mtntrogger
Seaman Apprentice
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2013
- Messages
- 41
Hey Everyone ! Im hoping for a bit of guidance here. My boat is a Four Winns Horizon 180- circa 2000/2001 (supposedly a in between model). It has a 5.7 (not original) volvo engine that was installed in 2017, the season before I bought it.
In 2018, shortly after I bought it, it gave me some trouble. Died out in the middle of the lake and wouldnt restart. A while later it started fine. I ended up figuring out that it was an electrical problem. Essentially the ground for the fuel pump was somehow not staying "grounded" - it would "lose ground" randomly. Sometimes working fine and then sometimes not at all. I "fixed" this by running a ground wire directly to the negative battery terminal. Problem was solved ! No issues for a while. Then, it started again. This time it ended up being the positive wire on the fuel pump cutting in and out. Once again I "fixed" this by running a wire straight from the battery to the positive wire on the pump- HOWEVER ! I installed a toggle switch under the dash for this wire, so that the pump wouldnt just run all the time. This switch allowed me to remotely make the fuel pump run. When she died I would just flip the switch and fire her back up. At some point I noticed the problem had stopped and I no longer needed to use that switch. I disconnected it but left the wires in place, just taped up the ends.
Last season, it started to happen again, but not as randomly. I noticed that it would straight up just die if we took too long to plane out. The high angle of the boat pre plane would cause it to die everytime. It also did not want to start after this occurred. This was also accompanied by a strong smell of fuel ?
This season I had not experienced any issues during the first few times out. But more recently it seems to have gotten much worse. I had to start using the "jumper" wire on the fuel pump once again to get the boat to start after the stalls. It happens almost everytime the boat angle is high, but also sometimes after it has successfully planed out, right when the throttle is cut back a touch. The only solution has been to just keep the rpm slightly lower and just wait for it to build enough speed to plane without increasing the throttle.
When it does die its not easy to restart even with the fuel pump jumper wire. I need to really work the throttle and once it fires it has to revved up quick and high or it just dies. Again there is always the strong smell of fuel.
I understand that the problem could either be air getting into the system from a leak of some sort or it could also possibly be the pick-up in the fuel tank. The boat has a fuel water separator filter that I changed last season. I dont think they need changed every season though. At first I suspected the pump might just be starting to go so I bought a new one, however its still in the box since I thought deeper on this and am now suspecting it might be something else.
If anyone actually took the time to read all of that and has a idea of where I should start looking PLEEEEASE help me out.
Any posts are appreciated ! Thank you
In 2018, shortly after I bought it, it gave me some trouble. Died out in the middle of the lake and wouldnt restart. A while later it started fine. I ended up figuring out that it was an electrical problem. Essentially the ground for the fuel pump was somehow not staying "grounded" - it would "lose ground" randomly. Sometimes working fine and then sometimes not at all. I "fixed" this by running a ground wire directly to the negative battery terminal. Problem was solved ! No issues for a while. Then, it started again. This time it ended up being the positive wire on the fuel pump cutting in and out. Once again I "fixed" this by running a wire straight from the battery to the positive wire on the pump- HOWEVER ! I installed a toggle switch under the dash for this wire, so that the pump wouldnt just run all the time. This switch allowed me to remotely make the fuel pump run. When she died I would just flip the switch and fire her back up. At some point I noticed the problem had stopped and I no longer needed to use that switch. I disconnected it but left the wires in place, just taped up the ends.
Last season, it started to happen again, but not as randomly. I noticed that it would straight up just die if we took too long to plane out. The high angle of the boat pre plane would cause it to die everytime. It also did not want to start after this occurred. This was also accompanied by a strong smell of fuel ?
This season I had not experienced any issues during the first few times out. But more recently it seems to have gotten much worse. I had to start using the "jumper" wire on the fuel pump once again to get the boat to start after the stalls. It happens almost everytime the boat angle is high, but also sometimes after it has successfully planed out, right when the throttle is cut back a touch. The only solution has been to just keep the rpm slightly lower and just wait for it to build enough speed to plane without increasing the throttle.
When it does die its not easy to restart even with the fuel pump jumper wire. I need to really work the throttle and once it fires it has to revved up quick and high or it just dies. Again there is always the strong smell of fuel.
I understand that the problem could either be air getting into the system from a leak of some sort or it could also possibly be the pick-up in the fuel tank. The boat has a fuel water separator filter that I changed last season. I dont think they need changed every season though. At first I suspected the pump might just be starting to go so I bought a new one, however its still in the box since I thought deeper on this and am now suspecting it might be something else.
If anyone actually took the time to read all of that and has a idea of where I should start looking PLEEEEASE help me out.
Any posts are appreciated ! Thank you
