Fuel Problems?

[evil twin]

Hi Everyone, new here so I hope I do this right. Just bought a 1987 Sea Ray 230 Weekender, unfortunately, my husband and I knew nothing about the maintenance on the boat (had an outboard before) and we never checked the fluid in the stern drive, long story short after 3 hrs of running time stern drive gears took a crap, no fluid. We decided to buy a whole new stern drive upper and lower. My husband replaced them along with the water/ fuel filter, inlet filter, and changed the oil and filter also checked all hoses and tried to do a general maintenance on the boat. Went out this past weekend and at first she was running great, then it starting acting like it was getting fuel, called a buddy who meet us out on the water and brought us a new fuel pump, we replaced it right then and there, again at first ran great up on plane and then again same thing, acting like it wasn't getting fuel. Over the weekend my husband cleaned the filter in the carb, checked all the lines for leaks and replaced the fuel pump again, same thing. Could it be that we have the wrong size fuel water filter? The boat ran beautiful before replacing the stern drive, Any help would be suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Eric 3.7LX Alpha 1]

Sounds like the vent on your fuel tank is blocked. Engine will run good for a while then tank will begin getting a vacuum from the engine drawing fuel, then vent would allow air to enter to equalize the tank pressure. The vacuum eventually will stop the engine. Then after sitting for a while the tank pressure will equalize again and run fine.

Just my guess.....

 

[evil twin]

Where is the vent for the fuel tank? At this point we are willing to check out everything. Thank you for your quick reply

 

[evil twin]

Update, my husband says he removed the gas cap while it was running and it didn't help, would that vent it the same way? the boat ran beautifully before putting the new stern drive and water/fuel filter, don't know what could have happened.

 

[Starcraft5834]

look on your deck, in front of "dog house" ( that's the engine cover), on my cuddy there's an access panel to for fuel line connection to tank.. I would guess you too have a like access panel to your tank, your vent hose should be in that area too

 

[alldodge]

When your back there looking at the vent line connection remove the main fuel line from the tank. The barbed fitting which the fuel line connects to is an anti-siphon valve. The valve is for the most part a spring and ball, a check valve. The ball can get crud on it and need to be cleaned or replaced. The valve is a safety device to keep the tank from empting all the fuel into your bilge if there is a fuel line break. see if you can blow through it in one direction going to the pump. If it needs cleaning, carb cleaner works. If it needs replaced, they don't cost much.

http://www.iboats.com/Moeller-Aluminum-Anti-Siphon-Valve/dm/view_id.392106

 

[Maclin]

I think the venting being an issue was eliminated when your husband removed the gas cap and nothing changed.

Just from the list of things you changed, and that you stated it ran great before the changes, then the new fuel filter or the install thereof is the prime suspect in my book. If it is a canister type then sometimes the rubber gasket from the old filter stays on the mounting pad and when a new one is installed the old gasket folds up and there can be an air leak introduced. Any air leak between the fuel supply and the fuel pump lessens the vacuum available to keep the fuel lines primed and flowing to capacity.

 

[evil twin]

My husband blew into the line and it is open, we just removed the new water separator filter and notices that the holes on the new done are smaller but there are more of them than the old one that we took off. The old one has 6 large holes the new one has 8 smaller holes, could that be the issues?

 

[Starcraft5834]

anything that was replaced that may restrict fuel flow to a lesser degree than before (when it ran fine),, as Maclin said, or any changes that effect vacuum that would be the likely culprit..

 

[BIGALF1]

Run the boat using an aux fuel tank and see what happens. You might just have a fuel issue from tank to engine.

 

[Starcraft5834]

to add.. perhaps take the water/fuel separator out of the equation....from tank to engine........will cost you (1) lenght of fuel line from tank to fuel pump

 

[evil twin]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, through the process of elimination, we have found that the fuel pump we put is was a used one and that is bad also. Lots of wasted time trying to save a dollar. Lesson learned

 

[evil twin]

update, bought a new fuel pump and still is doing the same thing, Boat runs great for about 1 mile then it starts starving for fuel and bogs down. We changed the fuel line, same thing. Blew into the line and its good, had the carb apart and brought it to someone and they said it's good. We are at a loss as to what happened. Any more suggestions before we bring it to a marina and get a 1000. bill

 

[achris]

Did you try what was suggested, a fuel tank (like an outboard) connected directly to the fuel pump? That will at least tell you if the problem is 'tank side' or 'engine side'....

 

[Starcraft5834]

As i mentioned before and Chris echoed... get some fuel line and connet directly to your fuel pump..skip the water fuel sep filter....that will tell you if the problem is the engine or perhaps the sep filter was choking out your engine..

 

[evil twin]

We have tried that, we are at a loss of what could be going on. Now it goes into the Mariana. Thank you everyone for your suggestions

 

[Bt Doctur]

you don't list an engine so taking a guess,the carb inlet filter can be installed backwards.

 

[achris]

We have tried that, we are at a loss of what could be going on. Now it goes into the Mariana. Thank you everyone for your suggestions

I assume you mean the remote tank. What was the result?

 

[wellcraft-classic210]

Yes -- also as mentioned above -- That barbed fitting with a check valve coming out of your fuel tank should be checked ( unless its been done ) Debris in the fuel can collect their.

 

[evil twin]

We have done all of the above and she still won't run right, we are taking her in today to a marina thank you for all of your suggestions