Hope someone can help. We have a 1994 Grand Sport with the Indmar Ford engine and it is carburated. Also, I have fairly basic mechanical knowledge and ability. Here is the problem - after running at low speeds or at idle (trying to pull up a new wakeboarder/skier/wakeskating/etc, if we turn the engine off and it sits for maybe 10 minutes or so it will not start again or is very, very hard to start. We do run the blower in situations like this. This weekend we were out with the kids with a new wakeboarder and as we switched out kids and the engine was off for 10 minutes it would not start at all and we had to get towed in. Let it sit overnight, next morning it fired right up and no problem. I am pretty sure we have a vapor lock issue but am not sure what to do to reduce/prevent/deal with it and thought someone here might have an idea. I have had a mechanic look at it when having it serviced but of course they can never get it to do the same thing and tell me there isn't anything wrong with is. Wife is out with the kids in it quite a bit and I worry about it happening when I am not there to help them deal with it. Thanks Craig
Do you run Ethanol laced gas? If so, try a tank or two without Ethanol. If you can't get non-Ethanol gas, put some marine stabil or Sea-Foam. On some boats, there could be a plastic T in the fuel line with a ball in it, that could be sticking shut. Try keeping your blower always on and see if that changes anything. When it happens again, put a wet cold rag on the fuel pump area and see if this helps. Cold rag cools it down so the gas won't change to vapor. Could maybe even a bad ignition coil too. If it really is vapor lock, you might want to check this out, vapor lock pump kit dwight
Dwight I appreciate the response. Not sure about the fuel mix because we really only have one choice in fuel and it is teh gas station right by the ramp - but it is a rural station and not a marine type station so whatever they have is what I get. I do always use the highest octane they have and have just started adding the StarBright Star Tron fuel additive this year in hopes that that was the problem. No such luck last weekend. Any hints on how to diagnose a coil issue? I have no idea on how to figure that out. My guess has always been vapor lock just because it is always very similar conditions under which we have a problem - long periods of time at idle or very low speeds and then shut off to switch wakeboarders and after sitting for 10 minutes or so it is very hard to start. Last weekend was the first time we couldn't get it started at all and had to get towed in. Tried so long the battery was running down and I started to smell the starter cooking and said that was enough. I will try the cold rag and see if that helps. The link to the vapor lock pump - is that just an additional pump that I would add to the fuel line and what does that do to help with vapor lock? I believe the engine is currently a mechanical fuel pump. The engine is always hard to start if we have not started it for a week or 2 and I always assume that that was because the fuel in the carb bowl has evaporated and it takes some cranking to pull fuel back thru into the bowls. Would this electric pump help push gas thru in that situation as well? Used to have vapor lock issues with water pumps many years ago in the Army and the only thing we could do to deal with that was switch out the pump and let it sit for a few hours - then they would fire right back up too. Thanks again Craig
I would suggest adding a fuel/water separator if your using ethanol fuel. This will help keep the water problems down. Ethanol is a big problem with marine engines and the components, trying to keep water out is hard and using the Star Tron is a good start but add a separator too and that will help a lot, you'll be amazed what comes out of your tank.
