*Gen 3 Cool Fuel Module Issue*

I don't have a problem yet, and don't want one either.
So maybe glass bead the cover and change the fittings over the winter?
I hear people talking about corrosion but I see none now.
 
Half Fast said:
Anyway I am curious about this part of your post:

You did not say whether or not your engine was under warranty. I have tried, with no success, to get Mercruiser to pay for this on mine, arguing that it was obviously a design defect, they no longer make the defective part, etc. etc. .. but the answer has consistently been - out of warranty? - go scratch.

Can you clarify a little on whether it was indeed replaced free of charge, what year your engine is, and whether it was still under warranty?
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My boat is a 2007 and the engine was not under warranty.
Bottom line when the smoke cleared I was on the hook for about $600.00 in labor charges. Mercruiser provided the new fuel module free of charge (a 1K part). But there was another problem, paint from the fuel module had traveled up and clogged the fuel rails. That required an additional 2-3 hrs of labor to resolve.
Even though the faulty fuel unit was directly responsible for the paint in the fuel rails mercruiser would not cover it.
 
Vince_nj1 said:
Do you know if this replacement housing will fix the issue or is this one painted on the inside too?
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If you are lucky the delaminated paint has only clogged the housing, filters, and regulator. If you are not so lucky the paint has made its way into the fule rails and injectors. Either way a complete fuel system inspection is needed. The fuel rail pressure test will only tell you if the regulator is compromised, it will not tell you if the fuel rail has paint flakes in it.
The new fuel modules are not painted on the inside and use different style raw water hose connections so its not necessarily a DIY repair.
 
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jg300da said:
My boat is a 2007 and the engine was not under warranty.
Bottom line when the smoke cleared I was on the hook for about $600.00 in labor charges. Mercruiser provided the new fuel module free of charge (a 1K part). But there was another problem, paint from the fuel module had traveled up and clogged the fuel rails. That required an additional 2-3 hrs of labor to resolve.
Even though the faulty fuel unit was directly responsible for the paint in the fuel rails mercruiser would not cover it.
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I asked my local dealer the other day when I was in buying parts, and they knew nothing about this issue.

How did you get Mercruiser to get you the parts? Does anyne know if we can just call with our S/Ns and they will send them to us? I am slightly confident that I could replace this if I got the parts. Luckily, I am not showing any signs of this issue right now.
 
I called Merc customer service today, looking for any helpful info. The reply was that there is no recall, and the guy on the line admitted to hearing something about it but couldn't comment and after talking for a good ten minutes said to contact my dealer. Which I did about a month ago. Dealer said, yea, we see plenty of that but don't sweat it, go boating. No info to share other than, hey if your fuel pressure spikes, drop your boat off. Of couse he knows my warrenty expired 3 months ago. Laughs a little, talks about the weather and says see ya when we see ya. Hyannis Marina for anyone that wants to know
 
Hi Scoflaw,

Are you at Hyannis Marina?

I had mine replaced by Hyannis Marina last fall, I’m still under warranty. I spoke to the mechanic who changed it and he said he noticed the hoses were just starting to leak during winterizing so they replaced the whole unit.
I ran into him early spring on our dock, he was replacing 1 on a 260DA not under warranty I think he said it’s a $1400 job…
 
No, I slip at Skippys in S Yarmouth. They did some warrenty work for me last fall. The whole deal is ,I don't want to pay $1400, but want to resolve the problem, on the cheap.
 
Thanks jg for posting this...and the others for their contributions too. I just want to be sure I know where to look for the delaminated paint...If I have an issue, will I see it inside the housing when I replace the fuel filter & filter disc?
 
Stray Cat said:
Thanks jg for posting this...and the others for their contributions too. I just want to be sure I know where to look for the delaminated paint...If I have an issue, will I see it inside the housing when I replace the fuel filter & filter disc?
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No - you will not see it - its after the filter - that is why its such a problem. To see it you need to remove the unit and take the furl pump cover off - the inside of the cover is what flakes
 
scoflaw said:
No, I slip at Skippys in S Yarmouth. They did some warrenty work for me last fall. The whole deal is ,I don't want to pay $1400, but want to resolve the problem, on the cheap.
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Sorry, but I don't see that happening. First off Mercruiser doesn't have a recall on this. There are service bulletins about it that are available, several links have already been posted in this thread. If your engine is still under warranty you might be able to convince your dealer, as I did mine, to meet you half way on this but we are talking about a thousand dollar module and at least 2-3 hours labor to replace it. If you are unlucky like I was the delaminated paint will make its way into the fuel rails and that could easily double the labor totals.

Stray Cat said:
Thanks jg for posting this...and the others for their contributions too. I just want to be sure I know where to look for the delaminated paint...If I have an issue, will I see it inside the housing when I replace the fuel filter & filter disc?
Click to expand...

The quickest way to determine this is to remove the fuel regulator. It is the small round disc located on the top of the fuel module. You will need a 8mm box wrench to remove the three small bolts, then just carefully pry it up and remove. Mine was covered in black paint flakes. By the way, when I removed my filter elements there was no sign of paint in them. If you have access to a pressure gauge you can take a reading at the fuel rail. There is 1/4" schrader connection to connect your gauge. Normal pressure readings are I believe 38-40 psi. Higher readings indicate a faulty regulator probably caused by the paint.
 
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My on the cheap plan, involves cleaning the paint off the module cover and changing out the water fittings. Don't sound to hard. My question is, what is actually corroding on the water lines and are the plastic fittings replaceable with stainless ones?
 
I think there is more to it than just the paint issue, the new module uses a totally different fitting type than the old. The old raw water connections had a corrosion issue that was causing interior flow restriction and exterior leaking. Also on the original module the raw water lines were pressed on without worm clamps. The new setup uses stainless clamps at the raw water connections. Check with your dealer to see if the new fittings are compatible with the old module.
 
scoflaw said:
My on the cheap plan, involves cleaning the paint off the module cover and changing out the water fittings. Don't sound to hard. My question is, what is actually corroding on the water lines and are the plastic fittings replaceable with stainless ones?
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the holes in the housing itself corrode and they are not tapped for the screw in fittings - the old plastic fittings are pressed in the hose and of terrible quality - they cannot be removed without cracking the fitting to remove them or cutting the hose.....If your housing is not that corroded there was a guy on ebay that had duplicated the unique fitting in stainless - it still used the same retainer system and o-ring. I don't know if he still sells them. the retro fit housing uses simple screw in hose barb fittings and hose clamps. if you could tap the existing housing you could duplicate the system - because the hose is fairly small, you would undoutably need to bore/tap it larger than required and use a reducer
 
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So I am guessing you can't take the pump out and just clear out the paint. The fear is that you might just make it worse.
 
skolbe said:
So I am guessing you can't take the pump out and just clear out the paint. The fear is that you might just make it worse.
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Yes you can do that no problem - the "problem" is when you go to re-install the unit and the fragile, crappy cooling hoses won't go back on the right way due to corrosion or cracked fittings.
 
Half Fast said:
Ok now I am confused? Warranty or no warranty?
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Sorry for the confusion, I'll clarify; My engine was NOT under warranty. I pleaded my case to the dealer (I had purchased 3 new boats from him in the past 10 years), he supposedly made a call to Mercruiser and they agreed to cover the cost for the module only. What ticked me off was that they refused to cover the labor for the damage downstream caused by a part that had a known design issue.
 
So you have to remove the unit to pull the other portion off. I was thinking I could remove the top of it and then see what I had.
 
skolbe said:
So you have to remove the unit to pull the other portion off. I was thinking I could remove the top of it and then see what I had.
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Well, you know about the problem at least now if you suddenly start having fuel pressure issues - and you can also make sure you include the CF3 module in your visual inspections to make sure it isn't corroding around the hose connectors. If you pull the regulator and don't see any paint flakes, and you have no other issues - you *should* be OK. For now.

Still, I understand how disconcerting it can be to have a potential engine-shutoff situation from something you might not be able to visually see coming. This really should have been a recall.
 
I had a conversation with the Service manager at that marina that is working on my boat about these faulty units. I did not buy the boat from his dealership, but he is an authorized Mercruiser dealer. His position/belief is that "Not every Cool Fuel III is faulty". He is guessing that there was a bad production run that allowed a few Cool Fuel 3 units to be manufactured with a defect (bad paint) and that there are plenty of boats running around with these units that do not have any problems.

Personally, I don't buy it. If that was true, then Mercruiser would not have discontinued the design and released a new version. I think their inherit design did not consider the effects of Ethanol and that these units will continue to fail at a very high rate. Instead of doing the right thing, they are hiding from the problem and making profits for the dealers and their Parts division by selling replacement units. Seems like this could be a nice class action law suit waiting to happen. Anyone know a good attorney?
 
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