Taken on water?? funky gas gauge

[matman]

Seem to be taking in water. Cannot locate the source, any suggestions?

Fuel gauge is all over the place, can't tell what's in the tank, any ideas?

[Wolf-]

Originally posted by matman
Seem to be taking in water. Cannot locate the source, any suggestions?
Fuel gauge is all over the place, can't tell what's in the tank, any ideas?

Check your cooling system.
Check your ballast system (if it drains to the bilge)
Check where the shaft goes through the hull. Should be light drippage from the sealing cord.


I dropped my new outback off at the dealer on Sat for fuel guage problem.

[matman]

It does not have ballast but I'll check the others....tx

Let me know the outcome of your fuel gauge.

Cheers,

[NH Moomba]

My advice is to give it up on the gas guage. My 2000 Outback LS is all over the place as was my 4 Winns and the Chris Craft before that. The orientation of gas tanks, their shape, chop and the nature of the float systems are just not conducive to accurate readings. Luckily, my lake is small.

Andy

[JoeTechie]

The gauge problem can be a faulty sensor - not sure how easy it is to replace on your model - check w/ the dealer.. could be a simple cheap fix for some piece of mind.

-J

[mseidelch]

My gauge doesn't work exactly either ('05 XLV). But I read it here and in other forums that this is always the same problem on any boat...
I take engine hours as a reference....

Markus

[EUSTACE]

How much water are we talking about? Is your bilge running for 20 seconds or 2 minuets several times a trip? All boats will take on some amount of water.

As for the fuel gauge: It is frustrating because it bounces all over the place so you may want to keep track of you Hour meter. For instance I have a 2001 Outback LS, with ballast, crew and gear, I’m somewhere around 1500 to 1800 #s and I burn 5 to 6 gallons of fuel per hour in tow. When we are just cruising with no ballast we are around 4 gallons per hour.

Hope this helps, E

[qb12]

Sounds like the excess water is probably a result of the shaft packing needing to be either tightned or replace and if it is lot of water could be a crack in the mufflers.

Doug

[matman]

Thanks everyone for your advise and input! very much appreciated

Cheers