Coast Ranger
Cadet
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2011
- Messages
- 21
I bought the boat & motor new and don't use it a lot. Maybe 25 hours a year. Last year it started acting up. While running it would stutter and stall. The boat place where I bought it did all sorts of work over 3 visits to the shop and it's still doing the same thing. What we've done: Replaced all the fuel lines, squeeze bulb, and fuel take up inside the tank. New plugs 3 trips (5 hours) ago. The gas filter is fresh since the end of last season - maybe 10 hours. Same with the water fuel separator (there was no water in it at all). Dumped the gas twice. I've only ever used non-ethanol gas. I used the high dollar Yamaha fuel treatment just because. The shop said it had sand in the fuel cooler 3 times. After the first time I was really careful to trim the motor up when we beached. Then I learned how to check the cooler. That wasn't (isn't) the problem.
Saturday 3 of us went out early. It ran great in the morning down to where we beach up. On the way back we carried another person. Half way back it began stuttering and losing power. If I throttle back, it runs OK. Sunday, I get the idea to shorten the gas line. It comes out of the tank, dips down to the deck, then back up to the motor. Maybe 16" from the bottom to where it goes into the motor. Of course that didn't work. We ran great in the morning, just the two of us. In the afternoon, after running wide open for 30 minutes, it begins to stutter. I reach back and squeeze the bulb to see if it's hard. It's not. Then the motor stalls. I wait 5 minutes. It starts and runs fine at idle and up to about half throttle. Above that it stutters. Throttle back to half and it seems OK.
Thoughts.
- Can the bulb have a pin hole or invisible crack that lets air into the line when it's hot or under pressure? Can I take the bulb out? I rarely have to squeeze it to start the motor. Does the motor generate enough fuel line pressure to pull from the tank?
- I can't see where there's a pressure relief vent on the tank itself. On my old, smaller boats there was a thumb screw valve on the tank. If you forgot to open it, the motor would stall because the pressure in the tank built up to the point where fuel wouldn't flow through the line very well. Maybe on this boat the relief valve is vented up filling tube, and I just don't see it? Maybe a dirt dauber daubed some dirt in the line? Would it hurt to put a relief valve (hole) in the top corner of the tank?
Any other thoughts would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
CR
Saturday 3 of us went out early. It ran great in the morning down to where we beach up. On the way back we carried another person. Half way back it began stuttering and losing power. If I throttle back, it runs OK. Sunday, I get the idea to shorten the gas line. It comes out of the tank, dips down to the deck, then back up to the motor. Maybe 16" from the bottom to where it goes into the motor. Of course that didn't work. We ran great in the morning, just the two of us. In the afternoon, after running wide open for 30 minutes, it begins to stutter. I reach back and squeeze the bulb to see if it's hard. It's not. Then the motor stalls. I wait 5 minutes. It starts and runs fine at idle and up to about half throttle. Above that it stutters. Throttle back to half and it seems OK.
Thoughts.
- Can the bulb have a pin hole or invisible crack that lets air into the line when it's hot or under pressure? Can I take the bulb out? I rarely have to squeeze it to start the motor. Does the motor generate enough fuel line pressure to pull from the tank?
- I can't see where there's a pressure relief vent on the tank itself. On my old, smaller boats there was a thumb screw valve on the tank. If you forgot to open it, the motor would stall because the pressure in the tank built up to the point where fuel wouldn't flow through the line very well. Maybe on this boat the relief valve is vented up filling tube, and I just don't see it? Maybe a dirt dauber daubed some dirt in the line? Would it hurt to put a relief valve (hole) in the top corner of the tank?
Any other thoughts would be most appreciated.
Thanks,
CR