Boat won't start

boatman37

Think the brake issue is fixed now. Fixed the broken wires and tried it and so far so good. Backs up fine now. Gonna start it up again today to see how it runs then finish loading it up. Not sure when we will get it in. Supposed to storm today and tomorrow. Might just wait till sometime this week to put it in which means no boating this weekend.

Thanks for all the help! I'll let you guys know if it is definitely fixed

randy56

85/90 and sun in the midwest all weekend, where are you?

boatman37

Pittsburgh. It was supposed to start storming about 3:00 today and not stop until tomorrow night but as usual the weatherman was off. It was pretty nice until about 6:00 or so.

rasbury

It is cooking here in FL, have not seen a cloud in a couple of weeks and hitting near100....went to fix my brake which went fine but when I went to bleed and found the master cylinder locked up so I guess I know why my caliper locked...so ordered a new one. Had not planned on being on the water this weekend...to crazy out there and everyone with something that floats is heading out. I can make a 3 day weekend 51 weeks of the year and go boating....so will get the trailer fixed properly and maybe go for next weekend!

GMSLITHO

Ras you don’t really tow with that picture of that little car you posted do you 

rasbury

No GMS....that was just for giggles...my tow vehicle is an F150 which is still marginal/maxed for the 270 but does ok for what we do.

boatman37

Well we made it in today. Everything went fine. Boat ran fine. Just dropped the trailer off and grabbed lunch then heading back down. Gonna work on getting the dock set up and boat organized so not sure we will actually make it out today. Ramp to slip is about 1/4 mile so at least made it that far...lol. Dock neighbor commented about how shiny it was:)

randy56

Good news, looks like a nice Crownline. ....... 

boatman37

Thanks

reneechris14

Thats sharp looking boat. Glad it all worked out

boatman37

Thanks!. Spent a whole weekend buffing, polishing and waxing and just got all new canvas over the winter. it originally had the tan canvas but we decided to go with black

GMSLITHO

Boat looks great enjoy the summer 

rasbury

Looks like a good start!

boatman37

So after siphoning about 20 gallons of fuel out (about 15 was bad the last 5 looked good) we had the boat out twice and it ran fine. Went out today and putsied out of the no wake zone about 100 yards to the Ohio river then got up on plane. Ran about 1/2 mile up river on plane then came back down river about 1 mile then turned around and went to our anchor spot. When I backed off the throttle it stalled and wouldn't start. Dropped the anchor and pulled the fuel separator and dumped it in a container and it was about 50% bad fuel (separated). Had a new separator in the cabinet so put it on. After a couple hours on the hook we started it up and had to keep the RPM up for a few minutes to clear the bad fuel from the carb. After that I dropped it to idle and it sat there fine for about 5 minutes. Took off and got up on plane and all was good. Got the to entrance of our river and backed it down to about 1000 RPM's and it died again. Made it over to an old dock and tied up there and pulled the new separator and dumped it in a container. Fuel looked good. Put it back on and started it. It wouldn't start unless I pumped the throttle and would only run over about 2000 RPM. Anything under that and it stalled. We were only 50 yards from our slip so a dock neighbor came and towed us in.

So remember my boat is a 2006 Crownline but it has a 5.7 Merc 2 bbl with TKS. It has an electric fuel pump and you don't have to pump it before turning the key. It is NOT fuel injected

Any ideas? My first thought is more bad fuel but when I pulled that new separator after about 1/2 mile that fuel looked good. My thoughts are to siphon the remaining 45-50 gallons and put it in a 55 gallon drum for now then fill it with new fresh fuel and a new separator. If it still does it then I have 50 gallons of fuel to use as needed and look for a different issue?

Thanks.

rasbury

Why would you not knowing you have a mixture of bad fuel? Lord knows what ya got in there!

boatman37

Agreed Ras. My plan even after last time and even though it ran great the last 2 times out was to siphon it dry and change the separator to start fresh and eliminate those variables in case it happened again. Hopefully going to pick up a drum tomorrow then siphon about 20 gallons out tomorrow using the 4 5 gallon cans I have then maybe siphon another 20 gallons Saturday. After that there should only be a few gallons left in there. Our marina has a bunch of cans from 5 gallon all the way to 50 gallon so maybe I will borrow a couple Saturday and get it completely empty. 99% sure this fuel is my issue and I don't want it happening again.

GMSLITHO

You also have to figure out how the water got in there you can also get a scope and take a look inside the tank 

boatman37

i was assuming it wasn't actually water in there but ethanol separation because the boat had sat 3 years but starting to wonder now. my fuel cap doesn't have an o-ring but it kind of overlaps the filler neck so thought maybe it didn't require one. i'll get a pic tonight and post it up

GMSLITHO

3 years could be just a lot of condensation in the tank 

Dude_Himself

FUEL CAP NEEDS AN O-RING! I would start there - without it it will get water in when it rains. I was having fuel quality issues the end of last season - new oring and the problems stopped. I'm not using 10% ethanol fuel any longer either - finally got a decent local supply for that I can get to (280EC on a trailer + tow vehicle is 50' long).

boatman37

No o-ring on these. Dock neighbor has the exact same boat and he told me his does not have one and he pulled it to verify it. Another guy at the marina said it wouldn't have one.

So we get there tonight with intentions of siphoning fuel till it's empty. Siphoned 5 gallons and it all looked good. Decided to try it and it started right up and idled. Let it run about 10 minutes and it was fine so shut it off. Temp got to about 150. Waited about 10 minutes and tried again but it wouldn't run. Took the inline filter out of the carb and it looked good and I was able to blow through it easily. Put it back together and it started right up then stalled after a few minutes. Took that filter out again and left it out. At that point it would start but barely idle and die as soon as I give it a little gas.

I pulled the gas cap to see if maybe the vent line was plugged but that didn't change anything

Started thinking maybe time to rebuild the carb?

Here is the fuel cap:

aero3113

Here is a link to get the correct o-rings. (From @LaRea )

Size:  1-3/4 o.d., 1-1/2 i.d., 1/8 thick (fits most Rinker cruisers)
Material:  Viton

   http://www.theoringstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=367_79_82&products_id=3484

randy56

I'm 90 % sure your gas cap is a Perko take's a 1.5 inch o ring. I can see the grove where it goes. All boat gas caps are sealed. Bet your dock neighbors is missing also. They changed gas cap's in 2011 due to epa, but that's a different story.
Maybe someone else can take picture of there's to show o ring. Or go to Marine boat supply store and look at them. 

reneechris14

o ring on cap

reneechris14

The black stuff around the fill tube is sign of ethanol. Dam corn syrup.

boatman37

hmmm...interesting. maybe the dock neighbor does have one and he couldn't see it. i didn't look at it myself as it was on the other side from the dock so i took his word for it. will get that taken care of but that isn't the issue right now. thinking i might grab a carb kit and a couple new separators. speaking of separators what is their deal once contaminated with water? I replaced it when i bought the boat in august then replaced it in May when i had trouble then replaced it sunday. plan was to just dump it out but the o-ring on it was about 1/4" too big and we couldn't get it to sit back on the filter where it was supposed to so just put a new one on. That one worked fine. Boat idled and got up on plane. 1/4 mile later i backed it down for the no wake zone and it died. pulled that filter and there didn't appear to be any water in it that time. Do they 'plug' up once contaminated with water or can you dump them and put them back on?

reneechris14

Years ago i had a 20ft fourwinns took the filter off left for a week on my bench to dry out then used them again. Would think only way to get water out is to let it dry out. 

boatman37

So just to add to the confusion....went down today and decided to change plugs only because I already had them so what the heck. I knew that wasn't the issue but just get it done. Step-son removed the separator and said it was all good fuel in it. Put the inline filter back in too. Started it up and it barely idled and would die as soon as I touched the throttle. On the way there I stopped and bought another new separator so decided to try it. Boat started up and ran fine. Sat at the dock idling for 45 minutes and would rev up just fine. The filter I had just taken off was new Thursday and only went 1/4 mile with it and it was all good fuel that we dumped out of it. The only thing my step-son noticed was when the throttle blades were open with the engine off he said he could see water droplets sitting on the floor of the intake under the carb. He sprayed a little starting fluid in there and blew it away. It was after that that we started it and it idled fine. Didn't take it out or try it under load but it sounded like nothing was wrong with it.

Any ideas?

Cableguy Greg

That fuel cap needs an o ring. If you need one, I could meet you somewhere and give it to you. I have the same fuel cap and it has one. 

pault1216

As far as the brakes go, I just recently learned that the plug system is not always universal...even on the same brand of vehicle. You may want to run down which wire is which and then confirm your reverse light hot wire is going to your lockout solenoid on the trailer. I have found this helpful-

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

-Paul