During the last several cruises, after an hour or so at 2500 RPM, the engine (25xp) will slowly lose power and die. My initial thought was air getting into the fuel system so I would immediately bleed the motor and after a while the engine will restart and regain power but only for another half hour or so, and then die out again. I would repeat the process until we were safely in the slip.
Another thing I noticed was our Facet pump was very hot, almost too hot to touch! This sounds like either a bad pump or an obstruction in the line. After inspecting all the usual suspects, including but not limited to, air from the primary Racor, installing a new Racor filter, installing a new secondary filter, checking the screen in the Facet Pump (Clear) and checking the fuel tank inlet for the dreaded pick-up screen (PO had already removed it), I removed the pump and took it my local parts guy for an opinion. He quickly did a bench test and indicated the pump didn’t sound right to him and we determined the pump was bad.
So last weekend I installed the new pump, checked the elec connections, installed all new 3/8 fuel line(Except the ½ return line), Installed all new filters, bled the system, checked and rechecked for air intrusion or any other blockages. I also added a fuel pump line switch as I did most of this work alone. Fired the motor up, ran up and down the estuary at 2500RPM for about 45 minutes with no issues. I pulled into the slip and now the NEW Facet pump is HOT!
Well crap…
I’m starting to run out of ideas here.
It’s time to consult the experts..
The filter and lines are installed correctly. Tank to Primary Racor to Fuel pump to secondary filter to injection pump.
I’ve read through much of Mainsail’s information and also Mr. Hill’s posts in the Tech Wiki and they’ve been very helpful.
I am going to replace the ½ return line next as that’s the only one I haven’t replaced yet. I even replaced the short line that runs from the secondary filter to the injection pump (Which I believe was original!) Hopefully it isn’t the injection pump itself. There is a PO installed fuel shutoff valve at the tank and it looks and works ok.
Any other ideas?
Am I missing something obvious?
What else could be heating up the fuel pump?
I’m not looking forward to the engine quitting again in tight quarters and having Stu shadow me back to my slip (Which he has graciously done.. Twice)..
A few pictures are here:
http://public.fotki.com/sailorick/sv_painkiller/new-fuel-pump/Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!
