Fuel contamination

[Henr1y]

Most likely it can be the siphon hose material. If the siphon hose wasn't specifically designed for fuel transfer, it could have degraded and released corrosive particles.
Otherwise the only reason I can think of is that the petrol isn't stored propely at the petrol station, which in turn gives you dirty fuel

[skipperpete]

I suppose it’s worth mentioning a few of the disasters with contaminated fuel from the suppliers. Here in Australia there was a major foulup with Avgas supplies that caused the grounding of thousands of light aircraft for extensive repair and tank cleaning after the refinery delivered contaminated fuel to airports across the entire country. More recently there was a huge problem with bunker oil from Houston that spread to Singapore and caused a lot of marine engineers to review their injector pump overhauling skills as the ships voyages were punctuated by pump failures across the high seas. In fact one of the early points of investigation into the MS Dali incident was possible fuel contamination but later dismissed.
Be very wary of marina fuel supplies, often they have a very small turnover due to the high price they frequently charge, and (at least in Asia) the lack of sensible measures to keep the storage clean, often with unlocked dip and fill points.
There is an ongoing court case where a superyacht refuelled and allegedly copped a lot of dirty fuel that caused the predictable injector pump plunger seizure and overspeed on one of the main engines, if you’ve ever seen a runaway with a small 4 cyl yacht engine, try and imagine a 2,000hp MAN or MTU going rogue.

[Kettlewell]

Be very wary of marina fuel supplies, often they have a very small turnover due to the high price they frequently charge,

As a rule of thumb, try to buy fuel from the places local fishermen purchase their fuel. The fisherman buy a lot and depend on it for their lives. Usually cheapest there too.

[rslifkin]

Same concept as with a car. The busiest places to buy fuel and those with the most commercial traffic generally will have the best / freshest fuel.

[noelex 77]

The rules are:

Always inspect any fuel you buy before allowing it into your tanks. A sample into a clear glass bowl is ideal.

Buy from companies that have a higher turnover and a good reputation when possible.

Filter the fuel before it enters the tank. Baja filters (or the plastic alternatives) will eliminate any water and show any particulate matter such as rust.

Polish the fuel as soon as possible

Add a biocide

[argonauta1]

This issue does not seem to be a case of "bad fuel" from the "petrol station". That being said, we never allowed fuel into the main tank without passing it through a Baja filter and always added a dollop of fuel conditioner. Had the tank purged after a decade with very little crud evident. Thus, I am a Baja fan.

[Nicholson58]

Baja filter all new fuel. We don’t fill directly from the marina hose. We buy fuel from a good source. Dinghy to the boat and siphon through the Baja.

Occasionally sample the bottom of your tanks and keep the water out. Is it fresh or salty? I sample into a glass or other transparent container. If the sample is cloudy mix in some acetone to dilute a bit. Water will drop out more easily.

We added a one micron polisher loop running at 45 gallons per hour with water separation. Only the clean fuel from that filter is allowed into the primary Racor filters. The extra plus is the Racor elements and engine secondary filter rarely need servicing.

Our diesel marine consultant told us that most water gets in by the deck fill port. Condensation is simply not possible in the tropics but may occur in the north. Change the O-ring annually and use waterproof grease to lubricate the O-ring and threads.

[pbmaise]

The OP said the jerry cans were "new" and only used to transport diesel. Which means they were not new and had been used before. In my case, I only hauled out the fuel cans once every two to three years. If that is the OP's case too, this can be problematic especially if the cans were stored above deck and lashed upright to the railings. I learned the hard way to wash my jerry cans with soap and water and leave them to air dry. This gets the thin film of diesel out of the cans. Failing to do this attracts water from the air making them ideal breeding grounds. Since I had two large ama to store my cans, I had the luxury of storing the cans open and out of the rain.

Article on diesel fuel pulling water from the air can be found here.....
https://www.donaldson.com/en-us/bulk...h%20is%20equal.

Yet another chemical engineer here.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by Tin Tin

Maybe someone poured some holding tank cleaner down the wrong filler.

Great thought, and this sounds plausible.

People would be surprised at how many complete (and expensive) brake jobs we did from owners mistakenly adding Power Steering fluid to the master cylinder. The reaction and results are pretty quick. All brake system rubber expands, and everything rubber from the master cylinder to the calipers has to be replaced.

If the OP's fuel system reacted to harsh and incompatible holding tank chemicals, the results could be quick and destructive, requiring the complete fuel system to be cleaned and flushed in the least... worst case, replaced.

[skipperpete]

I think the OP may have already told us where the contamination came from when he mentioned the “old biocide” he added to the tank prior to the failure. Maybe it was also the reason for the earlier injector pump replacement too? We’ll never know the answer but one thing is certain…. There’s a full system flush and tank cleanout in the OP’s future.

[Iron E]

Originally Posted by skipperpete

I think the OP may have already told us where the contamination came from when he mentioned the “old biocide” he added to the tank prior to the failure. Maybe it was also the reason for the earlier injector pump replacement too?

Yeah, I read that but couldn't wrap my head around the speed of failure from a biocide... *shrugs

We’ll never know the answer but one thing is certain…. There’s a full system flush and tank cleanout in the OP’s future.

True

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by skipperpete

I think the OP may have already told us where the contamination came from when he mentioned the “old biocide” he added to the tank prior to the failure. Maybe it was also the reason for the earlier injector pump replacement too? We’ll never know the answer but one thing is certain…. There’s a full system flush and tank cleanout in the OP’s future.

Seem unlikely, coming from a guy that has run testing labs and stored decades-old samples of biocide on the shelf.



What can happen is that the active ingredients will crystalize out. They won't work and the filter will catch the particles, which wouldn't be very harmful. Also, some biocides must be either added while filling, with good turbulence, or diluted into a gallon, mixed, and added that way. If poured into a quiet tank they just precipitate out. But again, mostly harmless.


The OP did not share fuel analysis. I'm betting either a bunch of saltwater or very low pH from fuel that was bug contaminated somewhere up the line. Probably saltwater. Occam's razor.

[skipperpete]

The type of engine has a role in HOW an injector pump fails. The OP said the engine that overspeeded due to corrosion in the injector pump was a Volvo/Perkins so this leaves us with a choice of 2.
The first that springs to mind is the overhead cam Perkins Prima that Volvo adopted. This engine has a Bosch VE injector pump that has only one pumping element and cannot overspeed due to the conventional “stuck rack” scenario…. It has NO rack but is susceptible to internal corrosion and seizure due to being fuel lubricated, the whole pump body is full of fuel all the time. If the plunger sticks, the engine dies.
The other Volvo/Perkins is the Shibaura based D2-55. This engine has a cassette injector pump with remote governor and CAN overspeed if one of the 4 pumping elements seizes…… the trouble is, this pump is almost entirely lubricated by engine oil and not by fuel oil. Apart from the plungers and the spill gallery there is no diesel fuel in this pump and consequently no visible corrosion from water or contaminants in the fuel, even when this pump is stripped the plungers and bushings don’t show external corrosion….. the only circumstance where the cam followers and internal pump parts can be corroded is if the ENGINE OIL has water in it ( or at least very high moisture levels).
If dirty fuel caused the death of this engine it should be cautionary tale for the people who believe its ok to draw fuel from the very bottom of the tank with no need for a sump or drain tap, I don’t know for sure what the SG of biocide is but I do know where its going to sit if its heavier than diesel fuel.