How can I find oil:fuel ratio in tank?

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UnderDog

Is there any way to determine my oil:fuel ratio of my current fuel in the tank? I suspect that over the last two years, I've been adding too much oil when filling up at the dock. The outboard smokes a great deal and I think its because of excessive oil in the fuel.
 
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John

Owner's manual

I don't think you can find the ratio of the fuel currently in your tank. However, you will find the needed ratio of fuel/oil mixture in your engine's owner manual or repair shop. I found an inexpensive measure at walmart that I use to get the correct fuel/oil ratio.
 
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Frank Ladd

Your best bet

I think your best bet is to run the engine until that tank is almost empty and then start over and measure carefully. I'd also recommend the newer synthetic oils that smoke a lot less than older style oils. You can have the fuel tested but it will cost quite a lot and you will have to package and ship the sample as a hasardous material.
 
Apr 19, 1999
1,670
Pearson Wanderer Titusville, Florida
How much fuel are you talking about?

Since this is a smaller boats forum, your engine is probably an outboard, in which case you're dealing with 3 to 5 gals max. Maybe you can donate it to someone who cuts lawns, buy some new fuel and mix it in the proper ratio. Those graduated plastic bottles for measuring oil based on the fuel volume and the fuel:eek:il ratio are available just about anywhere. Peter H23 "Raven"
 
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UnderDog

Its a 12 gal tank

Its a 12 gallon permanent tank (came that way, I'm the 3rd owner) in a 25.5 w/ a Johnson 9.9. Its probably got about 9 gallons left. Someone suggested I just run the engine, but that means about 9 hrs on 2/3 full throttle for me. I think I'm just going to burn down to about 6 gallons, then add 6 with the 50:1 ratio. Then do that again at the end of the summer, so at that point I get 1/4 of the mixture as wrong, and 3/4 good, so the mixture should be really close to correct again. I'll just live with the smoke for a while.
 
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