Is my fuel pump bad or is it a bad primer bulb?

[akareddog]

I about 5 years ago I bought a 1969 Johnson Model FD-14 SeaKing 18 hp. I bought a brand new fuel tank, fuel line and primer bulb at the same time. The engine would only stay running if I kept priming the bulb. So I bought I new pump, but it look nothing like the original fuel pump. I was told the original pump was no longer available. I also bought a carb kit and installed it. The engine ran pretty good in the tank. I took the boat to the lake for the first time. It would run pretty good and just started to plane out and it would die....no presure in the prime bulb. A boat mechanic told me to adjust the float bowl an open it up a little more. I found a good deal on a Mercury motor with a electric starter, so I parked this motor after on trip to the lake.

Well my Mercury motor crapped out last year so I broke out the my Johnson Sea King again last week. I pulled the carb out last week and cleaned it out since it's be sitting again for 5 years. I opened the float bowl up a tight more. Seemed like the needle was sticking a little bit?

So today I took it out for the only second time since I bought it. It fires up on the first pull. Today it ran about 1/2 mile wide open before it died. I tried trolling for about a mile and it kept losing presure in the bulb and would die about every 200 yards. The pump never seems to get hard would I'm trolling. If I re-pumped it up, it would start right up. I then tried to run the motor a top speed and held the bulb in my hand. The bulb seemed to stay harder at higher RPM's.

Side note.....I tried to run this run fuel tank, on a Honda generator for our ice eater during duck season. We never could get it to run all night. The first morning we showed up to hunt, there was ice ball on the outside of primer bulb about the size of a baseball. I figured there was an air leak, so I put liquid gasket on all the connection and tighted it back down.

So what do you think my real issue is bad fuel pump, bad tank or bad primer bulb? Any help is much appreciated.

 

[JB]

Re: Is my fuel pump bad or is it a bad primer bulb?

There is no such critter as a Johnson Sea King, reddog. You must mean Sea Horse. Your FD-14 is a 1960 model, not 1969.

You should be using a 24:1 fuel mix. If you put 50:1 mix in it that could have contributed to your troubles.

The primer bulb should not stay hard once you have used it to fill the carb bowl. The fuel pump takes over, drawing fuel from the tank. The bulb will go soft.

If you have to keep priming it the fuel pump is obviously not doing the job. That does not mean either the pump or the primer bulb is failing. The most likely cause is air leakage into the fuel lines, probably at a connector with worn out "O" rings at the tank or at the motor.

Let us know what you find, and good luck.

 

[akareddog]

Re: Is my fuel pump bad or is it a bad primer bulb?

Sorry, I tried to edit my post once I found I made a mistake, but the web-page wouldn't let me do it.

Ok, both the motor and tank both have male ends and no O rings. Both the Female connections was brand new when I first tried to get this motor working five years ago. I assume the Female ends have self-contain O rings since I can't see them? So are telling to replace the female connections?

Thanks, Shane