Another problem

[Jordan]

Went out this past Sunday to fish Big lake. Had a few problems. I need advice on how to fix these small problems.First one is a fuel problem. As many of you may know, I been having this problem for quite a while. I've replaced the fuel bulb and fuel/water seperator. My Beeper starts going off about 1/8th a mile from when I launch. The only way I can get it to shut off is by un-screwing the fuel/water seperator a little to get "air" back into the bulb because it collapses. Well I did that and it ran fine. We fished turners bay, the fish stopped biting so we were going to run down to the south end of the lake. About half-way there it does the same thing again. This time I killed the motor and un-screwed it again. There was like 4 oz. of gas in the fuel/water seperator. I primed and primed and primed til my freaking arm was about to fall off. The bulb still wasn't getting hard. I checked all connections for air leaks...Nothing. Finally i got pizzed off and un-done the hose going from the tank to the seperator and got enough fuel to fill up the fuel/water seperator and the bulb got hard again. Cranked her up and went to take off, only to make it about 200 yards, and same damn thing again. By this time I just wanted to light a match and swim to shore. I took the hose off and I blew the gas back into the tank and siphoned (SP?) gas back through to prime the lines. Filled up the seperator again and primed the bulb til it was solid as a rock. The boat ran fine the rest of the day. Its almost quite embarrassing and down right aggravating. Any idea on what this might be? Its like a 3/8" hose. 2nd problem is my trim. As many of you may know I've been having problems with this. Here goes.... We get to the launch, I hit the trim up to take off the transom saver... Does fine... trims up, I take saver off and i trim it back down. Back boat down the ramp, go to put motor in water, and nothing. Get boat off ramp and start looking at trim motor. Motor hums, but its not wanting to catch. I checked the fluid (normally when i un-screw the cap off the reservior there is fluid leaking out of it) there wasn't none this time. I turned the manual screw to lower the motor down and it went down and I hit the trim down buttom on my throttle and it worked fine, went up and down. Motor done fine trimming most of the day. I trimmed it up enough to get the prop out of the water because we were catching fish out of the back of the boat and they were going under the motor. I went to trim down and same thing happened at the launch. I done the manual trim screw again and it went down and started doing fine after that. My question to you guys... is it just low on trim fluid?

Any help is greatly appreciated... Thanks guys for keeping a good site going !!!

[bay_slayer]

Originally Posted by Jordan

Went out this past Sunday to fish Big lake. Had a few problems. I need advice on how to fix these small problems.First one is a fuel problem. As many of you may know, I been having this problem for quite a while. I've replaced the fuel bulb and fuel/water seperator. My Beeper starts going off about 1/8th a mile from when I launch. The only way I can get it to shut off is by un-screwing the fuel/water seperator a little to get "air" back into the bulb because it collapses. Well I did that and it ran fine. We fished turners bay, the fish stopped biting so we were going to run down to the south end of the lake. About half-way there it does the same thing again. This time I killed the motor and un-screwed it again. There was like 4 oz. of gas in the fuel/water seperator. I primed and primed and primed til my freaking arm was about to fall off. The bulb still wasn't getting hard. I checked all connections for air leaks...Nothing. Finally i got pizzed off and un-done the hose going from the tank to the seperator and got enough fuel to fill up the fuel/water seperator and the bulb got hard again. Cranked her up and went to take off, only to make it about 200 yards, and same damn thing again. By this time I just wanted to light a match and swim to shore. I took the hose off and I blew the gas back into the tank and siphoned (SP?) gas back through to prime the lines. Filled up the seperator again and primed the bulb til it was solid as a rock. The boat ran fine the rest of the day. Its almost quite embarrassing and down right aggravating. Any idea on what this might be? Its like a 3/8" hose. 2nd problem is my trim. As many of you may know I've been having problems with this. Here goes.... We get to the launch, I hit the trim up to take off the transom saver... Does fine... trims up, I take saver off and i trim it back down. Back boat down the ramp, go to put motor in water, and nothing. Get boat off ramp and start looking at trim motor. Motor hums, but its not wanting to catch. I checked the fluid (normally when i un-screw the cap off the reservior there is fluid leaking out of it) there wasn't none this time. I turned the manual screw to lower the motor down and it went down and I hit the trim down buttom on my throttle and it worked fine, went up and down. Motor done fine trimming most of the day. I trimmed it up enough to get the prop out of the water because we were catching fish out of the back of the boat and they were going under the motor. I went to trim down and same thing happened at the launch. I done the manual trim screw again and it went down and started doing fine after that. My question to you guys... is it just low on trim fluid?

Any help is greatly appreciated... Thanks guys for keeping a good site going !!!

Jordan.........what kind of fuel tanks do you have? you need to make sure that they are vented at the tanks. Have you changed all your fuel lines? It almost sounds like you have a fuel line that is internally collapsed(meaning that the inside lining material is coming apart and clogging the line).

As for your trim it sounds like low hydraulic oil. Just sounds like you run out of fluid when your rams are all filled up as you trim up to a certain heigth and you lose prime to your motor. try trimming up all the way and then filling up the resevoir. see if that helps.

[Hopedale Hustler]

yep ive had the fuel problem in my lil flat boat before..your best bet is spending the lil bit of money and changing your lines and maybe even cleaning your tank out..it could be collapsed..or it could be trash who really knows...also another thing to check is your carb..make sure its clean and the way it should be...carb problems will make you think you got fuel line problems alot of the time..

[Jordan]

bay, thanks for the information..i have 2-35gal internal tanks. Hard to get to them. There is a vent cover right where I stand (center console) I unscrew it and its a bunch of electrical wires... like a fuel pump??? Not sure. I'll do the trim the way you said. I dont think it will trim up all the way, i'll manually do it though.. Thanks for all the help, hope this works out. I might even go buy new lines.

[bay_slayer]

well the lines might be the most important thing you replace...........and dont worry about venting the tank..............they should already be vented if they are internal. oh and the cover you are unscrewing is probably the fuel tank level sending unit wires.........for your fuel gauge

[Jordan]

probably... im stupid when it comes to boats... just know the basics.

[Hebert]

while your at it.. you might want to change the diaphragm in your fuel pump..or put a rebuilt kit on it...

[bay_slayer]

I'm not trying to brag...........but before I got in to the ROV industry i was a Master Certified Mechanic in a Cadillac/Chevy Dealership. So I do like to pass on some knowledge and advice about this kind of stuff when I get a chance. I know I didnt work on outboards but the principle's are still the same

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by Hebert

while your at it.. you might want to change the diaphragm in your fuel pump..or put a rebuilt kit on it...

I dont think i have a fuel pump

[Jordan]

thanks again bay

[Montauk17]

all engines have a fuel pump,not all of them are electric like a vehicle....some are whats called a pulse pump. sounds to me like its going out.

[Jordan]

what does it look like and where is it located ?? Like i said, after i get the primer bulb hard, its good to go..

[Gerald]

On your gas problem.......If I read your discription correctly, after you blew on the fuel line going back into the tank......no more problems.

This sounds like you could have some trash in one or both fuel tanks. A fuel tank often (????) has a screen or filter to keep trash from going up into the engine. Blowing on the fuel line could have temporality cleared the screen and allowed the gas bulb to suck gas from the tank and get hard.

Another possible explination.....blowing through the fuel line back to the tank could have "Opened" up a collapsed fuel line.

[Jordan]

at first there was no gas coming out....im not sure... it was hard to blow on it.. kinda like there was something in it and then it got easier in a split second... then the gas started running out...

[Montauk17]

what year,make,and model is your motor?

[Jordan]

1995 johnson 200hp v6 ocean pro

[Jordan]

ocean runner... not pro... i dont know if there is a difference... ??

[Montauk17]

pretty sure the ocean pro is efi and the ocean runner is carb

[Jordan]

not sure... its an ocean runner though... good little motor, just stupid little problems !!!!

[yellalilyslicker]

You can test your fuel line by rigging up a clear piece of fuel line between your tank and bulb (@ the inlet side of the bulb), run your motor,and watch the clear line to see if it starts starving for fuel. All you need is about 10" of clear fuel line.If its starving, line is prolly collapsing internally.