Re: Vapor Lock

[fire8033]

Re: Vapor Lock

Well after a long process of trying to add blowers and fiddle with this and that nothing really worked. If you didn't open the hatch it would not start back. I took the plunge and purchased the Mercruiser boost pump kit and it now works flawlessly. I wish I had just done this to begin with. If anyone is interested I took pictures of the install and would be glad to post them.

Hey spdracr39,

Any chance of posting those install pictures and/or pm them to me. I am having the same problem.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: Vapor Lock

Re: Vapor Lock

Hi there fire8033, what year engine model do you have there?

It appears you may have tapped into an old thread and someone started a new thread for you. The best way to ask a member about a thread that has been inactive for 30 days or more would be to send them a PM to see if they are still an active member. Fortunately for us spdracr39 is, so hopefully they'll be along shortly so maybe they can help with your question. I'll try sending spdracr39 a PM for you to let spdracr39 know about this thread.

In the mean time here is what mercruiser says about vapor lock,
http://www.boatfix.com/merc/bullet/99/99_07.PDF

Also just know that in some cases another trick is to see about carefully re-routing your fuel return line to the fuel tank instead of the fuel filter or VST tank depending on engine model. That has seemed to help a lot of folks out with vapor lock.

Good luck.

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Vapor Lock

Re: Vapor Lock

Yes the installation was very easy because it is a mercruiser kit. It came with the wiring harness that allow it to be plugged into the existing harness. The only two difficulties were running the wires under the engine and finding a suitable spot for the pump without kinking the lines. the kit cost about 400.00 on ebay and came with everything I needed except for some fuel line. I could have re used the existing but decided to replace it with new. Installation took about an hour. My engine is 5.0 MPI and I don't know if the same kit will work for the 3.0. I will post the install pics as soon as I get back home Sunday.

 

[fire8033]

Re: Vapor Lock

Re: Vapor Lock

Okay guys sorry for the delay. First of all I apologize but it's been a while since I have been on Iboats and I have failed to update my information. The boat I currently own and the one I am having an issue with is a 2001 Chaparral 230ssi with the 5.0L Mercruiser EFI. I have owned the boat for about 6 months and it has perform perfect, not one ounce of trouble until a couple weeks ago. We were cruising for about an hour when we decided to stop for lunch, we were stopped for approximately 30 minutes and when I tried to start the boat she started for a couple of seconds and died. I attempted to start her several more times with no luck, Sea Tow to the rescue, The next morning she started fine.

Saturday we to her out again this time we were cruising for several hours and stopped a couple times without any issue until we made a run over to pick up our smallest child and take her to the park. We were at the park for approximately 30 minutes and the same issue happen she tried to start a couple of times and then nothing but cranking. Tried working on her for 45 minutes or so and then called Sea Tow again, before the arrived my wife suggested trying one last time and she fired up and ran great the entire trip home. My wife noticed that both times we have had an issue we have stopped for short periods of time and when we stopped for long periods we have not had any issues. After reading on this forum for hours this is what has lead me to thinking she is vapor locking. My questions are:

1. Is there anyway I can test or tell for sure that I am having a vapor locking issue?
2. Is there anything I can do once it happens to get back underway besides waiting for her to cool off?

I do not mind spending the money to fix it I just have not found anything on the forums I have read to confirm this is my issue before I start throwing money at it.

Thank you in advance for any and all help.

 

[spdracr39]

Re: Vapor Lock

Re: Vapor Lock

Well I could not find the installation pictures. Your issue sounds exactly like mine. The remedy I used in the beginning was to open the engine hatch anytime I was going to be stopped for more than a couple of minutes. That allowed the heat to escape and the engine would always restart. Just putting more blowers in didn't work. On my MPI engine I used a fuel pressure gauge and measured the rail pressure when it was acting up. It was zero. When it was working it was around 40 psi. You could also hear a distinct difference in the sound of the fuel pump when it was pumping fuel and when it was pumping air at the turn of the key. I tried bleeding the air out at the rail and that didn't work. It would take a couple of hours for it to fix itself then it would start back. The boost pump is the only permanent solution I found. Your issue sounds just like mine and I was in the same frame of mind as you. Most people on the forums didn't think it was vapor lock and the amount of factual information on diagnosis was minimal. I would research a pump kit for your engine and try it. It was a very straight forward installation for anyone that can turn a wrench and in the big picture 400.00 isn't a large investment to keep the day from being ruined. Just a bit of an FYI I did take mine to a mercruiser dealer to let them run the engine codes and they said nothing was wrong. Of course it wouldn't do it unless it was running under load so they couldn't duplicate them problem.

Good luck and if you run into any problems in your install let me know and I will try to help.