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Hi all,
First post here. Thanks for all the material everyone--this site has helped quite a bit over the years.
I ran out of gas this weekend. Gauge had broken over winter, and I hadn't had the chance to fix it. My guess was that there was probably 6-8 gallons of fuel in the tank over winter. I did pay someone to winterize it, although I can't confirm if they added stabilizer or not (I'll be winterizing on my own henceforth). To be fair, I'm not the most diligent about searching for ethanol free fuel, nor have I been adding fuel stabilizers at all. We've put about 200 hours on the boat since buying it from a brother in law (it currently has 647 hours).
Anyway... I refilled the fuel tank, boat ran well/normal for 20-25 minutes. Boat sat for a couple hours, I then left the dock and heard a pop/backfire about 5 seconds after hitting the throttle. It sounded more like a backfire than something breaking, but I'm not 100% confident in that. We returned to the dock and opened the hatch. The engine was trying to start (starter working ok), and it would choke out if I gave it too much fuel. To be clear, it wouldn't stay running at all... but I could make it hang on a little longer if I played with the throttle and got it to run poorly for 5-10 seconds, but eventually even that stopped and it didn't want to stay running at all. It definitely sounds like there wasn't enough fuel getting to the engine. We tried pulling the plug on the bottom of the FCC and draining any water, but it seemed to be only fuel that settled in the cup... so water in the fuel didn't seem to be an issue.
Two days later, I got it back to my dock and on my lift. I removed the Fuel Control Cell and found that the filter was pretty gross and there was plenty of sediment on the bottom of the FCC. The fuel pumped also seemed oxidized, or at least very dirty. I ran out of time before the weekend ended to clean everything... but trying to evaluate all options.
Other variables: at the end of last year, we noticed that when went to the fuel dock, we could never fill the tank at 100% flow from the pump. We could only pump pretty slowly; otherwise the pressures would not balance out well and fuel would overflow from the tank until pressure could bubble out. Sounds like the tank isn't venting properly.
I've gone ahead and ordered a new fuel filter and pump for $225, as those need to be done regardless. However, I'm also wondering if it is worth pulling the fuel tank and looking at the fuel pick up line? Is there any chance dirty fuel slipped through to the injectors/fuel rail (my filter was disgusting)? Is the pressure imbalance in the my tank starving the fuel system?
Wish I would have thought to take some photos this weekend, but alas.
Thanks for the help all.
First post here. Thanks for all the material everyone--this site has helped quite a bit over the years.
I ran out of gas this weekend. Gauge had broken over winter, and I hadn't had the chance to fix it. My guess was that there was probably 6-8 gallons of fuel in the tank over winter. I did pay someone to winterize it, although I can't confirm if they added stabilizer or not (I'll be winterizing on my own henceforth). To be fair, I'm not the most diligent about searching for ethanol free fuel, nor have I been adding fuel stabilizers at all. We've put about 200 hours on the boat since buying it from a brother in law (it currently has 647 hours).
Anyway... I refilled the fuel tank, boat ran well/normal for 20-25 minutes. Boat sat for a couple hours, I then left the dock and heard a pop/backfire about 5 seconds after hitting the throttle. It sounded more like a backfire than something breaking, but I'm not 100% confident in that. We returned to the dock and opened the hatch. The engine was trying to start (starter working ok), and it would choke out if I gave it too much fuel. To be clear, it wouldn't stay running at all... but I could make it hang on a little longer if I played with the throttle and got it to run poorly for 5-10 seconds, but eventually even that stopped and it didn't want to stay running at all. It definitely sounds like there wasn't enough fuel getting to the engine. We tried pulling the plug on the bottom of the FCC and draining any water, but it seemed to be only fuel that settled in the cup... so water in the fuel didn't seem to be an issue.
Two days later, I got it back to my dock and on my lift. I removed the Fuel Control Cell and found that the filter was pretty gross and there was plenty of sediment on the bottom of the FCC. The fuel pumped also seemed oxidized, or at least very dirty. I ran out of time before the weekend ended to clean everything... but trying to evaluate all options.
Other variables: at the end of last year, we noticed that when went to the fuel dock, we could never fill the tank at 100% flow from the pump. We could only pump pretty slowly; otherwise the pressures would not balance out well and fuel would overflow from the tank until pressure could bubble out. Sounds like the tank isn't venting properly.
I've gone ahead and ordered a new fuel filter and pump for $225, as those need to be done regardless. However, I'm also wondering if it is worth pulling the fuel tank and looking at the fuel pick up line? Is there any chance dirty fuel slipped through to the injectors/fuel rail (my filter was disgusting)? Is the pressure imbalance in the my tank starving the fuel system?
Wish I would have thought to take some photos this weekend, but alas.
Thanks for the help all.
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