Vapor lock or something else?

[JHutch]

So played hooky and took the boat out today. Everything was great until we anchored for about 2 hours to eat lunch and swim. When I decided it was time to go I went to start the boat and it just sputtered. I put the boat in neutral and tried revving the engine and it wouldn't rev. Tried restarting and same thing until it finally wouldn't start. Flagged another boat down and got towed to the ramp. After the 45 minute tow home I decided to put it on the fake a lake to see. Sure enough it fired right up.

I am taking in to a shop first thing as I have a 2 year old and don't want to get stranded, but was this vapor lock?

[mmandley]

It depends on the year of the boat, older boats can have these symptoms and it could be vapor lock. The best way to tell is pour cold water on the fuel lines when your having the issue.

Also it could be a bad Ignition control module starting to act up.

On my old Z28 it would start fine cold and run all day as long as i never shut it off, once i shut it off it could be 15 minutes to several hours before it would start again and I ended up tracing it to the ICM in the distributor.

On my 93 Vette when the ICM started to fail it would run 15 minutes then shut off the engine, over the next week TSSing it got shorter and shorter until I could almost time the engine shutoff at 7 minutes.

[wolfeman131]

Sure sounds like vapor lock

[996scott]

yea it's probably vapor lock. I've had that happen several times. Just take a bottle of ice cold water and pour it over the fuel lines and fuel pump and it will start right up. Mine does every time.

[JHutch]

Its a 2008 340 EXCat motor, do they still have the vapor lock issues?

[wolfeman131]

yes and I think it has more to do with the ethanol in the fuel and your fuel pump & filter being outside the fuel tank more than the motor itself

[moombadaze]

^^^ agree'd 100%

[JHutch]

Well that's not good. I am under the assumption my fuel pump is under the floor on a 2008 XLV. Any idea how to fix this on the water so I don't have to get towed or stranded next time?

[jmvotto]

e free gas or treatment

[moombadaze]

leave your blower running for awhile when you come to a stop to help blow out some of the hot air, leaving the engine hatch cover open a little will also help dissipate some of the heat