engine trouble

[SHREDPOWDER]

Hi - it's a 2000 response lx 325 hp monsoon. It starts really easy, & idles smooth, but if you put it in gear & hit it, it almost dies. If i roll on the throttle really soft untill about 1200 rpm then i can hit it, & it pulls hard, but smokes quite a bit of black smoke. Then it will pull hard until ~3800 rpm & then it acts like it is hitting a rev limiter, it cuts out & won't rev any higher. Last summer it would rev up past 5k no problem. So I replaced the plugs, wires, cap & rotor, & fuel filter on the side of the engine. i did have about a half a tank of fuel in there over the winter, there was some stabil in the fuel also. Someone told me to put a bottle of heat in there incase there was condensation in the tank. that didn't help. i did fill the tank full with fresh fuel after running it down to ~ 1/4 tank of the old stuff. That didn't help either. Is there another fuel filter by the tank, if so where at? Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[99response]

You have an inline filter that will be located in the trunk, behind the carpeted pannel closest to the transom. The screws are hidden in the carpet, use a pick or your spider senses to find them.

It is a Wix filter I believe with 3/8" fittings, and I would plan to either relocate the filter or use finish washers on the trunk pannel to make it easier to access each spring.

-Chris

[electricjohn]

I use a studfinder to locate those screws in the carpet 99 mentions.

[SHREDPOWDER]

last year when i replaced the blower i put some bigger head screws in there. Picked up a new fuel filter, the old one was so clogged i couldn't hardly blow through it. i'll give that a whirl & update.

[electricjohn]

Sounds like you might have found your problem. Remember, at idle, only 1/2 gallon per hour is flowing through the filter. But when you nail the throttle that number jumps to around 25 gallons per hour.

[SHREDPOWDER]

UPDATE -

With the new inline fuel filter, & a new one on the engine just to be sure, it is a little better, getting out of the hole, but if i nail it too fast, it still chokes out before it takes off. & it still wont rev above 3900 rpm. Which is a little better than before, only by 100 rpm. The weird thing is, ONE time i took off from a stand still & it was pretty close to normal, it took off fast, & went up to ~ 44 mph @~4600 rpm but then while still at full throttle, it slowly lost power until ~ 3800 rpm & never would rev past there again. At least we had enough power to ski, but i hate it not running right. HELP!

[UWSkier]

Check all hoses to make sure there are no kinks, including the fuel tank vent line.

If not that, fuel pump.

[Sunsetter95]

Check all electrical connections for any corrosion from over the winter, grounds especially. Put some injector cleaner in the fuel and run it, there may have been some dirt that got through (not likely).

Chech the firing order. 18436572, if you switched 6 and 5 it will run but really dog it. I had a friend that did this to his old Camaro. He ran it for over a week before we checked it again and I found that he had crossed over the two wires.

[SmoothWaterMan]

Put a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and see where it's at. May have a clogged inlet screen or pressure regulator, or open one...

[D-GOOSE]

Put a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and see where it's at. May have a clogged inlet screen or pressure regulator, or open one...

Do the bu's have that inlet screen on the 90 elbow coming out of the tank? Maybe one of your line's has a restriction.

Is this an EFI or carb?

[68Slalom]

Put a fuel pressure gauge on the rail and see where it's at. May have a clogged inlet screen or pressure regulator, or open one...

[SHREDPOWDER]

***

checked the firing order, it's correct.

checked the fuel lines, there is no kinks.

i got a fuel pressure gauge, but haven't been able to get it to the lake yet. What should the pressures be?

I wanted to eliminate bad fuel so i drained the tank. i'm just not sure if it's totally drained. i disconnected the fuel line at the rail & used the fuel pump to empty it into a bucket. i don't know how the fuel pick up sits in the tank, hopefully it got it all.

i'm in the process of checking for bad grounds, haven't found any yet.

is there an inlet screen? where is that? under the tank?

- thanks for all the ideas i'm sure i'll get it.

[SHREDPOWDER]

it is efi

[electricjohn]

Fuel pressure should stay between 37 and 45 psi no matter what the load on the engine is. There might be (not sure on a '00) an inlet screen on the fuel pump. Remove supply side fuel line and look up there using a mirror and flashlight. My fuel tank has a small 4" x 4" x 4" reservoir built onto the bottom of the tank. This is were the fuel pick up tube extends into. So you should have got most of the old gas out. Good luck.

[SHREDPOWDER]

*** UPDATE -

The screen on the bottom of the fuel pump looks clear.

the idle fuel pressure is ~ 42

the w.o.t. fuel pressure is ~ 42

the fuel pressure when it cuts out ( like it is hitting a rev limiter @ 3900 rpm) is ~still at 42

i totally drained the fuel tank & put in fresh 91 octane, no ethanal & put in some stp fuel injector cleaner.

when i unpluged the vacuum line on the fuel pressure regulator at idle, the pressure went up to ~46.

it seems like it's got to be some sort of ignition problem???

what to check now?

[scfdfireman]

It sounds like you've done a good job on eliminating fuel related issues, so the next logical step would be ignition problems (and especially the coil). When coils fail they usually start to act up when under load and will eventually quit altogether. Try swapping it out...

[skier92]

did you check/ clean screen in fuel pressure regulator as Peter suggested? Could have good pressure but poor volume performance.

[68Slalom]

Agree, with scfdfireman. I would think you could rule out the fuel, now you need to check electrical firing, module, have you checked your cap and rotor? Moisture? Cracked?

[Sixball]

Try another battery. You may have a lose plate in the battery or something shorting out some plates in the battery. Take one out of one of your vehicles and do a switch see what it does. I have seen this happen more then once and it is very hard to find. The boat would run fine at idle but under acceleration it would show up or even in rough water sometimes.

I think it might be worth a try be for you start changing parts.

[68Slalom]

Try another battery. You may have a lose plate in the battery or something shorting out some plates in the battery. Take one out of one of your vehicles and do a switch see what it does. I have seen this happen more then once and it is very hard to find. The boat would run fine at idle but under acceleration it would show up or even in rough water sometimes.

I think it might be worth a try be for you start changing parts.

Never heard of this happening but would be very interested to see what comes out of it, never would have even thought of that I guess what he could also do is to disconnect battery after starting it to remove it from the system and let the alt. run the ignition system. I've done this on the fly to test the charging system, but you never know

Edited June 7, 2009 by 68Slalom

[SHREDPOWDER]

Try another battery. You may have a lose plate in the battery or something shorting out some plates in the battery. Take one out of one of your vehicles and do a switch see what it does. I have seen this happen more then once and it is very hard to find. The boat would run fine at idle but under acceleration it would show up or even in rough water sometimes.

I think it might be worth a try be for you start changing parts.

Never heard of this happening but would be very interested to see what comes out of it, never would have even thought of that I guess what he could also do is to disconnect battery after starting it to remove it from the system and let the alt. run the ignition system. I've done this on the fly to test the charging system, but you never know

i''l try that

[SHREDPOWDER]

did you check/ clean screen in fuel pressure regulator as Peter suggested? Could have good pressure but poor volume performance.

yes i did, it looks brand new

[SHREDPOWDER]

Agree, with scfdfireman. I would think you could rule out the fuel, now you need to check electrical firing, module, have you checked your cap and rotor? Moisture? Cracked?

cap & rotor seem fine. dry, & no cracks. they were replaced at the beginning of the season. I'll try a new coil

[Sixball]

Try another battery. You may have a lose plate in the battery or something shorting out some plates in the battery. Take one out of one of your vehicles and do a switch see what it does. I have seen this happen more then once and it is very hard to find. The boat would run fine at idle but under acceleration it would show up or even in rough water sometimes.

I think it might be worth a try be for you start changing parts.

Never heard of this happening but would be very interested to see what comes out of it, never would have even thought of that I guess what he could also do is to disconnect battery after starting it to remove it from the system and let the alt. run the ignition system. I've done this on the fly to test the charging system, but you never know

First time I came across this was on our race car. Started a new season and the car had a misfire on runs. The car was fine in the pits would rev past 8500rpm no problem. would go out to make a run and the car would shoot ducks all the way down the track. We tested two week and could not get the miss out. We changed the fuel system and every ignition part on the car still a miss.

We ended up going to a division race and before quaffing we took the car to the scales to check weight. We were over weight so decided to take a battery out and run with one. The car went down the track clean as a Wiesel. We went back to the pits put the other battery in and the miss was back. The battery's were the only thing we never looked at as they were new.

[SHREDPOWDER]

is there a port to plug in a data reader on these engines?