Loosing power under way

bassarama · #1 07-23-2009, 07:09 PM

Today was just fishing, certainly not catching day, thats right, not a even a single keeper fluke in the boat.

Oh well, it was better than working nonetheless.

Running the boat beetween our drifts, I noticed the motor loosing power and sounding like it was running out of fuel, both time this happened I reached for the fuel bulb and found it to be very soft, pumped it a few times and the motor would come alive and run full power.
I believe my problem is either a bad fuel bulb and or a clogged up Racor fuel filter. What do you think?

Thanks

Joe

phatdaddy · #2 07-23-2009, 08:58 PM

if the bulb is between the filter & the motor, i wouldn't think it would be the filter. if you can pump the ball and it will firm up, it seems to be doing its thing. i would look at either fuel pump or tank vent or tank pick up.

i'm guessing this is an outboard, are you runing the oil injection system?
try running out of a seperate fuel source & see if the problem follows.

Skools Out · #3 07-24-2009, 02:09 PM

above sounds good ideas but check the primer bulb too as it may have a bad check valve, i can't remember how your boat is set up, been awhile since i was on your ride.

bassarama · #4 07-24-2009, 06:01 PM

Thanks for the sujestions

I have a 150 hp OceanRunner and yes the bulb is between the Racor filter and motor, I pre-mix my fuel.

There's one thing that may add confusion or can help troubleshoot this problem; a couple of days before this last fishing trip, I took the kids to the lake for a little water skiing, do you think the constant and fast take offs may have caused this whole clogging fiasco?

Thanks

Skools Out · #5 07-24-2009, 06:11 PM

well actually you might have loosen up trash in the tank which stopped up your filter

bassarama · #6 07-25-2009, 08:07 PM

Thanks guys

I'll start by replacing the Racor filter and go from there...

bcmarinamanager · #7 07-26-2009, 07:58 AM

Check filter first, if that's clear it's almost certainly the fuel pump. Does run out okay to a certain RPM or does it cut out across the RPM range? If it's only at the upper RPM's it's definitely the fuel pump.

bassarama · #8 07-26-2009, 08:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcmarinamanager

Check filter first, if that's clear it's almost certainly the fuel pump. Does run out okay to a certain RPM or does it cut out across the RPM range? If it's only at the upper RPM's it's definitely the fuel pump.

Thanks again for all the leads

It happens over cruising speed, say anywhere between 22 to 28 mph. After a take off, it runs strong and after a couple of miles of cruising it starts to sputter... after priming the bulb the motor runs fine for awhile and sputters again untill another bulb priming...so on so forth!

bcmarinamanager · #9 07-27-2009, 11:15 AM

Fuel pump.