Volvo Penta 5.0 GXi-B Fuel Pump

[skydrol]

I've been reading all the posts here about Volvo fuel cell problems and I believe I know the answer to my problem but wanted to run it by the community for a little feedback.

I have been having intermittent starting issues where the engine will crank fine but not fire. If you wait a few hours and try again the engine fires right up and runs great. The problem has been occurring more and more lately so I havent ventured too far from home port. Changed the fuel filter with no improvement. I changed the start, fuel and ignition relays and hoped for the best but while running it on the water ears today the problem came back and stayed.

I didn't have my fuel pressure set up as I was at the marina but I did note the following things: (1) when I depress the schrader valve on the fuel rail the fuel just barely trickles out, I was under the impression the rail was pressurized to about 40 psi so I expected it to spray out. (2) I removed the fuel line going into the fuel cell from the tank and the line had no fuel in it. (3) I blew through the line to verify operation of the check valve and it works. (4) I was able to suck fuel up through the line very easily so there is no restriction. (5) With the line off I had a helper turn the power on so the pump could prime and held my finger over the inlet fitting and felt barely enough suction to pull on my finger.(6) The pump seems to make a higher pitched sound than I remember when it is priming right after the key is truned to the start position.(7) I pulled the pick up tube out of the tank and looked for cracks that might cause it to suck air and not fuel as the tank is currently at half full.

Everything seems to be pointing toward the fuel cell but before I lay down that kind of cash I wanted to see if there could be something I am missing.

Thanks in advance for the support of this forum.

[wfrits]

I have had several issues with the fuel pump, 2 replacements at 800. Took it upon myself and found out that it was all electrical, the wiring to the low/hi pressure doesn't give a good connection!!! I ended up taking the plugs out of the equation and everthing worked great!

Before spending the money I would check the plugs, I actually found this out by just manually holding the plugs together w/fingers and no clips.

Hope this helps you.

[skydrol]

Thanks for the reply wfrits. After getting no responses on here about the problem I started thinking about an electrical issue also so I went back over everything again with the same results. I changed out the pump a week ago and the problem was solved. Being a mechanic and not just a parts changer I'm going to take the old pump apart and either figure out why it went bad or fix it as a spare. My motto is if someone put it together another person can fix it.

[ENSIGN]

I replaced four of these pumps last year(all different boats)All of them had water in the gas!You may want to take a sample from the bottom of your tank.Good luck,Ted

[Don S]

When you turn the ignition key to the run position before starting, do you hear the fuel pumps run for 2 seconds?

[pjleckrone]

what plugs are you talking about? I just took my boat in and a mechanic diagnosed no fuel to the fuel filter and when putting carb cleaner in the air filter it started and ran until that was gone. This mechanic suggested hooking to computer to make sure so I took to a volvo dealer and computer check was fine. they found the fuel filter was cross threaded and bone dry and had been leaking from the gasket at the top. They replaced the filter and runs fine. My question is if the pump was working wouldn't it be pumping more fuel into the filter all the time? Is this a sporadic problem that will happen again?(fuel pump not working)?


Thanks for any opinions

[Don S]

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