back with a problem now
 

Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems. This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40 minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy

back with a problem now
 

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 19:15:05 -0700, "Nancy"
no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote:

Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems. This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40 minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy


Years ago, my 17' MFG I/O started cutting out whenever I throttled up.
It ran great at idle, or a little above.

I couldn't find the problem.

My last resort was to tear down the carb, where I found (what I think
was) a fly wing in the bowl. Apparently, when I throttled up, the
wing was pulled into the jet orifice, and the engine would die. If I
backed off, all was well. How it got there, I have no idea. When I
removed it, the engine ran well.

I would have the fuel supply checked, in detail.

Good luck,
noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

back with a problem now
 

It does sound like fuel & it seems when your tank level is down a bit??? So
empty the tank & make sure the line from it to the lift pump is OK;

(i) the anti syphon valve at the tank outlet, if fitted is free & clear???

(ii) The lines fastenings have no possible air leaks?? so when the tank is
full it does suck air but when low & having to lift the fuel higher it does???

(iii) The tanks air vent is free & clear??

If that's all OK, then start looking at the lift pump & the carb (the carb
has a little final filter inside where the fuel line enters the float chamber,
it's clear/replaced???

K


noah wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 19:15:05 -0700, "Nancy"
no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote:

Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems. This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40 minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy


Years ago, my 17' MFG I/O started cutting out whenever I throttled up.
It ran great at idle, or a little above.

I couldn't find the problem.

My last resort was to tear down the carb, where I found (what I think
was) a fly wing in the bowl. Apparently, when I throttled up, the
wing was pulled into the jet orifice, and the engine would die. If I
backed off, all was well. How it got there, I have no idea. When I
removed it, the engine ran well.

I would have the fuel supply checked, in detail.

Good luck,
noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

back with a problem now
 

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
It does sound like fuel & it seems when your tank level is down a
bit???
So
empty the tank & make sure the line from it to the lift pump is OK;


Hmm. It sounds like fuel until you take into account that both engines are
drawing from the same tank. Helps rule out contamination. If the lift pump
was
weak, wouldn't it be difficult to sustain adequate fuel flow for the high
RPM
operation Nancy is able to achieve when the engine is cold? My horseback
guess
is the fact that the engine will run OK again after a complete shut down
of
15-20 minutes may be significant.

We did shut down completly for about 10-15 minutes to refuel yesterday on
the way back in. The engine did the same thing..but we only put about 20
gallons of gas in the tank at that time, so it may not have been enough.
When you say 'lift pump' what is that? Where is it? I'm not familiar with
that. Fuel pump? I had someone suggest that with the fuel tank fairly
full, it the fuel pump does not need to pump as 'hard' (due to gravity and
weight from the fuel I'd presume) so is able to sustain adequate operation,
but when the tank gets lower, the pump has to actually work harder? I ran
this by someone else, who said that if there were a tear in the fuel pump
there would be fuel leaking into the engine oil. This is all fairly well
beyond my knowledge base, so I'm just trying to come up with ideas of places
to check here.

Don't overlook the possiblity of an ignition part that gets screwy at a
certain
temperature and works OK again when it cools down. Once had a cracked
distributor cap on a gas engine that acted like this. After running long
enough
for the cap to respond to heat- it would run like crap. After sitting long
enough for the cap to cool back down again- it would run fine for a while.

Hmmmm, wouldn't it reach a sufficient heat range much sooner than after
several hours of running though? The engines do not run hot at all really.

But, again, that's a wild guess by a guy who boats with a proper diesel
and
doesn't have to mess with an ignition system. :-)

hehehe, I wish I could afford to put a couple of diesel engines in this
boat. Would be a bit spendy though, no doubt.

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. They're appreciated and will give
me places to begin looking next.

Nancy

back with a problem now
 

Nancy wrote:

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
It does sound like fuel & it seems when your tank level is down a
bit???
So
empty the tank & make sure the line from it to the lift pump is OK;


Hmm. It sounds like fuel until you take into account that both engines are
drawing from the same tank. Helps rule out contamination. If the lift pump
was
weak, wouldn't it be difficult to sustain adequate fuel flow for the high
RPM
operation Nancy is able to achieve when the engine is cold? My horseback
guess
is the fact that the engine will run OK again after a complete shut down
of
15-20 minutes may be significant.

We did shut down completly for about 10-15 minutes to refuel yesterday on
the way back in. The engine did the same thing..but we only put about 20
gallons of gas in the tank at that time, so it may not have been enough.
When you say 'lift pump' what is that? Where is it? I'm not familiar with
that. Fuel pump?

Yes the fuel pump.

I had someone suggest that with the fuel tank fairly
full, it the fuel pump does not need to pump as 'hard' (due to gravity and
weight from the fuel I'd presume) so is able to sustain adequate operation,
but when the tank gets lower, the pump has to actually work harder? I ran
this by someone else, who said that if there were a tear in the fuel pump
there would be fuel leaking into the engine oil. This is all fairly well
beyond my knowledge base, so I'm just trying to come up with ideas of places
to check here.

That's true but if there is any sort of fuel restriction once the fuel in
the tank is lower it will be aggravated. i.e. a fitting that is fine when the
tank is full, might leak air when the tank is lower.




Don't overlook the possiblity of an ignition part that gets screwy at a
certain
temperature and works OK again when it cools down. Once had a cracked
distributor cap on a gas engine that acted like this. After running long
enough
for the cap to respond to heat- it would run like crap. After sitting long
enough for the cap to cool back down again- it would run fine for a while.

Hmmmm, wouldn't it reach a sufficient heat range much sooner than after
several hours of running though? The engines do not run hot at all really.

Yes again true but as Chuck says don't overlook anything, many ignition
problems only become manifest when the engine is hot.




But, again, that's a wild guess by a guy who boats with a proper diesel
and
doesn't have to mess with an ignition system. :-)

hehehe, I wish I could afford to put a couple of diesel engines in this
boat. Would be a bit spendy though, no doubt.

Thanks for the responses so far everyone. They're appreciated and will give
me places to begin looking next.

Nancy

back with a problem now
 

Well the one good thing is that it is most certainly a fuel or
ignition prob, both of which should be fairly easy to track down.
I am not familiar with your boat, is it Fuel Injected, does it have
electronic ignition? If you have EI, I would definitely start at the
ignition module, they are fairly cheap, or you could play swaptronics
with the other engine, If it is EFI, I would put a pressure gage on
the line and compare. I had a fuel pump on my pickup that worked
intermittantly , Once in a while it would just sputter and have no
power what so ever, I would pull over, pop the hood and all the sudden
it would run fine. It did this to me several times until the pupm
took a dump completely.
Let us know what you find
Good luck,
Jake









On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 19:15:05 -0700, "Nancy"
no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote:

Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems. This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40 minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy

back with a problem now
 

This discussion reminds me of a Uniflite that I once sold. One engine ran
pretty badly, and one ran well.

We discovered that one of the fuel tanks was quite a ways aft of the engine, so
far in fact that the normal fuel pump was overtaxed drawing fuel from that tank
to the engines. A previous owner had installed two additional, elelctric fuel
pumps between the tank and the engines, and it turned out that the auxiliary
pump associated with the engine that was acting up had failed. The engine got
enough fuel to idle, but would *never* achieve any kind of speed without
starving out, hot or cold.
Put in a new "booster" pump, and the boat ran sweet as kittens thereafter.

Be sure you let us know what it turns out to be, once you have tracked it down.
:-)

back with a problem now
 

Just a quick update on the port engine fuel problem.

I replaced the big screw-on fuel/water filter that is before the fuel pump
prior to posting here....today I pulled out the little filter inside of the
carborator, and it was FULL of crap. I can really see how it could have
been inhibiting fuel from getting through there very well. Replaced that,
and took it for a short spin Salmon fishing and it ran fine. Won't know for
sure that this took care of the problem till I get out on a long run though,
this weekend when I go chasing Albacore again.

Thanks all for all of the suggestions. I'm hoping that this is the end of
this problem. Going to go ahead and pick up another filter and replace the
one on the starboard engine, even though it's running fine. If one was so
plugged up, likely the other is not far behind.

Nancy

"Nancy" no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote in message
...
Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems.
This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the
port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that
out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to
test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a
few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like
it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it
with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40
minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run
it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel
Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy

back with a problem now
 

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 19:07:03 -0700, "Nancy"
wrote:

Just a quick update on the port engine fuel problem.

I replaced the big screw-on fuel/water filter that is before the fuel pump
prior to posting here....today I pulled out the little filter inside of the
carborator, and it was FULL of crap. I can really see how it could have
been inhibiting fuel from getting through there very well. Replaced that,
and took it for a short spin Salmon fishing and it ran fine. Won't know for
sure that this took care of the problem till I get out on a long run though,
this weekend when I go chasing Albacore again.

Thanks all for all of the suggestions. I'm hoping that this is the end of
this problem. Going to go ahead and pick up another filter and replace the
one on the starboard engine, even though it's running fine. If one was so
plugged up, likely the other is not far behind.

Nancy

Glad you found the problem. You may want to pick up an additional
"spare" filter while you're at it. That "stuff" came from somewhere,
and you may not be done with it yet.

Good fishing,
noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats

back with a problem now
 

Quick update

Irritating!! Even after replacing the filter in the carborator the problem
is still there and acts exactly the same... Port engine runs great for the
first several hours, then it starts cutting out as if it's not getting
enough fuel. This time I know I had enough fuel in the tank, so I know it's
not related to that. Out of a 100 Gal tank, I added 20 gallons when the
problem started up, and it continued once we were back under-way. Fueled up
right away and it only took another 35 gallsns, so I'm sure it's not related
to the amount in the tank.

Have had a couple of people suggesting possibly the coil or other ignition
parts. I guess that may be the next thing to try, a complete tune-up and
see if that takes care of it.

Any other ideas?

Thanks
Nancy

"Nancy" no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote in message
...
Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems.
This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the
port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that
out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to
test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a
few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like
it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it
with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40
minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run
it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel
Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy

back with a problem now
 

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 17:37:29 -0700, "Nancy"
wrote:
Quick update

Irritating!! Even after replacing the filter in the carborator the problem
is still there and acts exactly the same... Port engine runs great for the
first several hours, then it starts cutting out as if it's not getting
enough fuel. This time I know I had enough fuel in the tank, so I know it's
not related to that. Out of a 100 Gal tank, I added 20 gallons when the
problem started up, and it continued once we were back under-way. Fueled up
right away and it only took another 35 gallsns, so I'm sure it's not related
to the amount in the tank.

Have had a couple of people suggesting possibly the coil or other ignition
parts. I guess that may be the next thing to try, a complete tune-up and
see if that takes care of it.

Any other ideas?
===========================
I had a problem with my port side engine several years ago that was
somewhat similar. It turned out to be the coil which was flaking out
after running at speed for a while. Everything was OK up to about
1800 RPM but would not go higher until things cooled down. Other
possibilities in the same area are the ballast resistor, or maybe the
distributor cap as Chuck pointed out.

back with a problem now
 

Check for restricted coolant flow through the elbows.

Bill

back with a problem now
 

Well just a quick update here. Put the new coil on yesterday, put new
spark-plugs, wires, distributer cap and rotor (electronic ignition) on
today, and set the timing. We just got in from the sea trial and it ran
perfectly. The ocean is still kinda crappy, so we didn't go very far, a
couple of miles to the north and then ran back down. I pushed that engine
harder just to TRY to make it fail and it ran perfect.

Sooooo, I am hopeful that the problem is now solved and closed. Time will
tell for sure. After the wind and seas settle back down, will get it out for
a better trial.

Granted, the problem generally didn't occure real early into a trip, so
we'll just have to wait and see when things calm down offshore.

"Nancy" wrote in message
...
Quick update

Irritating!! Even after replacing the filter in the carborator the
problem
is still there and acts exactly the same... Port engine runs great for the
first several hours, then it starts cutting out as if it's not getting
enough fuel. This time I know I had enough fuel in the tank, so I know
it's
not related to that. Out of a 100 Gal tank, I added 20 gallons when the
problem started up, and it continued once we were back under-way. Fueled
up
right away and it only took another 35 gallsns, so I'm sure it's not
related
to the amount in the tank.

Have had a couple of people suggesting possibly the coil or other ignition
parts. I guess that may be the next thing to try, a complete tune-up and
see if that takes care of it.

Any other ideas?

Thanks
Nancy

"Nancy" no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote in message
...
Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I
was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to
me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems.
This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off
of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a
quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the
port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that
out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to
test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no
problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run
perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine
begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a
few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like
it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the
transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it
with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank,
it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40
minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the
fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to
run
it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel
Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy

Problem solved
 

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 19:06:52 -0700, "Nancy"
wrote:
Thanks so much to all of you for your ideas and suggestions of things to
try. Just thought I'd post the final solution for anyone else who might run
into something similar in the future.
====================================

Glad to hear you found the problem and thanks for sharing the solution
and your trouble shooting process. I had a nasty problem with hard
starting on my starboard engine at the end of last season that turned
out to be an air leak at the secondary fuel filter. My mechanic
finally found it but it took him a while.

Problem solved
 

On Thu, 31 Jul 2003 19:06:52 -0700, "Nancy"
wrote:

I'm reposting the original post here as a reminder of what all I was having
happen. We finally found the cause of the problem after MUCH searching.

Things that've been done in order:
Replace fuel/water filter
Replace filter inside carborator
Replace the coil
Tune up the engine, (plugs, wires, distributer cap, rotor, set timing)
(change oil and filters)
Visually inspect the fuel pick-up tube. No holes, no corrosion, no leaks
when would blow into it.
Rebuild the Carborator (had about 1/2" of sludge inside it throughout)
After each of these things, the problem persisted. Each of them needed
doing (except perhaps the coil, but doesn't hurt to have an extra back up on
the boat anyway). We put the rebuilt carborator on this morning figuring
that would solve the problem, only to have it start back in with the exact
same symptoms as soon as we got underway.
So, we decided to check out the entire fuel system starting at the tank and
working forward. Swapped fuel lines on the engines so they were coming off
of the others pick-up tube. Ran out, and sure enough the problem moved to
the other engine. Pulled out the pick-up tube, and reinspected it, with no
visable deformities noted. Figured maybe to rule out a possible problem
inside the tank below the tube, we swapped the tubes and put the fuel lines
back on right...and again, the problem remained with the other engine. (the
engine that had always worked perfectly). Sooooo, we replaced the tube, and
the problem went away. After putting some leverage on the old tube, we
found that the "L" at the top of the tube seperated inside of the threads,
and that was where it was leaking air.

Soooo, after all of this, the problem was an air leak in the tube right
inside of the threads so you couldn't easily see it.

Thanks so much to all of you for your ideas and suggestions of things to
try. Just thought I'd post the final solution for anyone else who might run
into something similar in the future.

Much appreciated.


"Nancy" no-spam.ask.me.and.we.can.talk.com wrote in message
...
Hi all,

First I must apologize for my abrupt leaving a couple of weeks ago. I was
under a lot of stressors in life, and just let too many things get to me.

Now, onto the problem of my boat.

Boat is a 30' Sportcraft with twin 350 inboards.
Both engines start up and run perfectly with no problems. Have been out
salmon trolling all day (at idle speeds), come in and had no problems.
This
past weekend I went out on a long range tuna hunt. (got 24 albacore off of
the Oregon coast, but that's another story. :-) ) Boat ran great going
out, trolled at 6-9kts all day. On the way back in however, after a quick
refuel (carried 40 gal. of gas in cans), about 24 miles offshore, the
port
engine began cutting out and stalling. Ended up coming in on one leg
basically, with the port engine at idle speed only at best.

I figured the problem was some crap in the fuel filter, so changed that
out,
and a few days later went out and did a short 15-20 minute trial run to
test
it...problem seemingly solved, engine ran at full speed with no problems.

Yesterday, I take some friends back out to the tuna grounds (only got 21
fish, but were not out as long either :-D ). Both engines run perfectly,
troll a good portion of the day and running back in the port engine begins
cutting out again. I found that I could shut it down, let it sit for a
few
minutes running on just the starboard engine, and then restart it and it
would run for a minute or two again then stall out again. It acts like
it's
running out of gas. No sputtering, no smoke, not hot, just cuts out.

Both engines run off the same gas tank, the tank is built into the transom
and I've not visually inspected it yet (not sure I can get access to it
with
any ease at all). But if it were a problem with the gas, or the tank, it
should be in both engines I would think. If it were a problem with the
engine only when it's warm, I would think running it for even 30-40
minutes
at speed would get it warm enough to present the problem. I took it out
today on the water and it ran perfectly for about 45 minutes. The ONLY
thing I've done is gas it up yesterday when we got back into port.

I have no real clue what to check next. It SEEMS to present when the fuel
tank gets down to a certain level, but without running it all day, to run
it
down again, I have no real way to check that again...

Any ideas or suggestions of what to look for next? Carborator? Fuel
Pump?

Thanks much for any suggestions anyone could offer up.

Nancy



Thanks, Nancy. It's *always* good to know (learn).
noah

Courtesy of Lee Yeaton,
See the boats of rec.boats
www.TheBayGuide.com/rec.boats