Engine cutting out and quickly recovering.

[MJPesky]

I have a 1996 330 Sundancer with twin 7.4 V Drives. The other night my port engine was dropping out about every 5 to 10 seconds and then quickly recovering. I brought the boat in and changed the fuel filter. Same issue. I swapped the coils. Same issue. I then changed the fuel pump. The boat was running fine, however,, when I shut it down and try to start it the next day, I had no luck. I pulled off the fuel filter and noticed it was not topped off. If I top off the fuel filter and dump a little bit of fuel into the carburetor the boat will fire up and run. However when I shut it down and check hours later, it won't start and once again the fuel in the fuel separator is not topped off and below the in and out hose level. I was thinking maybe it was an anti-siphoning valve issue, however I switched the engine to the starboard tank and after shutting it down, once again the engine wouldn't start and the fuel level was low in the fuel filter. Any ideas????? Thank you!

 

[Wanderer 290]

Fuel pump is possibly sucking air meaning there is a leak in fuel line on the suction side.

 

[MJPesky]

Ok.. here is the latest. Boat will still idle at least 20 minutes then stall out. Usually as just moments again, it a hard restart and then it will idle perfectly for another 20 minutes or so... then stutter and stall again. Here are the steps taken so far
New electric fuel pump
New fuel separator
New cap and rotor
New ignition wires
New plugs
Swapped carburetors
New coil
Ran directly off external fuel can
Disconnected tach/sync
Same old same old... What else could it possibly be?!?!?!? It just ran for another 15mins, then stalled out. The restart needs some pumping of the throttle and high rpms, while cranking... then it fires up and it will idle. Any ideas?!?

 

[scoflaw]

Did you do the pickup coil ? Check it for fuel and spark when it fails

 

[Blueone]

Water in the fuel….. not saying this is the magic bullet but an easy fix to eliminate the possibility

I know you did the can but fuel takes a while to get thru the lines

 

[MJPesky]

Fresh full tanks of fuel.. so ruled that out. I think the only things I haven't replaced are the pickup and the ignition module. I just purchased two fuel pressure gauges so I'll Plumb one of them in tomorrow and watch it when it stalls out. At least that'll 100% rule out a fuel issue.

 

[Blueone]

Fresh full tanks of fuel.. so ruled that out..

I completely understand …..before vacation 3 weeks ago I filled up the dinghy….on vacation it kept stalling….my buddy gave me an additive to put in the tank to get rid of water…….the problems went away completely…. I’m not saying it’s your solution…..just saying eliminate a possibility ……cheaper then anything you done so far….good luck

 

[techmitch]

What are you loosing, fuel or spark?

 

[MJPesky]

I'm very happy to close out this thread! As Scotland stated, it appears the problem was the pickup on the distributor. Replaced it today and it seems to be running perfectly so far. Tonight or tomorrow I'll try her inner load. Thank you so much!!!!!!!

 

[highslice]

I'm very happy to close out this thread! As Scotland stated, it appears the problem was the pickup on the distributor. Replaced it today and it seems to be running perfectly so far. Tonight or tomorrow I'll try her inner load. Thank you so much!!!!!!!

I was trying to figure out who "Scotland" was and where he posted on this thread... @scoflaw

 

[scoflaw]

Well holy shit and best of luck

 

[Pirate Lady]

Can i ask? Plz, what do you mean by the pickup on the distributor?

 

[PlayDate]