Baron Kimball
Recruit
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2009
- Messages
- 2
Hello all,
My first time here and I must say this is a treasure trove of info. So glad to see everyone here sharing the knowledge and helping each other out. I hope I can contribute at some point.
That said, I'm not much of a mechanic. BUT I decided it would be a good idea to replace the burned out starter on my 1997 Penta 4.3GL PLDK myself. That was a complete disaster, but I finally got it sorted out. Since I've only owned the boat for about six months it seemed like I should go ahead and do some normal maintenance, so I changed the oil and filter, fuel filter, checked the drive oil, etc.
So I get her out on the river and she runs like a champ all day. We put her through all the paces. Ran flat out for 20 minutes, stopped, sat for five, started up again, ran it hard, stopped for an hour, started up, ran it hard, ran it at no wake, stopped, started, ran it, etc. No issues what so ever.
So I'm all like the proud poppa as we trailer her up and drive the hour or so back to town. I strap on the the jigger to run water through the engine, hop up into the boat and crank her up. And she won't start. The engine turns over well and good, but it just won't catch. For whatever reason I decide to pull off the air filter cover and have a look at the carb area, and no gas is dripping out. So I've got some kind of fuel delivery problem, right? My boy cranks the engine and I hold the fuel pump to see if it is working. It does not appear to be. No sound, no vibes, nothing. So I get down and take a look at the starter connections, because i know from when I replaced it that the fuel pump is connected there. It appears to be fine. So now it's getting dark so I cover her up and for various reasons don't get back to it until the next weekend.
Now she starts fine. I still can't feel any action from the fuel pump, however. And, The boat started with the relay switch completely removed!
As I was attempting to hook up the starter I had it miswired every different way and I (believe) I figured out that the fuel pump only activates when the starter is active. Is this true? Does the pump only work when starting, and then some kind of vacuum pulls in the fuel? Is it possible that the boat might be able to start without the pump? What are the failure characteristics of the pump, does it fail catastrophically or does it lose function incrementally?
I've looked over the other threads and learned a lot, but mostly the issues addressed relate to poor function after a period of engine use. I hope someone might be able to comment on this specifically. The worst thing is that now that it is working again I can't figure out what isn't working!
Thanks in advance for any and all advice.
My first time here and I must say this is a treasure trove of info. So glad to see everyone here sharing the knowledge and helping each other out. I hope I can contribute at some point.
That said, I'm not much of a mechanic. BUT I decided it would be a good idea to replace the burned out starter on my 1997 Penta 4.3GL PLDK myself. That was a complete disaster, but I finally got it sorted out. Since I've only owned the boat for about six months it seemed like I should go ahead and do some normal maintenance, so I changed the oil and filter, fuel filter, checked the drive oil, etc.
So I get her out on the river and she runs like a champ all day. We put her through all the paces. Ran flat out for 20 minutes, stopped, sat for five, started up again, ran it hard, stopped for an hour, started up, ran it hard, ran it at no wake, stopped, started, ran it, etc. No issues what so ever.
So I'm all like the proud poppa as we trailer her up and drive the hour or so back to town. I strap on the the jigger to run water through the engine, hop up into the boat and crank her up. And she won't start. The engine turns over well and good, but it just won't catch. For whatever reason I decide to pull off the air filter cover and have a look at the carb area, and no gas is dripping out. So I've got some kind of fuel delivery problem, right? My boy cranks the engine and I hold the fuel pump to see if it is working. It does not appear to be. No sound, no vibes, nothing. So I get down and take a look at the starter connections, because i know from when I replaced it that the fuel pump is connected there. It appears to be fine. So now it's getting dark so I cover her up and for various reasons don't get back to it until the next weekend.
Now she starts fine. I still can't feel any action from the fuel pump, however. And, The boat started with the relay switch completely removed!
As I was attempting to hook up the starter I had it miswired every different way and I (believe) I figured out that the fuel pump only activates when the starter is active. Is this true? Does the pump only work when starting, and then some kind of vacuum pulls in the fuel? Is it possible that the boat might be able to start without the pump? What are the failure characteristics of the pump, does it fail catastrophically or does it lose function incrementally?
I've looked over the other threads and learned a lot, but mostly the issues addressed relate to poor function after a period of engine use. I hope someone might be able to comment on this specifically. The worst thing is that now that it is working again I can't figure out what isn't working!
Thanks in advance for any and all advice.
