SHO Nuff Problem

I posted the following on March 8th about a fuel problem I was having and I now have the results and I think you'll find this interesting .

I'm running a 2014 Yamaha SHO 150 and today for the first time have a problem. After getting on pad for about a quarter mile the motor just runs out of gas and dies. Starts up and idle a little while, get back on pad for another quarter mile, same thing, runs out of gas and dies. Always starts up and will idle from now on but once you get up on pad for a little while it just runs out of gas. Anyone have this problem ? Youtube talks about a VST filter and also a fuel pump but if it was the fuel pump it would start and run would it ? HELP

I took the boat to Rockwall Marine and it was there for a little over 5 weeks but they just couldn't get to it so I picked it up last Wednesday. Nothing against them they're just covered up. Anyway I started discovery last Saturday and started with the fuel lines. Since the problem started with the starboard tank I removed that line first. See picture below.


Ethanol had eaten the liner inside the fuel line and it had separated from the hose. I pulled it completely out.
Next the port fuel line. See below.




As you can see the liner is still intact but ethanol had started the decomposing process.
Next, the fuel line from the port/starboard switch to the water separator. See below

Once again the liner had decomposed and separated from the fuel line. I'm convinced this was caused by ethanol. I bought the boat in January of 2016 and the boat had been setting up for about 6 months. I should have drained both tanks but didn't. Whenever possible I buy ethanol free usually from Star Mart at Fork, otherwise I use StarTron additive. Anyway, changed all the fuel lines and took the boat out for a trial run today and everything is great again. Hope this helps any of you who has had a similar problem.

Good job gigem!

No excuses now, get on the water.

Thanks bigfish, was out there today at RH testing and caught 3. Going to a better lake Monday. The world is round again now that my boat is fixed.

Good Job Ronnie!

How long did it sit with untreated fuel?

NVM....I see 6 months now. Ya it can start breaking down in as little as 3-4 weeks

I'm pretty sure Star Mart gets a load of ethanol once in a while. The guy told me that. I go down the road to Fisherman's One Stop.

The pump says non-ethanol and is more expensive. Hate to think they are selling ethanol from that pump.

5 weeks in the shop? Hope they didn't charge you. I would think the fuel line would have been a easy diagnosis.

They didn't charge anything and were very apologetic, they're just very busy which tells you they do good work. Diagnosis was difficult because it happened all of a sudden and there were so many things that could cause it including fuel pumps, filters ( these 4 strokes have lots of filters) and clogged injectors. Never knew ethanol could do that much damage but I know now. I'm just glad it was a fairly inexpensive fix.

Wow ,your are a really mellow dude. I would have been a little upset.

How could a 2014 motor/ boat not use ethonol resistant hose? Doesn’t make sense.
I’m by no means an ethanol fan but if it was the cause I’d think we would see a lot more of these failures. My 1997 evinrude has the original fuel hoses on it and I make no attempt to use ethanol free gas and I’ve never had a failure... until tomorrow , I’m sure. My money is on you got a defective fuel line.

My Mercury 90 did the same thing. Ran good then died while on plane. Would start and idle fine but couldn't give it any throttle. I got it home and started at the engine fuel filter. It was full of what appeared to be a grainy substance. I then pulled the water separator, but it was clean and clear. I started following the fuel line from the separator and up under the splash pan I found a foot of the grey hose like WalMart sells in their marine stuff. I took it out and the inner liner was just falling apart and was like the grainy stuff I found in the filter. I replaced that section of hose and flushed it all the way to the engine fuel filter. Replaced the filter and have had no problems since. I can only guess that when my motor was upgraded, the tech put that short section of grey hose in. It took about 5 years to cause a problem.

The guy I bought it from said he used nothing but premium fuel. I've heard from several SHO owners including the mechanic at Plano Marine that premium fuel was not good for 4 strokes. The manual recommends 89 octane but I know guys who have 250hp SHO's that run regular and it runs just fine. It's my belief that the boat setting up for 6 months is the culprit and my bad for not putting in fresh gas. Regardless it's fixed now and I learned something from the experience. Something I failed to mention, I bought the boat in Arkansas from a kid who was on the University of Arkansas bass team. You think maybe.........

Think maybe his sister is his cousin? Yes I think that

I have no knowledge of that but I've heard those kinds of things happen. By his own admission his mom was a stripper, so.

Good info, hope to get an SHO when I become a Senager in a few years.
Hook’EM !

Well. The lines ARE ethanol resistant. They,however, are not ETHANOL PROOF. My friends shop is seeing a STEADY stream of boats coming in & now the FIRST thing they do: pull fuel line & pump sample into clear container. Then pull every fuel hose connection & isually check for delamination/deterioration of inside the hoses. It is nearing 50% of their work load. Saves them & customers money by STARTING there

And ethanol interests are pushing to get 20% ethanol approval. I think thats when the vehicle indistry woll start experiencing some issues. Vehicles get used more so the gas/ethanol doesn't have time to phase separate & it doesnt sit inside lines as long. Hmmm. Makes me think about the vehicles that dont get driven much like my tow vehicle. About the only time its driven is pulling the boat to lake & back. Far less than the car is ised.

Thanks for clearing that up Curt. Lots of things are " resistant" but not "proof". I bought my first new bass boat in 1987 and would get another after 4-5 years so I didn't keep them long enough nor did they sit idle long enough for ethanol to do damage. I'm a believer now since I've had this problem that ethanol under the right conditions will do some serious damage.

Im exactly like you in respect to TRYING to buy ethanol free gas. I fugure if I can take ethanol out of the equation then I'm ahead of the game, MAYBE. Till I learned its perfectly legal for them to use ethanol to boost octane rating (it is an octane booster also) & legally do not have to label it as such. Soooo????? Back to square one AGAIN....

Anything built after 06 should be ethanol resistant to about 10%, but some of these stations that a friend of mine has checked before said they are in the 30% range of ethanol! Why don't they regulate these better is beyond me.

On another note, once the line has been exposed to the excessive ethanol its a matter of time no matter if you run non ethanol from now on. It may just extend the life of the hoses and stuff some but its coming.

The ethanol thing is so crazy. They push Auto makers to get X miles per gallon by whatever year but are forcing ethanol into the gas. I had a little commuter car that would get 15 mpg more from non ethanol gas. Why not just eliminate the ethanol and just like that you get the MPG you want out of the cars/boats. I am guessing there is a corn lobby that is pushing this stuff which is why the common sense approach is not used. Money talks! Anyway glad you got your boat fixed, that is the most important thing!