HELP! Fuel issues crushing primer bulb under vacuum

[cterrebonne]

Originally Posted by Shrek

Thanks Case, how you getting along with my old girl?

UPDATE: After draining the tank completely (again) and removing about 3 gallons of water from the bottom, I took the boat out for the first time last Saturday. It was not as bad as before, but still more of the same. The primer bulb never collapsed this time, but the more fuel I burned, the more performance degraded. By the end of our day, I'd burned 15 gallons and while the boat never stalled and was not burping and farting as it was before, it did not have enough power to get on plane. I changed the fuel filter again and there was more particulate material and some water in it, but not as bad as before. I'm at a loss. This week I am going to buy an electric fuel pump, a second fuel filter and separate water separator, intake from the pickup and return into the vent. See what we get.

I have her in stored right now waiting to do some work to her. hope fully will be able to remove the cap this December.

Are you running 5/16 fuel line? Maybe trying some 3/8" so that the hose is bigger and can flow more junk into the water sep filter it might be clogging the the line itself. If you are already running 3/8 then my idea definitely wont work.

[Shrek]

Yep, everything is 3/8. I'm setting up a filtering rig this afternoon. I figure that I will jack up the front of the boat about 47 feet in the air and loop the fuel through an electric pump through a couple of filters/water separators and back into the tank through the vent. I'm going to run that all week and then we will see what happens.

[bradford]

Be careful Bro! Be sure there is no chance of any sparks etc. I'd be more inclined to siphon out the gas and inspect the tank or have it professionally cleaned.

[Shrek]

I think that I'll be fine. The battery leads are about 15 feet from the pump assembly so I don't think that spark will be an issue, plus everything is above decks except for the connections to the tank which are vapor tight anyhow. Hopefully the fuel pump that I've got has the testicular fortitude to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

[smokeonthewater]

I've done the same thing before..... also tip the boat to the side so you have a low corner to draw from. remove the sender and put the suction hose in the low corner..... you prolly don't need to run it a week though... a couple hours should be plenty...

I would also definitely test with a portable tank... you may have carb or engine issues now and if so you want to figure that out sooner rather than later.... don't want to keep running the engine lean and burn it up

On that note you should prolly be carrying that tank with you on future tests so at the first sign of trouble you can swap and save your engine

[spareparts]

Shrek, I know this has been asked before, but are you sure that isn't a fiberglass tank(just making sure)

[Shrek]

I can only tell you that the portion that I can see is aluminum so I have assumed that the rest of the tank is too. The tank has been glassed into the stringers with chopper gun so I have no idea what the condition of the tank really is. I am absolutely bringing a separate tank this weekend and I guess that we will see what happens.