2004 350MAG MPI – lost port engine while underway

As you mentioned, you may have had an obstruction. It would've been nice to get your old one back for an autopsy.
 
Thanks Rod,

Besides under $1K, have it back before the weekend is an awsome part of the deal.
 
Jeff,

Here's a picture of my new unit. I think it's pretty much the same as the old one and I do see the arrow showing the direction of the fuel flow. The arrow of the old unit was in exact the same position. Now, as I was turning the knob clockwise the arrow would point to oposite direction. I think this would indicate flow prevention. So, this confuses me as to how the override works, b/c turning the knob clockwise was the only option.

09062009017.jpg


09062009018.jpg
 
Alex, here is a link to a post that I started Tuesday...check it out.

http://clubsearay.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23308

Your new valve nicely shows the arrow plus the NORM & BYPASS stamped on the valve body.

When the arrow is rotated 180 degrees to BYPASS, the plunger is raised of it's seat overiding the spring the pushes it closed when the coil is denergized.

Hey, are your fuel tanks painted???
 
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Jeff,

Thanks for nice and detailed write up. I now understood 100% and see the stamps for NORM & BYPASS. This confirms that my basic attempt to use override feature was valid, but unfortunatelly there must be something stuck still preventing the fuel flow on the old unit.

I see that your tanks are alluminum, is it possible that mine are simply metal painted on the outside? I don't think that mine are painted alluminum.
 
Alex,

My port side engine is behaving very similarly to what you had initially described. It won't restart and is acting almost as if the kill switch lanyard on the smaller cruisers had been pulled. Its turning over fine just not catching. I traced my fuel lines back to the fuel solenoid and my looked horrible. The solenoid's old design had the connections hooked up on the outsided of the solenoid exposed to the elements instead of the new sealed connections.

Do you know which wires or the ground (white or black) your old connection and also on the new solenoid (wire with writing or plain)? Do you know what sealant was used on the brass fittings? Some kind of teflon tape or is it epoxy?

I just picked up the replacement solenoid today and want to get her hooked up for the weekend...hopefully this resolves the issue. Thanks.

Scotty
01 280 DA
T 4.3L EFI
5E Gen
Tenn River, AL
 
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Scott,

My engine was turning and catching for a moment. You discribe that your problem is like a kill switch is active where engine turns but has no attempts to catch is a slightly different symptom. Have you tried the override on the solenoid? The fact that yours looks bad is a good indication to a failure, but you need to keep in mind that it might not be the 100% cause.

Since the repairs were done by my local MM dealer I can't tell you details on the wires, but I'm sure that you should have at least a simple instruction sheet with new unit. As for the tape they've used regular electrical tape. Sealant was not a teflon tape, it's more like epoxy type. I'm sure you can get it from local WM or MM stores.
 
Scotty, use a thread paste with teflon (found at about any good hardware store) DO NOT USE TEFLON TAPE

The 12 VDC coils on the solenoid valve are not polar sensitive, if they were, there should be a + and - indicated on the wire leads.
 
Alex F said:
As for the tape they've used regular electrical tape.
Click to expand...

For your area, I'm suprised they didn't use a piece of heat shrink tubing on the wire splice to keep it moisture tight....wrapped electrical tape will allow moisture to creep in on the connection and could cause future problems for you. Unless they used a heat shrink wire splice....You may want to take a peak under that tape to see what they did...
 
Thanks for the reply guys, I appreciate it. I think I'll use a permatex type sealant from NAPA for the fittings, not sure if I need to get new brass connectors yet. I'll have see how are they are to take off of the old solenoid. Alex, I have the new fitting in a box and they come prewired to a female receiver (plug in type connection). I am going to do just what Jeff said connect with butt connectors and heat shrink over them.

When I compared the picture of your old solenoid to my old one my looked like it had been through several tours in Iraq compared to yours. Thus leading me to believe a complete failure vs your seamingly partial failure. My engine was starting fine, just would take a couple of tries. This occured on two seperate occasions, but I never ran the boat much more from the fuel dock to the slip. Then this last weeken I had some friends over and just after pulling out of the slip and pushing both motors in foward the port side died. It took me at least 30-45 seconds to even realize the motor died...It was running the normally. This leads me to believe that the solenoid is frozen much like on a badly rusted starter motor. You can tap and get to work for little while but eventually it won't work at all anymore...this is my current logic anyways. Tomorrow I am going to replace fuel filters and the solenoid do a couple of voodoo dances and see if I can get some loving from the ole 4.3. I'll post my results tomorrow night.

Scotty
 
I had to replace a Floscan sender this spring and had the same thought abt electrician's tape. I bought a can of that paint on black rubberized stuff for the connections. Couple of coats followed by electrician's tape.
 
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