Stabilizer and E-10

General Boats and Motors
1

A lot of boaters, including myself, use stabilizer regularly. There are a lot of fuel problems being posted here, with the finger pointing to ethanol.

This does not seem to be a problem in cars. The only problems I hear car drives complain about is a slight loss of power and poorer mileage.

Are stabilizers like Sea Foam compatible with ethanol, or are they what is causing the ethanol to congeal and mess up the marine fuel systems?

Stinger-144, 50 Yamaha 2 str

2

Most of the people who have had problems with E-10 have problems because they had or are getting water in the fuel to begin with. With non ethonal fuel the water stays separated and the water separator can do its job. However, since ethonal is hydrophilic the water is absorbed and then can pass through a water blocking filter causing problems with the on engine fuel system.

So how does water get into the fuel:

  1. Breathing of the tank through the vent (covering a boat with a cover that does not breathe and will greatly increase the condensation in the tank)
  2. Water spray being pushed up into the vent because it is improperly installed (pointing forward and/or no loop in the line)
  3. Filler cap is not sealing (bad or missing O-ring)
  4. Bad fuel to begin with.

I would recommend one of the new marine specific ethonal treatments such as Startron or Stabil. I am not aware if Seafoam has an ethonal specific treatment.

Iain Pelto
Edgewater 185CC “Jumpin’ Bean II”

3

Seafoam doesn’t treat E-10, and StaBil only treats the engine from water damage, caused by E-10. StaBil is not an E-10 treatment, more of a rust inhibitor.