Fuel Pump Issue

[Robert16star]

Hello,

I have the following boat and motor:
Starcraft 16 Camp
96 Johnson model 40TLEDS

The boat ran perfect at the end of last season. It took a bit to get it going two weeks ago but I was finally able to get it running in the drive way. After letting it idle for about 15 minutes the ?No Oil? light and buzzer went off. The oil tank was full. I pumped the Oil tank bulb and let it continue to run. There was plenty of blue smoke coming out of the exhaust. If I shut off the motor and restarted it the ?No Oil? buzzer/ light was off but came back on a few minutes later.
I put it in the water to go for a test run and it seemed to run fine, the oil buzzer/ light didn?t come on. I ran it at top speed for about 10 -15 minutes when all of a sudden the motor shut down. I squeezed the fuel line bulb and was able to get it going only to have it shut down again after a minute or two of full throttle. If I kept at low speeds the motor continued to run and that?s how I made it back to the dock.
I stopped at a marine dealer thinking I needed a fuel filter, and they told me what it sounded like was a possible fuel pump issue. He sold me ($20) a fuel pump rebuild kit (diaphragm etc.) and I?m fairly confident that I reassembled it the same way it came apart. I did have a large ?O? ring left over. Never saw one when I took it apart. I didn?t have an old one laying around after I cleaned up either.
Now the ?No oil? buzzer/light is back on and even at idle the motor stalls after about 3 ? 5 minutes. At the suggestion of my local shop guy I did replace the fuel filter and I?ve started to replace the larger fuel lines on the engine (filter to pump, pump to engine block (vacuum line?), and the line to ?Oil Sight Tube).

Sorry for the long story, I wanted to include as much info as possible. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Robert

PS If anyone has an exploded view of my fuel pump I?d appreciate the too!

 

[rickdb1boat]

Re: Fuel Pump Issue

Any chance you could have gotton water in the fuel tank over the winter?

 

[Robert16star]

Re: Fuel Pump Issue

Rick,
Thanks for the reply........

Water? I don't think so, I had everthing covered up pretty tight and the gas I'm using is fresh this year. Doesn't mean the water wasn't in the tank when I filled them. I'm going to take a closer look in the tanks. I did swap tanks and had the problem with both so that would mean I had water in both.

Thanks,
Robert

 

[steve ypsi mi]

Re: Fuel Pump Issue

I don't think you have A fuel pump problem, you said this

10 -15 minutes when all of a sudden the motor shut down. I squeezed the fuel line bulb and was able to get it going only to have it shut down again after a minute or two of full throttle. If I kept at low speeds the motor continued to run

when you use the primer bulb does it get hard and stay that way, or does it get soft again, if it stays hard the bulb is good and then I would look to tighten the clamps at the bulb and fittings,
mine did this on one of my motors and the fittings were sucking air, if I ran slow like you did it would run at a little above idle.
I also had to replace 2 of the primer bulbs this spring, the other were 2 years old and one cracked and the other never pumped up hard, this makes for hard starting motrors, I have two 70 johnsons on a Catamaran, they were 99 models and I bought them new in 2003
never had so much trouble with air sucking on fuel lines before now

 

[Robert16star]

Re: Fuel Pump Issue

<<<<when you use the primer bulb does it get hard and stay that way, or does it get soft again, if it stays hard the bulb is good and then I would look to tighten the clamps at the bulb and fittings,
mine did this on one of my motors and the fittings were sucking air,>>>>

Interesting. If you think about the fact that the "No Oil" sensor was triggered, but the engine ran for another minute or two. If the fuel line from the tank was sucking in air instead of fuel (liquid) which is what is required to draw oil past the sensor. No fuel = no oil = sensor triggered?

The line from the tank is about 2 years old but I'll take a closer look at it.

Question: Were you able to see any defects in your gas line? Were the fittings loose?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[steve ypsi mi]

Re: Fuel Pump Issue

Question: Were you able to see any defects in your gas line? Were the fittings loose?

Thanks,
Robert

Once when it did the run and quit thing I was on the lake and carry screw drivers just for this and yes I was able to tighten up the clamps and the one on the conection to the motor was 2 turns loose, Fired up and ran after tightened them.
no defects in the lines but like I said the one primer bulb was soft this spring and the other cracked so when you squeezed it gas came out of the bulb.
What I meant about the bulb was that when you squeeze one up and just wait a few minutes not running the motor and if you squeeze it and its softened up that means either the line is getting air ahead of or behind the bulb and it could be the stopper in the bulb is bad, it keeps the gas from returning to the tank , If you squeeze the bulb quite a bit and it never gets hard , I mean almost rock hard you have a air leak or the bulb is shot. A new bulb is $10.99, I had some that lasted for 15 years or more but these new ones are some thing else, 2 years and replaced them.
I would look close for a air leak at the fittings first, if the are the non screw type I would add a wire tie, those plastic ones that pull tight and lock and cut the excess off if you don't want to take off the nonadjustible ones, you should have enough room to put one ahead of or behind the other clamp .
I had a truck that was driving me nuts, I would drive 2 to 7 miles and it would just stop, changed the pump, carb, electrical parts and filter and it was a loose clamp at the fuel pump after 2 weeks of trying to find it.
a friend had a 2 year old van that did some thing similar, he had it to the dealer many times, they couldn't find it, then one day he stopped at one of those old time garages and a old guy put it on the rack and found a Pin hole in the gas line, it didn't leak much but just enough to let it get air and quit running ,
Some times a bad coil will do this, get warmed up and quit but its rare, I have had new plugs that were bad, see if one is black and oily, should be brn and can be wet looking but brn is right.
I some times change the plugs around putting the one that is dark in another cylinder and run it then look to see if the cylinder that had the wet dark plug in it made the plug you put from anoither cly in got wet and the oily or dark one you changed to anothe cylinder cleaned up means that cly is either rich or bad plug or weak fire in the cly that is making the plugs wet and oily.
It really sounds like you have air sucking just like my old trk and the loose clamps on my boat motors

Look at this thread about a motor stalling
about the third one down the ower found it him self
http://groups.google.com/group/rec....67afbbd0cbc/2e8f56afaf021d88#2e8f56afaf021d88

 

[Robert16star]

Re: Fuel Pump Issue

Looks like I'm all set. Had it running in the driveway for 15 minutes with no warning of "No Oil" and stayed running at idle and higher rpm's. Apprears I may have rushed a bit while rebuilding the fuel pump. Broke down the pump and with the exploded veiw found at the site below was able to recheck the assembly.

http://epc.brp.com/default.aspx?brands=ej&lang=e

When the site loads under "Products" select "OB Accessories", click Go. Then select the year (mine is 1996), then "Fuel System 1996", then "Fuel Pump Repair Kits".

Having the exploded veiw made it easier for me.

Thanks for all the replies,
Robert