bummer is he said its about 2 hours labor to get to the VST and change out the filters and replace it on the 4-strokes so its not a cheap quick check…but its cheaper than being towed and doing all this I am having to do.
Yamaha told me that there are no restrictions for making Ethonal for fuel, so it is made with many impurities that are in liquid form until it gets super heated in your vst. Then it comes out of liquid form and settles down in the vst clogging your filters. I had the exact same problem. after 3 fuel pumps(2 of which were under warranty of course), one bad injector, fuel system cleaning, two vst cleanings and filter changes i learned this. now i only use ethonal free which i still treat and havn’t had a problem since. good luck.
we see it almost daily
ethanol sludge
eats rubber, locks up electric fuel pumps
bad stuff
we bought kits to test for ethanol, as well as the ethanol content
Palmettores use Sta-Bil fuel treatment, or equivalent, every time you add fuel. Whether you are using 10% ethanol or not, it will help keep the fuel stabilized and help with any moisture that may build up in the tank. Ethanol in the gas does suck…can I get an Amen on that? Do try to find ethanol free if possible.