1999 90HPSPL Fuel Question

[Hvymtl]

Bought the boat used with a 90hp spl Evinrude. Took out today for first run. Boat ran excellent for about 30 minutes at different throttle settings...then started to bog down. I noticed the fuel bulb was going flat (not sucked flat but no fuel in it). Squeezing the bulb while running didn't help at all (is this a clue?) I had noticed that before while running on muffs in the driveway that it was hard to get fuel into the bulb..but from repeated squeezing it would finally get there. I suspect the pump or a pickup problem. Here are my questions:

Will a fuel pump work intermittently, or do they just go out?

Will a defective fuel pump keep the bulb from building and maintaining pressure with engine not running?

(boat ran great for 30 minutes before it began bogging down. We idled for a while, and it ran ok again for a minute or so and bogged down again....idled all the way back to the dock).


What I have done so far:

Drained all the gas best I could. Added new fuel and oil. Replace the fuel lines and hose clamps from tank to spin-on filter and then to engine fitting have all been replaced. Plugs are all good compression is equal.

 

[Bosunsmate]

Re: 1999 90HPSPL Fuel Question

Make sure tank fuel vent is open. Pump primer til its hard. Does it go soft within a couple of minutes? if so you have a leak somewhere.
Trace all lines from tank to carb to look for any leaks and also see if any is dripping around the carbs.
The valves in the bulb can fail, sometimes keeping them vertical, up in direction of fuel travel will help momentarily and get fuel to the engine.
Ive also seen the fuel pickup hoses inside tanks come lose so you end up sucking up mostly air. If all the above check out fine id suspect the fuel pump, i dont think its the pump though as you mentioned it was hard to get the bulb hard prior to starting