Installation Instructions for RF121085 FCC PASS THRU RETROFIT KIT

[Slippery]

Searched so i apologize if I missed it.

I have the new part but am unable to locate any instructions online, bu it can't be too difficult, can it? :-)

I'm very experienced at performing my own maintenance and repairs, so I'm just looking for a little advice before I tear into it.

2005 216 Air Nautique

Thank you.

[JayG80]

I'll just follow up on this since I was looking for the same answer and had to wing it. It is pretty simple.

Disconnect the battery
Drain the FCC canister by removing the small brass drain plug on the bottom of the FCC canister
Remove the canister and fuel filter.
Inside the FCC, there are two wires with female spade connectors at each end. These connect the high pressure fuel pump to the 2 male spades for the part you are removing.
I left the 2 wires attached to the fuel pump and removed their other end from the broken part. Note the fuel pump has a Positive + and a Neg - etched near the terminals. The + terminal is slightly wider male spade than the Neg one.
The broken fuel harness on mine had mushy epoxy and the grey wire harness came right out with a tug.
Remove the wire harness connector at the other end and discard.
There are 3 bolts that secure the upper FCC housing to the bracket. I removed 2 of them and loosened the middle one so I could rotate the FCC top about 1/16".
With the upper housing rotated, I could get a socket on the old harness fitting. It is a black plastic piece and it was easy to remove with a socket wrench.

Wipe the hole clean, feed the red and black wires thru the hole and screw the new RF121085 brass fitting into the female top of the FCC. There is a o ring incorporated in the fitting.
Replace the 2 bolts connecting the FCC upper to the bracket and tighten all 3
The 2 wires of the new harness have the same size male electrical spades. Connect Black to Neg wire going to fuel pump and the Red to positive.
Inspect the black fuel line that suspends the high pressure fuel pump. I bought FCC Hose Kit RK045098 so I'd have a fresh O-ring for the FCC and a new hose.
Put everything back together just like you would if changing the filter. A little light oil on the oring and a bit of grease on the FCC canister threads. Tighten the fuel drain plug.
Connect the battery.
Connect the new FCC harness to the wire plastic fitting.
Cycle the low pressure pump a half dozen times to fill FCC. Check for fuel leaks. Run engine and look for fuel leaks.

[JayG80]

My neighbor walked over while I was replacing the retrofit kit. He has a 2002 Ski Nautique too. I told him to keep an eye on the top of the FCC for a fuel leak. Five days later he sees a leak on his boat and is ordering the retro fit kit.

[JayG80]

I have a new retrofit kit for sale. $40 shipped to USA. Bought for my new to me 2007 and it isn’t necessary.

[h2oski]

In my 45 years of boating, I've never broke down, until last week. Understand, I'm a meticulous freak about my boats, wife says I have OCD, I don't see it :-) Day off during the week, decided to take my '99 AN to Lake Austin. Everything was fine, cruising along about 2700 RPM, throttled down, then chug chug cough cough, dead. Determined no fuel in the LPFP. Any way, so now I'm replacing the entire fuel system, including the FCC pass thru kit. Mine seems fine, but its amber in color and I know what that means on model boats when fuel soaks in the epoxy.

Does anyone know what gauge wire the RF121085 FCC PASS THRU RETROFIT KIT is?

TIA

Scott

[EchoLodge]

I have two kits showing up tomorrow in the mail. I can check for you.

https://www.riverdavesplace.com/foru...eekend.245229/

[EchoLodge]

Pretty easy!

[h2oski]

EchoLodge Thanks for the response! I'm sure the retro FCC pass thru kit works fine, I just wasn't comfortable with the variation of the wire size or extra wire length inside the FCC. I checked around on similar in tank fuel pumps and harnesses and they all seem to use 14 or 16GA fuel safe wire and connectors. Mine wasn't leaking yet, but I knew it was a ticking bomb. I ended up carefully picking out the old epoxy from the original black plastic fitting and removed the original wire harness. The black plastic fitting cleaned up perfectly for reuse. I can't be certain what type of "epoxy" the supplier used, but it looked and felt a lot like regular two part epoxy. I did a bunch of research on fuel safe epoxy and was surprised there really isn't one for us regular consumers. They are fuel resistant, not fuel proof, with some performing better than others. I even found an experiment a guy did with 6 of the popular brands of "fuel safe" epoxy. I won't get into the details of the tests or the results, but his results showed Marine Tex outperformed the other brands (I was shocked at JBWeld). So I ordered the Marine Tex Might Repair Kit 2 Ounce, Gray, mixed it up, used a toothpick to carefully fill the black plastic fitting, held my index finger under the bottom slits where the blade connectors will protrude, poking around the epoxy to remove any air pockets. I left a little room at the top for the epoxy to expand as I inserted the original wire harness, making sure the blade connectors slide into their slit in the bottom of the black plastic fitting. I poked around the epoxy once more and added a little more to completely fill it. Finally, I carefully wiped the epoxy from the protruding blade connectors from the bottom of the black plastic fitting and set it aside to dry. I did replace the o-ring on the black plastic fitting as well. Worked out well.

Thanks

[EchoLodge]

I am all for saving a buck and your research seems solid. The retro fit has what appears to be a piece of black rubber that the wires pass through and held with a ring clip. You notice that the wires the retro kit uses are the same diameter as the ones to the actual pump. The original plug are thicker at the outside connector. I just sucked it up and spent the 40 a kit. I also replaced the plug on my 01 also. It wasn't leaking yet but I barely touched the wires and the plug came out. Definitely a time bomb.

[CHassmann]

This thread is a little confusing. I received a letter several years ago to watch for leaks on the FCC of my '02 Ski. So is this the solution if it does leak?

[JayG80]

Yes, if you have fuel seeping out at the wire pass through in the top of FCC.

[EchoLodge]

You should be proactive and do the retrofit now. Not worth the gamble. I got lucky that I caught it without blowing up.

[h2oski]

Totally agree with EchoLodge , just do it (excuse the pun). If you still have the original FCC wire pass thru, I wouldn't try to talk myself into thinking it's OK for now.

I wasn't trying to save money on this fix, in fact I have the FCC pass-thru retrofit kit on my bench. Like I said, I didn't like the gauge wire they used and honestly, the outside pigtail should have a length of split loom or braided sleeving IMO. If I ever have to use it, I'll certainly add it.

My factory pass thru looked and felt fine, but looks can be deceiving and I knew that original epoxy was in trouble. Turns out after carefully removing/tugging/wiggling/picking the epoxy and factory pigtail from the black fitting, the top outside of the epoxy was still firm, but as the wires came out, the epoxy was crumbling on the inside of the black fitting - not good.

I wanted to retain the "factory" pigtail, so I elected to reuse the components and just epoxy (using better epoxy) the pigtail in the original black fitting. While I was at it, I replaced the short FCC fuel hose, clamps, wiring and connectors. The crimp connectors are nylon (Ancor) which has great fuel resistant properties. The red and black 14GA wires are cut offs from a replacement Ford in-tank fuel pump harness (PTFE/Teflon coated) from Amazon ($9).

CHassmann it looks like you have an '02 and I have a '99 and mine was in rough shape.

-Scott