Hey guys. I've searched to the end of the internet for my specific problem, and while I've received lots of institutional knowledge from reading through many of your previous discussions on this site, I haven't been able to find a previous post that matches my exact issue. This is also my first post on the forums, so please be gentle!
A little backstory: I have a 2007 Tahoe Q4, with a MerCruiser 3.0L, and an Alpha One drive. Last September while in Destin, FL with the family, my boat stalled on us out of the blue, but it started back soon after. About 30 minutes later while pulling the kids on a tube, the engine died again. I visually checked everything over in the engine compartment, and I assumed it was from one of the usual suspects; bad gas, or maybe the distributor got wet, etc. I took my boat to the service center the next business day, and I asked them to attempt to diagnose the issue for me. After an entire month had passed, I finally got a call from the service center telling me that the carb needed to be replaced. I asked them why they couldn't just rebuild it. They tried to pull one over on me, saying that there was not a rebuild kit made for my specific carb, (Rotchester 2 barrel), and they wanted to charge me $950.00 to replace it. So, I kindly asked them to park my boat out front, I went and picked it up, and I never spoke to them again.
Fast forward to present time. I purchased a carb rebuild kit online, rebuilt the carb myself, (not my first time rebuilding a carb), and I reinstalled the carb. While I was at it, I went ahead and changed the oil and oil filter, and I replaced the plugs, wires, distributor cap and button, and I changed out the fuel filter, which is mounted inside the cup on the bottom side of the mechanical fuel pump. The boat still had about 10 gallons of treated gas in it from last season. So, just as a precaution, I used a hand pump through one of the valves on the top of the tank (I used the valve that connects the fuel pump suction line to the tank), and I pumped about 5 gallons of the fuel out, just to check it for trash, water, etc. All looked well, so the next day, I attempted to fire the boat up for the first time this year, and I had no fuel to the carb. To further investigate and diagnose the problem, I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge to the main fuel line, at the fitting where the fuel line hooks into the carb. The result was negligible; perhaps 2 PSI, but this was also while the engine was not running, (just attempting to start it). Of course, my first thought was the fuel pump. But just out of curiosity, I disconnected the fuel feed/suction line that runs from the fuel pump to the tank, and I used a small screwdriver to check for proper seating/operation of the anti siphon valve that's incorporated into the end of the fuel line, just prior to the tank connection. It seemed sticky, but there wasn't any noticeable trash or obstruction. Next, I reinstalled the fuel line, and I hooked up my hand pump to the opposite end of the line, (to the end that hooks on to the fuel pump). After a few pumps, I was able to get fuel to come through the hand pump. Next, I reconnected that fuel line to the pump, and then I connected my hand pump to the carb main fuel line, to ensure I was getting fuel through the pump. My thought was that perhaps it just needed a little bit of priming, since it had not been started in several months. I was able to get fuel up through the line, so I reconnected the line to the carb, and the engine fired right up, (now the pressure gauge was reading between 6-7 PSI), and the engine ran great on muffs for the entirety of my 30 minute test.
About a week later, I decided to take the boat out to a lake on a local military base for testing purposes. For the first hour or so, the boat did awesome; 40 MPH indicated at 4,800 RPM at WOT. I was happy, my kids were happy, life was looking good! Then..... My boat died! Again! I instantly suspected the fuel pump or fuel line again, since the same sort of thing happened in Destin last September, and also because of the symptoms from when I tried starting it after replacing the carb. I opened the engine compartment and removed the flame arrestor. The carb was bone dry, with no smell of fuel. I didn't have any specialty tools with me on the lake at the time, such as a fuel pressure gauge, so I disconnected the fuel line at the carb, and I had one of my kid's spin the engine over. Guess what? No fuel! So, I did the only thing I knew to do; I sucked on the fuel line. After a few short attempts, I had fuel to the end of the line. I reinstalled the line to the carb, and the engine fired right up. Then, I spent about another good hour on the water at WOT. The engine ran flawless. But as we started coming back to the boat launch area, the engine died again! I tried several times to restart the engine, but it was getting dark, and luckily, we were within glide distance of the boat launch, and a nice guy also tossed us a line, so that my two kids didn't have to paddle very far at all
I'm thinking:
1.) Replace anti-siphon valve? If no change, then:
2.) Replace fuel pump.
Please correct me if my train of thought is wrong here. Any and all comments are appreciated in advance! Also, my apologies for the long dictation!
A little backstory: I have a 2007 Tahoe Q4, with a MerCruiser 3.0L, and an Alpha One drive. Last September while in Destin, FL with the family, my boat stalled on us out of the blue, but it started back soon after. About 30 minutes later while pulling the kids on a tube, the engine died again. I visually checked everything over in the engine compartment, and I assumed it was from one of the usual suspects; bad gas, or maybe the distributor got wet, etc. I took my boat to the service center the next business day, and I asked them to attempt to diagnose the issue for me. After an entire month had passed, I finally got a call from the service center telling me that the carb needed to be replaced. I asked them why they couldn't just rebuild it. They tried to pull one over on me, saying that there was not a rebuild kit made for my specific carb, (Rotchester 2 barrel), and they wanted to charge me $950.00 to replace it. So, I kindly asked them to park my boat out front, I went and picked it up, and I never spoke to them again.
Fast forward to present time. I purchased a carb rebuild kit online, rebuilt the carb myself, (not my first time rebuilding a carb), and I reinstalled the carb. While I was at it, I went ahead and changed the oil and oil filter, and I replaced the plugs, wires, distributor cap and button, and I changed out the fuel filter, which is mounted inside the cup on the bottom side of the mechanical fuel pump. The boat still had about 10 gallons of treated gas in it from last season. So, just as a precaution, I used a hand pump through one of the valves on the top of the tank (I used the valve that connects the fuel pump suction line to the tank), and I pumped about 5 gallons of the fuel out, just to check it for trash, water, etc. All looked well, so the next day, I attempted to fire the boat up for the first time this year, and I had no fuel to the carb. To further investigate and diagnose the problem, I hooked up a fuel pressure gauge to the main fuel line, at the fitting where the fuel line hooks into the carb. The result was negligible; perhaps 2 PSI, but this was also while the engine was not running, (just attempting to start it). Of course, my first thought was the fuel pump. But just out of curiosity, I disconnected the fuel feed/suction line that runs from the fuel pump to the tank, and I used a small screwdriver to check for proper seating/operation of the anti siphon valve that's incorporated into the end of the fuel line, just prior to the tank connection. It seemed sticky, but there wasn't any noticeable trash or obstruction. Next, I reinstalled the fuel line, and I hooked up my hand pump to the opposite end of the line, (to the end that hooks on to the fuel pump). After a few pumps, I was able to get fuel to come through the hand pump. Next, I reconnected that fuel line to the pump, and then I connected my hand pump to the carb main fuel line, to ensure I was getting fuel through the pump. My thought was that perhaps it just needed a little bit of priming, since it had not been started in several months. I was able to get fuel up through the line, so I reconnected the line to the carb, and the engine fired right up, (now the pressure gauge was reading between 6-7 PSI), and the engine ran great on muffs for the entirety of my 30 minute test.
About a week later, I decided to take the boat out to a lake on a local military base for testing purposes. For the first hour or so, the boat did awesome; 40 MPH indicated at 4,800 RPM at WOT. I was happy, my kids were happy, life was looking good! Then..... My boat died! Again! I instantly suspected the fuel pump or fuel line again, since the same sort of thing happened in Destin last September, and also because of the symptoms from when I tried starting it after replacing the carb. I opened the engine compartment and removed the flame arrestor. The carb was bone dry, with no smell of fuel. I didn't have any specialty tools with me on the lake at the time, such as a fuel pressure gauge, so I disconnected the fuel line at the carb, and I had one of my kid's spin the engine over. Guess what? No fuel! So, I did the only thing I knew to do; I sucked on the fuel line. After a few short attempts, I had fuel to the end of the line. I reinstalled the line to the carb, and the engine fired right up. Then, I spent about another good hour on the water at WOT. The engine ran flawless. But as we started coming back to the boat launch area, the engine died again! I tried several times to restart the engine, but it was getting dark, and luckily, we were within glide distance of the boat launch, and a nice guy also tossed us a line, so that my two kids didn't have to paddle very far at all
I'm thinking:
1.) Replace anti-siphon valve? If no change, then:
2.) Replace fuel pump.
Please correct me if my train of thought is wrong here. Any and all comments are appreciated in advance! Also, my apologies for the long dictation!
