Was fishing out of Cocodrie, La Sunday and my 2001 F115 was running like a champ and then all of a sudden it started spitting and sputtering. I eased back to an idle for a minute and then when I accelerated again I got to 6.2 mph at full throttle. Luckily I was able to call the guys at Ship's Chandler in Destin and their mechanic, Mac, walked me through a couple of things to check with no success. I was unable to remove the fuel/water separator filter and he said it sounded like a clogged VST filter. So not to be undone and so we fished all day and idled 13 miles back to Coco Marina drink cold beer and listening to Skynyrd.
Got the intake manifold off and got to the VST today and it was clean. I put it all back together and replaced the fuel/water filter. i fired the engine and she ran perfectly. i was able to get good rpms multiple times. I am going to the lake Saturday to really test it out. Fingers crossed.
The moral of the story is, before you strip off the intake manifold and VST, replace the fuel/water filter and see if that solves it. I think would have in my case. Oh well, at least I know how to take the manifold apart if I need to.
Got the intake manifold off and got to the VST today and it was clean. I put it all back together and replaced the fuel/water filter. i fired the engine and she ran perfectly. i was able to get good rpms multiple times. I am going to the lake Saturday to really test it out. Fingers crossed.
The moral of the story is, before you strip off the intake manifold and VST, replace the fuel/water filter and see if that solves it. I think would have in my case. Oh well, at least I know how to take the manifold apart if I need to.