Boat Dies - Fuel Pump?

[SANCasey]

I have a 2000 SAN with the GT40 engine.

I started having this issue at the end of last year and it has been in the shop several times with no success yet.

The boat will start and run fine for a while, but after being stopped for 10 minutes or so, the boat will not start back up. The engine tries to turn over, but will not. I have replaced the batteries (mechanic thought they were weak and not able to kick on the fuel pump). Typically when the boat will not crank, the 15 amp breaker in front of the engine is tripped and will keep tripping every time I go to start the boat. However, after sitting for some period of time (3 hours on Sunday), I can reset the breaker and the boat will crank over and run fine.

I am thinking that maybe it is the low pressure fuel pump intermittenly operating???

Any ideas?

[scott resick]

I had a similar issue with a monsson engine in a Malibu w/ electronic fuel pump. Turns out that one of the wires on the pump had a bad connection. I bought a brand new fuel pump, put it on and discovered the same problem, and the bad wire. Just a thought. So,I have a fuel pump for a '96 Response if anybody needs one.

[Rick]

Your probably right. I had exactly the same issue last summer with my 2000. I replaced the low pressure fuel pump and it went away.

[Chexi]

Sorry to hear about your problems Casey. Good luck with the fix.

[mrbobolina]

There a few posts here one I detailed an explain on how to trouble shoot your pump.

http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...ight=fuel+pump.

If your breaker is popping though, I would say it is a faulty ground some place. Look my name up and the word ground. I have a few writeups on the topic as well that may help.

[DanielC]

It is common as a fuel pump starts to go bad, it draws more current. You have two fuel pumps.

When you have any driveability issues with a GT-40 engine, you must check the fuel pressure with the engine running. There is no feedback to the computer on the fuel pump pressure, the computer assumes the fuel pressure is correct.

Here is how to check it.
http://www.planetnautique.com/vb3/sh...=fuel+pressure

[SANCasey]

Thanks for all the tips.

I started the boat last night and it ran perfectly. I even ran it for 30+ minutes and then let it sit for 10-15 minutes and it cranked back over perfectly. I checked all the wires I could find to make sure they were not going to ground, but all appeared to be in good order. I get fuel to the schrader valve, but maybe the pump is intermittenly going bad?

My mechanic is going to look at it again. He has had the boat several times recently for this same issue, but the boat normally performs flawlessly for him. I have asked him to check both pumps for me. I could make the guage you used, but I have essentially already paid for this to have been done, so I will let him check it.

I will let you all know what (if anything) he finds.

[Chexi]

If you plan on keeping that boat for a while, the small investment in the fuel pressure test kit is worth it.

Also, when I kept running into problems last year on my 2000 SAN (that could not be repeated at the dealer), I started taking a video camera with me and filmed the problem when it occurred. It really helped my dealer diagnose the problem. In fact, based on what I had already tried, once he saw the video, he nailed it right away, which for me was a bad distributor (probably just a bad PIP, but I was fed up, and replacing the distributor was worth it as it was pretty corroded anyway).

[Lewy2001]

I had a similar heat soak problem on my GT40 but it was not tripping the fuel pump circuit like yours. Sounds like it is either a fuel pump or bad (high resistance) connections to the fuel pumps. It may also be worth replacing the fuel pump relay on the computer bracket at rear of engine.

[Chexi]

Oh yes, if you haven't tried replacing the relay, I would start there (although I would think you dealer would have tried this already). These are known to go bad and cause all sort of havoc. I probably have an extra one, but I won't be down in Austin for at least a few weeks.

[Rick]

When my breaker went I reset it and the boat ran great for 2 months. Then it tripped again. The mechanic told me that as the low pressure fuel pump goes bad it will start kicking the breaker. I ran it until I got the pump form White Lake. After I replaced it I haven't had the breaker go again. For $150 bucks it's a cheap fix.

[SANCasey]

I dropped it off with the mechanic this morning. I will see what the mechanic finds (if anything). If it continues to run flawlessly for him, I might just go ahead and replace the relay and the lp fuel pump. Relatively inexpensive compared to the hassle of a boat dieing away from the boat ramp.

Any suggestions on where to buy the relay and lp fuel pump? Skidim?

[Chexi]

Nautiqueparts.com. Use PN discount code found in the general forum sticky.

If you use Skidim, I think CCFan.com has a discount code, which if I remember correctly, is "CCFan".

[SANCasey]

Pretty sure it is the low pressure fuel pump. The pump is currently being replaced. I should have just replaced it fromthe start... pretty inexpensive part in the big scheme of things.