Hi everyone,
Last week during vacation my boat stopped running correctly. It was running perfectly all summer and last week as we skied (new tank of gas before we got there) for about an hour or so. Then after sitting in the water for an hour, after starting it idles very rough and stalls. After restarting, it would stay idling (rough) but would not accelerate. It wanted to backfire and surge just a little as soon as you pushed the trottle forward. At this point I added some dry gas and let it set overnight. The next day I had the same problem. I did find that I could get the boat on plane by pushing the throttle lever back and forth continuously. The small surges over time would accelerate the boat enough to get on plane and I could maintain only 32 MPH with the throttle held wide open. I ran up and down the lake a few times hoping it would clear up but no luck.
When I got home I checked the PN forums for ideas. Here is what I have done so far. When turning on the key, I can hear the low pressure pump cycle. I unplugged the power from this pump to see if I could hear the high pressure pump cycle, which I could. At this point I decide to remover the FCC and look at the filter. What a bear. I removed it from the boat and put it in a vise (using the bolts in the top with a pry bar procedure) and proceeded to start to bent the bolts! Plus my vise was a little small for the job and it was slipping some. I then removed the low pressure pump and checked the removable screen in the top, not much there. I could see another screen down inside but couldn't figure out how to get to that one. I reinstalled the FCC at this point and went to Auto Zone where they will LEND you a fuel pressure kit complete with everything you need. (should have done this first) I removed the fuel return line from the FCC and attached the gauge to the FCC return fitting. I turned the key on and I got about 5 to 6 pounds. This seemed normal from what I have read. I then checked the pressure at the schrader valve on the rail from the high pressure pump and got nothing. So it seems the FCC needs to come off again. Great.
Questions. One...I understand there is a fuel regulator in the FCC and if it is plugged it could send fuel back to the tank instead of the rails. Would I have seen high pressure at the return line if the high pressure pump was working correctly but the regulator wasn't? Two....not finding much in the low pressure pump fine screen leads me to believe that the filter in the FCC probably isn't plugged to the point of starving it for gas. And I would think that problem probably would have gotten worse over a period of time and not suddenly all at once. Three....if the pump runs, but doesn't pressurize the rails, can the pump just go bad all of a sudden?
No shop around here can get it in to look at it so I guess I'm on my own. So far I don't know what parts I am going to need and I'll probably have to order them. I think my next step is to get a bigger vise and some stronger bolts to get the FCC open. Can someone give me some direction from there? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Last week during vacation my boat stopped running correctly. It was running perfectly all summer and last week as we skied (new tank of gas before we got there) for about an hour or so. Then after sitting in the water for an hour, after starting it idles very rough and stalls. After restarting, it would stay idling (rough) but would not accelerate. It wanted to backfire and surge just a little as soon as you pushed the trottle forward. At this point I added some dry gas and let it set overnight. The next day I had the same problem. I did find that I could get the boat on plane by pushing the throttle lever back and forth continuously. The small surges over time would accelerate the boat enough to get on plane and I could maintain only 32 MPH with the throttle held wide open. I ran up and down the lake a few times hoping it would clear up but no luck.
When I got home I checked the PN forums for ideas. Here is what I have done so far. When turning on the key, I can hear the low pressure pump cycle. I unplugged the power from this pump to see if I could hear the high pressure pump cycle, which I could. At this point I decide to remover the FCC and look at the filter. What a bear. I removed it from the boat and put it in a vise (using the bolts in the top with a pry bar procedure) and proceeded to start to bent the bolts! Plus my vise was a little small for the job and it was slipping some. I then removed the low pressure pump and checked the removable screen in the top, not much there. I could see another screen down inside but couldn't figure out how to get to that one. I reinstalled the FCC at this point and went to Auto Zone where they will LEND you a fuel pressure kit complete with everything you need. (should have done this first) I removed the fuel return line from the FCC and attached the gauge to the FCC return fitting. I turned the key on and I got about 5 to 6 pounds. This seemed normal from what I have read. I then checked the pressure at the schrader valve on the rail from the high pressure pump and got nothing. So it seems the FCC needs to come off again. Great.
Questions. One...I understand there is a fuel regulator in the FCC and if it is plugged it could send fuel back to the tank instead of the rails. Would I have seen high pressure at the return line if the high pressure pump was working correctly but the regulator wasn't? Two....not finding much in the low pressure pump fine screen leads me to believe that the filter in the FCC probably isn't plugged to the point of starving it for gas. And I would think that problem probably would have gotten worse over a period of time and not suddenly all at once. Three....if the pump runs, but doesn't pressurize the rails, can the pump just go bad all of a sudden?
No shop around here can get it in to look at it so I guess I'm on my own. So far I don't know what parts I am going to need and I'll probably have to order them. I think my next step is to get a bigger vise and some stronger bolts to get the FCC open. Can someone give me some direction from there? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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