Mystery Engine Trouble

[walb0244]

Hey guys. I took my boat out today. We were out for a total of 10 hours today. Well we ran the boat for about 4 hours pulling people and then I took the boat to the dock so that we could eat lunch and all. I had about 8 people in the boat so it was just easier to eat at a picnic table at the dock. Well I shut everything off on the boat and it sit there for about an hour. When we all piled back in the boat to take off. I started the boat and the motor fired off fine. I started to back off and noticed that the motor was running funny. It sounded like it was starving for fuel. The motor died on me and wouldn't start back. So we put it back in a slip and started to trouble shoot. I took the fuel line off the inlet side of the fuel filter and made sure we had fuel pumping to the fuel filter. then took the line off the back side of the fuel filter and made sure had fuel coming out the back of the filter. Once I put everything back together because we couldn't find any problems I tried to start the boat. I turned the key on and let the system prime since I figured with unhooking the hoses all the fuel was out of the lines. Motor fired right off. We ran the boat the rest of the day because it seemed like everything was fine. I don't know what caused it. Any ideas? My father in law suggested that maybe it "Vapor Locked". Basically the fuel lines and everything get too hot and vaporize the gas. I'm not a mechanical guy so can't describe it well. Didn't know if anyone had any issues like this before.

[phospher]

sure sounds like vapor lock. if i were to experience this i think i would try and insulate my fuel lines and possibly the fuel pump.

[scoot_gt]

+1 vapor lock. Pour cold water or wrap a cold towel around the fuel filter, wait 3-5 minutes and crank her.

Try the following to help avoid it
- leave the fan running
- open the engine hatch while parked
- don't shut her down immediately after a hard run, let her idle a little or open the engine hatch to cool er down

[walb0244]

I read a forum on here where a guy was having problems with vapor lock with his 1998 Moomba and one guy commented saying to get a EFI motor. Like I said earlier I don't do mechanical. Does EFI or carburator make a difference when it comes to vapor locking?

Also, I'm guessing that if I would have left the engine compartment opened during lunch that it would have maybe kept this from happening?

[scoot_gt]

Does EFI or carburator make a difference when it comes to vapor locking?

Happened on my 06 325 EFI 2 or 3 times.

Also, I'm guessing that if I would have left the engine compartment opened during lunch that it would have maybe kept this from happening?

Hard to say for sure but it wouldn't have hurt. How hot was the engine when shut down? How hot was the ambient temp? etc.

[MEDIC151]

Had this happen to mine. It was the winter blend fuel. It vaporizes at cooler temps and mine was happening in the fuel rails. Mine is EFI and it happened, even though most people don't believe it will in a EFI. I drained all the fuel and used it in my truck and got fresh, summer blend and it never happened again. The heat soak once the engine is off is what really made it bad. Once started, it would run fine. I had the gas from the winterization and even with stabilizer it did it. I would try that first. Good luck.

[sandm]

classic symptoms of vaporlock. carb'ed or efi doesn't matter. it's all in the placement of the pump and filter and the ethanol-blended fuels that are around the country. vw bugs were notorious for this same problem even before ethanol fuels due to the tightly sealed engine compartments with no real way for air to flow around them. the solution for them was decklid standoffs that opened up the rear engine hatch a little to allow heat to escape.
scoot hit the nail on the head in his first post on how to solve the issue at the lake for free. there are other solutions that render his not needed, but they cost coin.

[phospher]

yes, these are the exact reasons why they now have the "pump in tank" in the new ones.

[walb0244]

So a solution is to have the pump in the tank so I assume the fuel keeps the pump cool?

Thank you to everyone for helping me figure this out. I also heard a whining afterwards. Read it could be from the fuel pump.

If anyone ever wants to give me a hearing test and me have the best score they should give it to me with little noises while I'm on my boat. I get so paronoid at times when I am on the boat or when I'm towing it. I hear every little thing it seems like. I'll stop the boat and be like do you hear that? And everyone is like nope.

[phospher]

I get so paronoid at times when I am on the boat or when I'm towing it. I hear every little thing it seems like. I'll stop the boat and be like do you hear that? And everyone is like nope.

I am the same way. My wife calls me "anal", which is probably true but now that my wife and I have started a family I'm learning not to be so "anal" because..well I probably don't have to explain it to most of you here..but because my little bugger destroys everything I just remind myself (often reminders are necessary) to enjoy what we have and not worry so dang much about it. It's funny because every time my little guy breaks something my old man always says, "it's pay back time". He'll never let me forget some of the stupid things I did when I was a kid. Now I know where he was coming from when he told me all the crazy stuff I did as a kid. One thing my dad likes to bring up is how I poked my fingers through his nice Klipsch speakers when I was young.

I do like to live by the 7 P's though.

Prior, Proper, Planning, Prevents, Piss, Poor, Performance. Skip the first three and get the last three.


The weekend is almost here