[peptobysmol]

I have an old '69 Johnson 6 HP seahorse 2 stroke that I bought in July. It has run fine for the most part. It started running badly and I replaced the gas with a 50:1 oil mixture per instructions 2 weeks ago (I didn't examine the gas but didn't notice anything wrong, just did it out of a matter of practicality). I did not flush or rinse out the fuel tank, which is a 6 gallon red plastic container. It has the 6 foot priming tubing.

WHAT ON EARTH would make my 50:1 gas turn a milky white short of someone trying to sabotage my motor. The engine does not like the new "additive" by the way chokes sputters makes it REAL hard to get out of the Marina Actually, I never did!

Sooo I'm gonna discard the gas, rinse the tank, get a new priming tube. And remove the tank every night

 

[scottyt]

water in gas makes it turn white, did it rain recently?

with the new alky fuels they really suck water out of the air, and go bad. clean the heck out of the tank or even better buy a new one. then make sure you use the gas with in a month or so of purchase. if the fuel will sit use some stabil to help it from going bad, and dont try dry gas

 

[peptobysmol]

Yes it did rain. However, it seems unlikely (to me) that enough rain water got in the tiny screw vent (which was open) to foul 5 gallons of petro. I'm not an expert obviously.
Before I posted, I mixed some gas that was a year old (lawn mower) with the same 2 cycle engine oil and added tap water. Nicely blue on top with a clear bubbly layer on bottom but definitely not white chalky sediment.

 

[pdqaltair]

What you are seeing is phase separation. E-10

Yes it did rain. However, it seems unlikely (to me) that enough rain water got in the tiny screw vent (which was open) to foul 5 gallons of petro. I'm not an expert obviously.
Before I posted, I mixed some gas that was a year old (lawn mower) with the same 2 cycle engine oil and added tap water. Nicely blue on top with a clear bubbly layer on bottom but definitely not white chalky sediment.

Just a small amount of water (~ 0.5%) added will pull with it most of the alcohol in the gas (10%). So the few drops in the vent would be enough. Yes, the result is milky. Try your test again, adding only a few drops of water at a time.

 

[peptobysmol]

Hey, Thanks! I don't recall if the gas I bought had any methanol in it but I'll go with what you said. Regardless the solution is to get new gas. Not looking suspiciously at my fellow dock mates makes me feel better about where my boat sleeps.