Well I went for a sail in a bit of a wind and wave session went up and down and side to side for a 3 day affair in the Coral Sea and when checking the engine when I returned I was shocked to see this........... The water separator was full of a disturbing water fuel sediment I have always seen clear diesel fuel in the past and always had a full tank of diesel with an additive for diesel bug and fuel conditioner.

This weekend I will be removing the inspection hatch at the top of the tank and removing all the diesel and cleaning the tank but I want to know from the brains trust if I simply wipe the sides of the tank with rags or is their a product to remove the grime?
The Fuel tank is within the keel and the access is unknown till I remove the top plate of the tank.
The yacht is steel.
I am not going to polish the fuel I will be discarding it.

Any thoughts please advise.

Regards

AJ

There would have been water laying in the bottom of the tank under the pick up. Rough weather just mixed it up. If you wait long enough it will settle out again but chucking it is the best routine.
My tank is fiberglass and I just wiped it out with clean rags. Steel might be worth scrubbing with a scotch pad soaked with WD40 and then wiped with clean rags till it's clean and dry. Chuck the filters and drain the fuel from the pipes as well. Not much you can do with the fuel in the injector pump. Hopefully when you bleed the system most of the water will be gone.

I agree with Ramona, its the most important thing to keep water out of the injector pump. Clear the fuel lines and flush with clean diesel.

Big job!

old thread - may help

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Black-Death-is-back?page=1

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Diesel-Tank-Draw-Pipe?page=1

Sucked out the fuel and wet vac'd the muck in the bottom what a job I will paint the inside of the tank what I can get to and fit a new gasket with tension washers on the bolts and nuts, as you can see I had water between the top plate and the gasket I think it came in through a few bolts that were loose. The job marches onward.

Success engine runs perfectly and all is well lots of cleaning but a job that had to be done. Engine filters changed and all lines blown out no more engine problems.

^^^^^ Very neat look'n boat,, nice