Hello all,
I’m stumped and have been surfing the forums but haven’t yet found another issue like mine.
The Long story: I lost power steering while on the lake. Limped to a marina to find someone put a silicon vacuum line cap on the return port on the reservoir which cracked, throwing power steering fluid all over the belt and engine compartment. Was able to correctly fix the PS leak and replaced the belt (and impeller too since I had to get that deep to change the belt). Ive always noticed oily scum in my bilge and engine compartment and with this mess, wanted to clean it all out. I covered the distributor, ecm, and most important connections with a rag and spays foaming degreaser on the engine from NAPA. I then rinsed lighly with shower setting from garden hose and cleaned the rest of the engine compartment and bilge. I left the engine compartment open for a couple days to dry out. (All of this was done with the battery out btw)
We backed it into the lake and it fired right up and ran normally for about 1-2 minutes. Long enough for me to check for leaks and that the new belt seated properly. When I went to back off the trailer, it sputtered and died. Cranked and cranked. Some times it would sputter like it wanted to fire but never completely fired again.
Brought it home where it sat for a few days before I had time to work on it. Hooked it to water and it fired again right away and ran good for about 20 seconds. Then died again. Again, more cranking and no start. Verified spark to all plugs (and plugs look good too). Verified fuel pressure at ~60psi when ignition on and ~56psi when cranking. It will run on starting fluid but never takes on its own fuel. I did check the injector connections with a test light and thought it was weaker than I’ve seen in other vehicles, but was lighting. I checked the crank and cam sensors, and both connections were dry and looked good (no corrosion). It is my understanding I wouldn’t have spark if there were issues with those sensors, so I ruled those out, but I could be wrong.
My only guess is the ecm isn’t suppling enough if a signal to the injectors for them to open. Any experts out there that can send me down a couple other paths that may lead to some success. The boat has always ran great prior to this and when it has fired, runs smooth.
Thanks in advance for your help!
I’m stumped and have been surfing the forums but haven’t yet found another issue like mine.
The Long story: I lost power steering while on the lake. Limped to a marina to find someone put a silicon vacuum line cap on the return port on the reservoir which cracked, throwing power steering fluid all over the belt and engine compartment. Was able to correctly fix the PS leak and replaced the belt (and impeller too since I had to get that deep to change the belt). Ive always noticed oily scum in my bilge and engine compartment and with this mess, wanted to clean it all out. I covered the distributor, ecm, and most important connections with a rag and spays foaming degreaser on the engine from NAPA. I then rinsed lighly with shower setting from garden hose and cleaned the rest of the engine compartment and bilge. I left the engine compartment open for a couple days to dry out. (All of this was done with the battery out btw)
We backed it into the lake and it fired right up and ran normally for about 1-2 minutes. Long enough for me to check for leaks and that the new belt seated properly. When I went to back off the trailer, it sputtered and died. Cranked and cranked. Some times it would sputter like it wanted to fire but never completely fired again.
Brought it home where it sat for a few days before I had time to work on it. Hooked it to water and it fired again right away and ran good for about 20 seconds. Then died again. Again, more cranking and no start. Verified spark to all plugs (and plugs look good too). Verified fuel pressure at ~60psi when ignition on and ~56psi when cranking. It will run on starting fluid but never takes on its own fuel. I did check the injector connections with a test light and thought it was weaker than I’ve seen in other vehicles, but was lighting. I checked the crank and cam sensors, and both connections were dry and looked good (no corrosion). It is my understanding I wouldn’t have spark if there were issues with those sensors, so I ruled those out, but I could be wrong.
My only guess is the ecm isn’t suppling enough if a signal to the injectors for them to open. Any experts out there that can send me down a couple other paths that may lead to some success. The boat has always ran great prior to this and when it has fired, runs smooth.
Thanks in advance for your help!
