5.7 TKS fuel filter

[CurrentObsession]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

I would have my carb rebuilt if I were you. I prefer the rebuild where you remove your carb and send it to a shop that actually rebuilds your exact carb and sends it back to you, rather that sending you a different one that is supposed to fit properly. Easy off and easy on. I did that for my previous boat and if worked out great.

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

I'm thinking that might be next. Did your boat have similar problems to what I'm seeing?

I would have my carb rebuilt if I were you. I prefer the rebuild where you remove your carb and send it to a shop that actually rebuilds your exact carb and sends it back to you, rather that sending you a different one that is supposed to fit properly. Easy off and easy on. I did that for my previous boat and if worked out great.

 

[CurrentObsession]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

No... I can't say that I had any problems at all with mine, just wanted to make sure I didn't have any carb related problems going forward and although I consider myself mechanically inclined, a carb is something that seems like you would need a lot of experience working on to have any confidence that I was doing the fix right myself.

Seems to me to be your next logical step....assuming you have fixed everthing upstream in your fuel system.

 

[Fishermark]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

I'm thinking that might be next. Did your boat have similar problems to what I'm seeing?

I put a brand new crate engine in my boat several years ago. The boat I purchased had a 120 gallon fuel tank - filled to the brim when I bought it. It looked clean to me. I ran it through the new engine and began having problems.... long story short I ended up having to pump out over a hundred gallons of fuel.

Even with a clean tank and new fuel I still had periodic problems pop up with idle and dying. I ended up splitting apart the carb and found water and debris in the bowl. I would have thought the water would have mixed and been burned through the carb by itself by then. It didn't.

Earlier I wrote:

If you haven't split the carb apart yet, you need to. The chances are good you have some water / crud in the bowl of your carb.

Did you do that yet?

You may not need a complete carb rebuild. You may get away with simply cleaning out the bowl. But you will never know till you do it.

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Oh, when you said "split the carb" I thought you were saying to "rebuild the carb". That's beyond my level of skill/time. But pulling off the bowl and draining it out doesn't sound all that difficult (right?), I can certainly give that a shot.

I may have a mechanic come out tomorrow to look over this (and one other issue); either way (if I do it or he does), I'll be sure to update the thread if that's the source of the problem. That would make sense, maybe there's a little water floating in there that just eventually gets stirred up and causes me problems. My "dump the fuel filter" response is just giving the water in the bowl time to settle down to the bottom again....

Hmm.. I think you might be on to something here; it does seem that this could account for all the issues that I've been seeing (especially the time when I was cruising and hit some hard wakes and it died almost immediately).

Anyone have any instructions on dropping the bowl off the carb? Looks pretty self explanatory (just remove the screws), but I want to make sure that a million springs and pieces are going to come flying at me as soon as I remove that cover.

 

[tim1300r]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Hey Hello
Well I have just had to pump out 100 ltrs out of my boat and dump it because the fuel had lost it's "bang" the engine would start but it was hard work, lots of cranking.
Now your fueling issue when you hit a wave could be a sticking float in your carb. The shock is upsetting it. Now mine was full of gunk. I have 3 filters in the line from my tank and it still seems to get thought in the end. I did not want to overhaul the carb myself due to massive lazyness so I sent to the Mercury agent.
Oh and now it's fine.

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Well, problem's still with me, I'm beginning to think it's something on the electrical side of the house (not fuel delivery of quality). Ran the boat (and it ran great) for a few hours today; problem then reared it's ugly head. Was cruising along at 3500 RPMs and it started to stumble (no wake hit this time, just cruising along). Pulled back to idle and shut it down. Pulled the fuel filer and dumped it (looked good to me), put a new one on and boat started back up. Ran for about 30 mins this time, then died out again. When it died this time it dieseled badly; key off, motor still running (poorly). Finally (after about 30 sec) motor died. Dumped the filter (again, gas looked good) and got back to the dock.

I'm beginning to think that dumping the filter isn't really doing anything and that my problem is electrical in nature. I'm leaning towards the coil right now, but wondered if anyone had any advice to offer. The plugs were done in my last annual service (about 9 months ago), as was the distributor and rotor.

It seems like this problem is somewhat "time" related, the boat runs great for an hour or so, and then craps out. If I let it sit, the problem seems to go away for a period of time (but never as long as when the boat is really cold; if I had to guess I'd say I typically get 30-45 mins after a period of sitting, and more like 1-1.5 hrs when the boat is first started before the problem appears). I there may be something to hitting hard wakes causing the problem to appear, but, as I saw today, it's not necessary for the problem to start showing it's ugly head.

Thanks for any help, this one is driving me crazy! I don't feel confident in the boat's ability to get me home (although I've always limped it back in) and it's really messing with my boating enjoyment.

 

[Fun Times]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Well, problem's still with me, The plugs were done in my last annual service (about 9 months ago), as was the distributor and rotor.

It seems like this problem is somewhat "time" related,

Did this problem show up before or after the new distributor cap and rotor?

What is your engine serial number?

 

[NHGuy]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

So, before you start off in another direction. Have you serviced the carburetor?
When you pull those fuel filters you really need to save the gas for analysis. Put it in a clear jar and watch for separation.

You also expressed concern that the sender gasket is poor. They are cheap. Just put one in.

Did you do the move with the suction from the tank bottom? http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/012877.html After letting the boat sit perfectly still?
That method has elegant simplicity. You could use that method through the fuel sender opening and not have to separately remove the fuel pickup. You'd be accomplishing 2 things with 1 procedure.

Only after you have done those things, which are logical and less $, is it time to look elsewhere. Your problem could be run-time and heat related, I have seen a few on here over the years.

But finish these steps first.

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Not that I know of (I had the boat serviced when I bought it). But the problem doesn't seem coincident when the distributor cap and rotor replacement, it ran for months after that service without any problems.

Engine serial number is: OW047195.

Did this problem show up before or after the new distributor cap and rotor?

What is your engine serial number?

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

I have not serviced the carb yet.

I have done the "pour the gas into a clear jar" a few times. Definitely not much water in there; I saw some "swirls" in the gas the first time I did it, but, since then, it appears to be (coming out of the filter and after sitting) clean gas (smells good, no separation).

I did the sender gasket.

And yes, I built the "tank drainer" and it's a fantastic device! I pumped about 2 gallons from the very bottom of the tank; again, it appeared to be fuel (not water), but I did it anyway to try to make sure that I've got the fuel thing ruled out.

The only thing that's fuel related that I haven't done is the carb (or the float bowl). I was thinking float because the problem seemed to be related to hard bounces of the boat. But yesterday it was pretty clear, that's not a solid causation; the problem popped up when I was going about 25MPH over glassy water after about 1-1.5 hrs of troublefree runtime.

Thanks!

So, before you start off in another direction. Have you serviced the carburetor?
When you pull those fuel filters you really need to save the gas for analysis. Put it in a clear jar and watch for separation.

You also expressed concern that the sender gasket is poor. They are cheap. Just put one in.

Did you do the move with the suction from the tank bottom? http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/012877.html After letting the boat sit perfectly still?
That method has elegant simplicity. You could use that method through the fuel sender opening and not have to separately remove the fuel pickup. You'd be accomplishing 2 things with 1 procedure.

Only after you have done those things, which are logical and less $, is it time to look elsewhere. Your problem could be run-time and heat related, I have seen a few on here over the years.

But finish these steps first.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Some have needed to do their ignition control module with symptoms like that. It happens when the piece gets very hot, It sits on the port riser in my motor. I think it's there on all of the 5.7 carbs. Is your cooling system "right" Is your engine room well ventilated while running? Do the test, it's in the service manual. Could be that.
Also as an aside, I once put in a new aftermarket distributor cap & my motor ran like cr*p. So use OE cap & rotor.

 

[Don S]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

It doesn't sound to me like you have a problem with your fuel, more like the idle mixture is too lean. Have you tried adjusting the idle mixture screw on the carb? Since it is a TKS carb, it will take the special tool. they cost around $3.00.

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Don,

Would the idle speed setting cause me to suddenly lose power at high (3000) RPMs? I didn't look at this because I thought that once you got off idle the setting no longer mattered..

 

[Don S]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Nope, just the idle problem from the original post. I didn't read this whole thread.

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Sorry Don, I've resolved some of the original issues, and think I'm starting to focus in on the real problem here, and it seems like it might be electrical and heat related (instead of fuel related as I originally thought).

Nope, just the idle problem from the original post. I didn't read this whole thread.

 

[tim1300r]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

OK this may sound bizzare but your carb is not icing up is it? The time scale you give would give the carb enough time to form an ice ring, then stopping for a time and restarting. What air filter are you using?

Oh by the way Happy New Year mate

 

[mjfink]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Now that I can rule out, I'm down in FL, it was 75F when we were out this weekend.

However, what your thinking makes sense, that's exactly what it seems like, something's seems to be getting too hot (or too cold) after an extended period of runtime.

Same to you!

OK this may sound bizzare but your carb is not icing up is it? The time scale you give would give the carb enough time to form an ice ring, then stopping for a time and restarting. What air filter are you using?

Oh by the way Happy New Year mate

 

[tim1300r]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

Ok this is my last throw of the dice on this. Is your distributor base plate, for ignition advance and retard, sticking. If you take off the cap you can see it. Ford had one on the Escort that used to do this and you could cruise along fine but a change in load caused and issue, pinking, missing and a loss of power and then it would not start, well until you hit the distributor body and then the plate inside would spring back and hey presto off you went again. Leaving the engine time to cool down would also work.
I tried WD40 to lube things up but this failed really so I bought a new distributor. Problem solved.

Good luck

 

[cyclops2]

Re: 5.7 TKS fuel filter

My 9.9 Evinrude Had the same continous running problems. I am a FIRM believer 99 % of running problem are electrical.

Why ?

Because you can not visually see electrical " CRUD ". So we pick on what is easier to see.

Turned out after 2 years of VERY erratic engine running including shutdowns. That the lower cylinder Ignition module was both heat AND COLD sensitive. We should have believed more in my changing the lower plug more often than the upper one. Bad spark fouls a plug quicker. Weak OR the EXACT TIME it fires. Bucking running.

SOOO The engine has a damm simple carburator. First sign of ANY ROUGHNESS I run the CORRECT amount of Seafoam thru the tank & engine. Has always corrected the problem.

BUUTTT

If the plugs look different in colors. To the ignition. Auto engines should show ignition problems on the sparkplugs also.
They are great test instruments. Light tan is ideal. Pure white is OK on computerized ignition.

HOWEVER

Pure white WITH the metal center electrode having the edge CLOSEST to the curved edge electrode, or the curved electrode edge NOT having the original edges is a good sign the engine is too running lean. Also if the white ceramic insulator in the center looks " bumpy " or very rough. Lean fuel mixtures.

Weak sparks or out of time sparks to a cylinder WILL make the plug DARKER. More unburned fuel = more carbon -sooty look. You need to check those S O B plugs buried under the manifolds. I have it done every 2 years. Never a problem yet on a 200 hour , 2002 5.0 L Merc.

Yes I do add a bottle of Seafoam on the first fillup every spring. It SHOULD REMOVE most all the water. I run another bottle thru in July. Up state NY has serious condensation buildups in any container that air can expand & contract in & out of. OB METAL fuel tanks are the wost things I have found as far as water build up each year. The " shake it up " just helps to remove move water if Seafoam is used regularly. It is put in during the storage fill up & at the first refillup in the spring. No problems.

My findings.

Rich