Old Gas Removal

R

RVGal1

New Member
Jun 11, 2011
2
Puget Sound
Boat Info
1983 Sundancer SRV245
Engines
Mercruiser 5.7L w/Alpha 1 drive
Hi All - I have a 1983 SRV245 Sundancer that has been sitting on a trailer unused for the past seven years. It was winterized in October of 2004 and has been sitting ever since. What do I need to do to get it running again? And how do I get rid of 100 gallons of bad gasoline sitting in the tank? Can it be pumped out through the filler tube or is there a cleanout or other means of accessing it? Any help from the board on how to get the old girl on the water again will be welcome. Thanks much.

Carol.
 
I would access the fuel line at the engine and disconnect it. then put an electric inline fuel pump on it and run a hose from the pump to a waste container.
 
+1 or if the tank is easily accessible, pull the fuel guage sender and syphon out the "turpentine". If the tank is easily removeable, pull it and clean it thoroughly before fueling with fresh.
 
Not sure what city you are in but check with the local refuse/recycling companies. Some will take hazardous materials. I took some of the old carb cleaner (the good stuff back than) to the City of Tacoma recyling center and they took care of it. Although it wasn't in the amount that you have.
 
Thats a lot to deal with but it has to come out.

If you can't get the tank out make sure to dose the remains good with Seafoam or something similar. Then change the filter again soon after refueling and running the motor.

I would rebuild the carb and replace all the bellows and fluids and filters. If she was properly winterized I should think everything else would be fine as long as varmits hadn't gotten in there.

To be safe I'd run her on the muffs and check to be sure all systems are working before I splashed.

Good luck and have fun!
 
Thanks for all the great ideas. I will tackle this project sometime next week and keep you all posted on the outcome. Regards to all, Carol.
 
Carol, My fuel went bad over the winter. MIA O ring on the gas cap which in turn let in a lot of rain water. I will tell you that you will have to make sure that every last bit of bad gas is out of the system. You will need a carb. rebuild plus replace all fuel filters. If you have a genset you will have to do the same to it as well. I had the boat repair place pump out my bad gas $71 to pump out and dispose of 25 gals of gas. Hope things work out for you. CJ
 
Lugnutz said:
Not sure what city you are in but check with the local refuse/recycling companies. Some will take hazardous materials. I took some of the old carb cleaner (the good stuff back than) to the City of Tacoma recyling center and they took care of it. Although it wasn't in the amount that you have.
Click to expand...

I have a guy that takes my 55 gal drum of waists oil for free. They sell it. Check for oil disposal. They may take the old gas.

You also would be amazed what you can get rid of one gallon a week at a time.
 
here in Indiana there are removal companies for bad fuel
some charge up to 9.55 per gallon for disposal....shop a little bit
before committing
 
After you get the old stuff out, I would remove the tank and have it cleaned if possible. Look around for an auto radiator shop. Those places clean tanks regularly.
If removal isn't an option, then I would put a small amount of fresh gas in the tank, change the filters, and start her up. I would change the filters several times until you get all the crap you can out, then put on a new carb, fill her up, and you should be fine.
Don't forget to put new plugs, cap, etc. in.
Make sure you change the oil if you can before you start it up. If it can't be drained out the bottom, then you will have to start it with the old oil just long enough to get it up to operaing temp. Then shut it down and pull the oil out of the dipstick tube with a pump and change the filter. I might even change the oil again after a few hours. Then again, I have an electric pump for the job so it is real easy for me to say.
You'd be surprised how a motor that has been sitting for several years will fire up. As long as it ran well when put away, it should run just as well when you wake it up again.
Good luck!!
 
We just took 75 gallons of fuel / water out of a recently acquired 1976 SRV 240 and here's how we did it;

Step 1: Got old propane tank from neighbor and put into trailer
Step 2: disconnected fuel line at pump, spliced on garden hose
Step 3: turned on key and pumped tank out in 45 mins with onboard fuel pump
Step 4: will take tank to auto repair shop up the road and pump into waste tanks
Step 4.5: Replace fuel water filter
Step 5: 4 cans of heat into empty tank
Step 6: 2 cans sea foam 75 gallons fresh gas, and then start with ether and run in the yard for a while
Step 7: Go boating!


Worked for us...we took it back out the next day and she ran fine.
 
As many have said. Buy a fuel pump for a 83-87 Mercedes This thing will get all the old gas out also put the rubber hose over the dip stick and suck all the oil out. I'm sure taking the tank out of this boat requires removing the engines. Once you have it pumped out ad some dawn and water trough the sending unit and use a wet-dry vac to clan the tank. also spot on on the filter change and carb rebuild. good luck were all pulling for ya! :)
 
OK, sometimes I'm slow but these last two posts lost me.

Edgnu - whats the propane tank for/do?

Spookeay - I assume the Mercedes pump is electric?
 
I had to drain 25 gallons of bad gas out of my 85 Seville. Ran a siphon hose down the tank and drained into five gallon can. I ran an ad on Craigslist for free gasolene and within twenty minutes a guy came by and put all 25 gallons in his older truck. I than put about 2 gallons of fresh fuel in the tank and siphoned that out and will use that in my lawn mower. Than filled the tank with new gas. Runs great.
 
KRB64 said:
OK, sometimes I'm slow but these last two posts lost me.

Edgnu - whats the propane tank for/do?

Spookeay - I assume the Mercedes pump is electric?
Click to expand...

I assume the propane tank was empty and a fitting put on to contain the fuel that is being sucked out. I would just use a plastic gas can or a plastic 6 gal. water container (from camping store) to hold the fuel. May have to do this several times if you have too much fuel.
 
We have our boat in Anacortes. The local transfer station will take used gas but you must supply the container and they keep the container. I have never done it but asked when I dropped off antifreeze.
 
Yes there are hazardous materials stations that take "old" gas. When I started the rebuild on my boat there were several gallons of gas in the tank and best guess was it was ten years old. Since I was staying at an RV park on an Army base at the time their hazmat team took the old gas. I have no idea what they did with it. But I also know the county transfer station where I now live also takes old gas. When I was a kid we used old gas to burn weeds growing out of the cracks in the concrete on our drive way. (today that would probably be illegal)
 
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