2004 Volvo Penta 5.7 GIE fuel issues

Mike in CT

Cadet
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
24
Hello to all and I hope someone can help having some fuel issues with my 2004 Chaparral 220 SSI mated with a Volvo Penta 5.7 GIE . A little history on the boat first. I bought it from the original owner in 2016 with 507 hours on it That season I had no issues. Then the season of 2017 I also had no issues the following year June of 2018 to be exact I started getting the dreaded high pitch whine, engine surge then it started to fall flat on its face when I was giving it throttle. I did a little research at the time and found out about the paint chips inside the fuel-cell problem that they had with these, so I proceeded to buy an OEM Volvo Penta fuel cell at the tune of $1,250 plus tax.. I installed it in the boat myself and it fix the problem and it ran like a top the rest of the season ... . fast forward to this year 2019, took the boat out Memorial Day weekend for the first time had no problems ....then two weekends after that no problems..end of June I started to hear the dreaded high pitch whine no performance issues or anything yet, just a high pitch whin . Important to point out the boat only has a total of approximately 592 hours on it now and I probably only put 25 hours on it since last year when I installed the new fuel cell. Needless to say I'm furious at this point. So I started looking to alternatives and I found the guy on YouTube who shows you how to take them apart bead blast the paint chips and everything out ...put it all back together with new O-rings Etc .. I kept the fuel cell that I replaced back in 2018 and decided I would rebuild that one.. so I bought a couple of aftermarkets high and low pressure pumps on eBay along with all new O-rings and a fuel filter ...took the unit apart and I bead blasted the inside of it ..I have a ultrasonic hot tank in the machine shop where I work so I cleaned it with that and then carburetor cleaner
put everything back together and put it in my boat ...Primed it five or six times no problems... it pressurized like it should..I started it up and was running it in the driveway for about approximately 6 minutes. during this time I'm feeling both the high and low pressure pump... the low pressure pump was ice cold( I have deep well water) and the high pressure pump was getting warmer and warmer finally at the point I couldn't put my hand on it anymore. Just about then the engine stalled... tried to start it after that and it just cranked
checked the fuses and sure enough the F7 fuse for the fuel pump blew . I replaced it with a spare after that it would only start up for a second or two and then stall.. I tried putting the pump that was in it back on.. (this is the OEM Volvo pump that I replaced brand new last June of 2018 and was still running the boat when removed) and it does exactly the same thing ....runs for a second or two and then stalls.
I bought a seloc service manual and borrowed a friend's fuel pressure gauge which I installed on the Schrader valve up on the fuel rail and when I turn the key on and I get the two beeps, but I'm only getting 10 or 12 PSI ...the high pressure pump isn't pressurizing.

Now for the really strange part - if I let it sit overnight and I go out in the morning just once when I turn the key on the pressure comes up to about 60 PSI and then drops down to 50 it starts and runs for five or six seconds now and then dies after that when I turn the key on it's only back to 10 or 12 PSI ...doesn't matter if I disconnect the battery and let it sit for a while still the same till the following day... then again just once it pressurizes🤪 I'm stumped I have pictures of the engine and little videos of it running and pressurizing but I can't seem to post them here the files too big could seriously use some knowledgeable help here

Ps worth noting I pulled the fuel pressure regulator and cleaned that out with carb clean and tried swapping out all of the high pressure pumps (3total) with no change. I also tried swapping the fuel relay with the other two relays which are identical part numbers one is the starter relay and one is the ignition relay nothing made a difference
 

Sparkinator

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Aug 15, 2009
Messages
423
Not sure of your setup, but on mine I’ve had several instances of trash in the fuel lines and then starving for gas. My antisyphon valve has plugged twice this year. The last time it looked clear but ants has been sucked up into the valve and were lodged behind the valve in the spring not allowing the valve to open fully. After sitting it would run fine. Then die when it ran out of fuel.
 

Mike in CT

Cadet
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
24
Well I got the anti siphon valve out what a job that was. It looks perfectly fine I cleaned it out with carb clean I'm blew it out with the air hose. The spring on the check valve operates nicely there's nothing restricting this from opening
I did however take two jumper wires straight from the battery to the high pressure pump lead and nada no good burnt up as I suspected originally when it got hot. So I bench tested the high pressure pump from the new one I bought last year that was starting to wine and it seemed to pump okay or should I say it came on in a little bit of gas that was in it pumped out it was starting to get dark and that's as far as I got... I'm starting to think there's an issue with the ECM intermittently
 

Mike in CT

Cadet
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
24
Well the high pressure stopped working. Even str8 to battery. So i bought a oem high pressure pump ...installed it..it went up to 50 psi on pressure gauge..i started it...it went down to 20 psi but ran...after 1 or 2 minutes high pressure pump getting hot again.. i shut it off before i cooked it..( i hope) im at the end of my rope. Not sure why it keeps getting hot. Im not happy. Not sure where to go now. ?
 

Mike in CT

Cadet
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
24
Just want to clarify, this is a freshwater boat. And other than a couple saltwater day trips by previous owner, always has been .
​​​​ I did read the VP sticky and i dont believe water cooling at this point has anything to do with fuel overheating. Water is present in pump. And i'm noticing that the pump starts to get warm just leaving the key on for a few minutes...and it popped the fuel pump fuse...so the circut is getting hot Definitley seems like a short. Something cooking my high pressure pumps..but not my low pressure pumps..hoping someone will chime in...
 

dypcdiver

Lieutenant Junior Grade
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
1,016
I wish I could help, but I am starting to get debris in my HP pump gauze after 20 years and 650 hours on a 5.0 Gi PWTR. I have the front mounted LP pump with a 6 micron filter and LP pump at the rear of the engine on top of the vapor reduction tank.I cut the filter in half and there was no sign of anything in it.
I was thinking of putting the later combined HP + LP unit that you have because it is easy access, but now re thinking.
Please let us know if you find a solution.
 

Mike in CT

Cadet
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
24
Thanks.. I'm not good with electrical gremlins. Nor am I with electrical blueprints. Going to try to make heads or tails of the electrical schematic in the seloc manual and see if I can't figure it out otherwise I think I'm going to have to bring it somewhere
 

Fun Times

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
May 16, 2009
Messages
8,776
blainedh Just letting you know that it seems Mike in CT Last Activity online was back on August 25, 2019 @ 1:26 AM so he may not be around any longer to help much but than again he may just see this summons too via an email notice to his topic you brought up here as some members get notices should they had set it up in their personal settings area, https://forums.iboats.com/forum/eng...10782107-2004-volvo-penta-5-7-gie-fuel-issues

So to start as per forum guidelines we went ahead and created a new topic of your own for you to see if you have any other luck at figuring your issue out.

Please feel free to add some other info of what seems to be going on and what you've tried thus far.
Good luck.
 
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