Boat Forum / Cruising / May 2004

How long is diesel fuel supposed to last in a tank before it causes
problems in injectors?  I ran through two full tanks of diesel in 1999
and topped off at the end of the season.  But, I then went through a
period where my trips (Hawaii and Alaska) were on other people's boats
and my poor old Catalina mostly sat at the dock.  So after four years
of not adding new fuel and the tank drawn down below the 1/4 tank
level, my engine suddenly had trouble starting.  The stuff in the fuel
filter didn't smell, look or feel like good diesel so I pulled the
injectors and had them rebuilt, pumped and flushed the tank and whole
fuel system. After adding new fuel it's now running fine again.

My diesel mechanic who rebuilt the injectors says that I might have
gotten gasoline instead of diesel and it would float on top of the
diesel, and until I used down to that level I wouldn't notice any
difference.  Is this possible?  Could gas have been in there even from
when I bought the boat 8 years ago or during one of my 5 gallon
top-offs?  It's a 15 gallon tank and problems arose when I got down to
the last 4 gallons.  I had not previously drawn it down below 5
gallons.

Al Gunther - Kingston, WA