Need advice:
After about 6 hours flawless running, my son's 1977 Apollo 18/OMC 120, died in the middle of a local lake on its 2nd run (took about an hour for us three guys to paddle back to the ramp). During postmortem, I could not detect any suction from the fuel pump (finger over hose method). BUT, when I reattached the hose, the pump started drawing fuel through again! The flow rate was modest - more like a good trickle. There is no junk in the inline filter, no water in fuel either. When running, we could run at full throttle with no problems.
What I've done so far:
This has been a great project, but reliability is a must on the Columbia River (central WA).
After about 6 hours flawless running, my son's 1977 Apollo 18/OMC 120, died in the middle of a local lake on its 2nd run (took about an hour for us three guys to paddle back to the ramp). During postmortem, I could not detect any suction from the fuel pump (finger over hose method). BUT, when I reattached the hose, the pump started drawing fuel through again! The flow rate was modest - more like a good trickle. There is no junk in the inline filter, no water in fuel either. When running, we could run at full throttle with no problems.
What I've done so far:
- Removed & cleaned fuel tank (lots of goo in there)
- Replaced all fuel lines (added transparent inline filter)
- Rebuilt carburetor
- Replaced fuel pump (original rotted inside)
- Replaced starter
- Tune-up
- Oil/filter change, changed all driveline oils with recommended stuff
- Ran about an hour on external tank for initial test & tune with no problems
- Filled reinstalled tank with fresh ethanol-free gas, added Red Line fuel system cleaner
This has been a great project, but reliability is a must on the Columbia River (central WA).