2002 SANTE excalibur 330 misfire or sputter ?? Help

[wakehead]

HI Guys,

i have a 2002 Sante and I was on the water yesterday and near mid afternoon, it seemed to be running rough. Rougher than usual. It is usually smooth as butter and purrs. It just seemed like i always had weeds on the prop and felt a small shake in the boat. I tried accelerating and heard kind of a backfire ... I really dont know where to start. Could it be more fire or gas. I thought maybe the fuel pump, maybe water in the gas. Like I said it is usually perfect.

Does anyone have any suggestions or should know where I can start eliminating the problems?

[wakehead]

Hi guys,

I wanted to ask the fans about the spark plugs as I have just checked them on my boat. they seem a bit loos but i do not know if this is normal or not. Can someone let me know. It also seemed like there was a bit of rust on the top. I noticed that the set up for the wires is different than what I am used to. This may sound a bit amateur but can someone let me know how to take these plus out and let me know if they are supposed to look a bit loose. I dont know if there is a rubber around the top or anything.

I also uploaded a pic of the plugs and the rust. Let me know your thoughts.

[shag]

Hard to tell from the pic, but are looking at the wire harness for the fuel injectors? As far as the rough idling, could be a number of things... Ethanol fuel can cause issues, a failing fuel pump (low pressure and or high pressure, should be two on that boat if I remember correct).
If it has not had a good tune up in awhile, I would find a PCM mech and have that done.

[wakehead]

i checked the engine exploded view and yes that is the fuel injector harness. should i just spray a bit or wd 40 around the rust or that a no no ?

[shag]

First off, I'm no PCM mechanic - but have done minor repairs on my boats i've had over the years. I would not spray anything on those. The contacts actually look fine in that pic. When you say shake, could be a number of things. You could have a prop that has been bumped and still not see any defect... Water in fuel can def cause an issue. If it was me, I would just find a PCM dealer in your area, and at least have a good tune up done. I know it cost $$$, but then you will now what, if any issue there is.. Boats unfortunately are holes in water we poor money into..... Sometimes...
Just my .02

[wakehead]

Thanks for the reply. I think m ynext steps are to drain the fuel filter in houseing of the fuel cell. I am going to see if there is any water in the gas. At the same time ill put some fuel stabilizer in the tank. If anyone has any recommendations for stabilizer from the local hardware store please let me know

[MAK]

I would go ahead and change out the fuel filer in the FCC as well... It mentions there in the manual if you seems to loose power at times that could be the culprit.

I am trying to troubleshoot my 02' SANTE right now. It ran fine all day then died and acted like it wasn't getting any fuel. My FCC didn't seem to have a lot of fuel in it so my guess right now is that maybe the low pressure fuel pump had died on me.

[wakehead]

So I have some updates for you. I went out on saturday to trouble shoot everything and went to drain the fuel cell. Unfortunately I satripped the drain nut underneath the fcc. Why would they use a brass nut anyways? As a result i had to take the whole fuel cell off and drain it from where the gas goes into the Fuel cell.

I added a whole nunch of fuel stabilizer and super grade gas. I basically went out and came back in went out and came back in draining the FCC each time. I did this a total of 4 times. (You may see what I had in the GAS tank below). Apart from water there was tons of Junk in there.

The boat is still running a tiny bit rough but each time it gets better and better.

That being said i wanted to send you guys a conclusion that water in Gas

1) Makes the engine run rough spuratically, at idle its more smooth
2) Slight back fires
3) Boat doesn't plane usually

The different is that had it been electrical i feel the misfires would have been more consistent and all the time

I need to admit that I think i may be the culprit of the water in the Gas. I had 10 people in my boat and 4 fat sacs loaded right down. Water was literaly coming in the side of the boat. Do you guys think it is possible that water go down the gas take breather hole?

[MAK]

Water can for sure make it's way into the gas tank from the vent. We have to appoint someone in charge of covering the vent when we surf on the port side.