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***Before you change your fuel pump READ this**


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I know this has been addressed before but just to throw it out there again. I know many people who have the symptoms of:

boat hesitates when you gun it.

boat surges and slows or has trouble accelerating over a certain speed.

sometimes misfires/backfires when having these other symptoms

Your fuel pump is whining

well I have found that in the majority of the cases I have seen the actual problem is the very small filter on the fuel intake side of the fuel pump.

Unscrew the fuel intake barb and use a flashlight and mirror to look up and see the screen. It is sometimes difficult to take this screen out so there easy fix is to spray PB Works up in there and it will eat off all the garbage that has collected and your screen will look new. Put everything back together and you will be surprised to learn your whining will be gone and the above symptoms will also dissapear.

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Great advice.

Welcome to the site.

One thing I might change is from spraying a solvent (strong one at that) directly into your fuel system, I would recommend spraying something like carb cleaner instead.

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My fuel pump went out this past Friday. At first, I was not really sure what the problem was. I had a friend with me and he told me to turn the ign switch to position one. There was no sound coming from the fuel pump (was not priming). I talked to one boat dealer and he told me to take to fuel pump off and just drop it. I did it, put it back on and it worked.....for about 10 minutes. After calling about 8 different places, I finally found a new fuel pump 100 miles away on Saturday. Went and picked the pump up, put it on and thought all was going to be good. Well the fuel pump worked, but then the shift connector for tranny cable broke. This was somewhat of an easy fix, but will be ordering a new connector today.

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Yes thats it the only one that has a big black hose running to it.

I agree with a previous poster with the carb cleaner instetad of the PB Works, but that is all I had and it will do the job.

My boat went from all the afore mentioned problems including a whine to a smoothly running machine with no whine!

If you do need a fuel pump make sure you get the napa equivalent instead of the 245.00 one from Ski dim save yourself a $100 or so dollars.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So everyone is pretty much in agreement that spraying a carb cleaner up into your fuel pump will not hurt anything?

I have developed a bit of a fuel pump whine (no other hesitation symptoms or anything), and plan on replacing the fuel filter and doing the carb cleaner trick this weekend. I bought the 'Gunk' carb cleaner.

Thanks

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  • 1 month later...

:plus1:

For the cleaning of the screen. I had alot of the symptoms described numerous places on the board: Hesitation, occaisional backfiring if I hammered it down hard enough, ran better with more fuel in the tank, and eventually low rpms and low speed.

It worked exacly as advertised. Idled it out deep enough to test it, and no problems, instant gratification.

One note, I would defintiely recommend getting a mirror. Cleaning it was a little bit of a PITA because I had to hold the can of carb cleaner uupside down, so I would only spray for so long. With the mirror you can tell when it is clean.

Also, I don't think you are dissolving the crap with the cleaner, just foricing it off (since I saw several black pieces fall into the bilge), so if you had pressurized gas or something you could do it that way if you don't want to use carb cleaner in the fuel line.

Thanks again for the great advice. It is scary to think how much time and money I would have spent paying to have this diagnosed.

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I know this has been addressed before but just to throw it out there again. I know many people who have the symptoms of:

boat hesitates when you gun it.

boat surges and slows or has trouble accelerating over a certain speed.

sometimes misfires/backfires when having these other symptoms

Your fuel pump is whining

well I have found that in the majority of the cases I have seen the actual problem is the very small filter on the fuel intake side of the fuel pump.

Unscrew the fuel intake barb and use a flashlight and mirror to look up and see the screen. It is sometimes difficult to take this screen out so there easy fix is to spray PB Works up in there and it will eat off all the garbage that has collected and your screen will look new. Put everything back together and you will be surprised to learn your whining will be gone and the above symptoms will also dissapear.

Maybe I am confused?, but isn't the fuel pump on an EFI fuel injected Indomar engine in the fuel tank? Your picture shows the fuel pump on the external side of the engine. Where is the fuel pump on an Efi engine? A 5.7 V-8, 2004, 320 hp.

Thanx

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  • 10 months later...

Maybe I am confused?, but isn't the fuel pump on an EFI fuel injected Indomar engine in the fuel tank? Your picture shows the fuel pump on the external side of the engine. Where is the fuel pump on an Efi engine? A 5.7 V-8, 2004, 320 hp.

Thanx

It is mounted on the forward starboard side of my 98 VLX. Fuel delivery goes from tank to first inline filter to pump to secondary filter to fuel rails etc. (eventually to atmosphere). Have lots of rags and a couple small containers ready when you work on this system.

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Another reason that everyone "1 wrench" ShadeTree Mechanic should have a fuel prssure. You can purge the fuel system tit is about dry with a Fuel pressure guage. Most of them have a long slear tube where you can depressurize the fuel system.

I just replace my fuel pump. Bought it brand new from jasper Engine Components on ebay for $109. It was the CARP 60962 and they were great to deal with.

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It is mounted on the forward starboard side of my 98 VLX. Fuel delivery goes from tank to first inline filter to pump to secondary filter to fuel rails etc. (eventually to atmosphere). Have lots of rags and a couple small containers ready when you work on this system.

Hopefully a large portion is converted to heat?

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Greetings..i have spewing this on this list for the last two years. My 1996 Response did not have a filter before the fuel pump. I have been told they all did..mine did not. This is an easy fix that all should heed!! The guy with the 1997 Echelon still seems to be resisiting the easy fix.

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Maybe I am confused?, but isn't the fuel pump on an EFI fuel injected Indomar engine in the fuel tank? Your picture shows the fuel pump on the external side of the engine. Where is the fuel pump on an Efi engine? A 5.7 V-8, 2004, 320 hp.

Thanx

probably the same place. In tank pumps started about 06 or 07. also notably, no filters thereafter.

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  • 1 month later...

The Crew saves me again. I had the exact problem being described. I have 2001 23 LSV with the Indmar motor. At about 3000 rpm the motor would start to cut out. I tooke the fuel hose off theternal fuel pump and cleaned the screen inside the fuel pump with carb clearner. Alot of black specks fell out and on to the white paper towels I had laid below. Now runs great. Thanks for saving me the cost of new fuel pump.

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  • 2 years later...

I have a 2005 VLX with I believe a monsoon and roughly 500ish hours I've owned it about a year. I have this same problem - boat runs fine at any speed for about 30 minutes, then sputters like its about to die with no real warning. It will then run without hiccup if kept under 2800 or so RPM. I've run two cans of seafoam through it and used only marine premium with no ethanol from two different marinas (although they're probably served by the same truck). Yesterday I changed the fuel filter (part number 33299 I think) from the tank to the bottom of the fuel pump and it ran 30+ minutes between 20 and 30mph then started choking. I ran it for the next hour's drive home at 2600 or so RPM and it didn't hiccup a bit. Almost home, i tried to push it past 3k and it ran maybe 10 seconds before starting the sputtering. I've put two new batteries in, either/both show 14 on the voltmeter, temp gauge is just below 160 in 82 degree water (new thermostat last year). I've called the two most knowledgeable inboard mechanics I know including the certified Malibu guy who winterized it and they're stumped. I have not checked the fuel pressure (again, runs great for 30 minutes at any speed)... any suggestions?

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  • 2 years later...

I realize that this is an old thread, but have been experiencing the same issue for years and spent a lot of $$$ to get a dealer to get what appears to be a temporary fix. Can someone please post the picture again showing where the barb in question is located on the pump? Thank you in advance for you help.

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I changed my filter this weekend and ran the boat. Seemed to be our issue however we wanted to clean out the screen at the inlet of the pump and Its very hard to see so I took a few photos to help some others clarify what it is we are all talking about. I've never cleaned the screen myself so those of you who have could you please add your input? When looking past the fuel filter the line going in ends up here which I am assuming is the pump. From all the posts ive read all I need to do is loosen this lower fuel inlet hose and I should find a screen going into the pump that will pop out, spray carb cleaner on to get off the gunk and re-install? Is the screen located in the barb at the bottom of the pump?

Thanks in advance fellas this forum is so helpful.

 

FYI I have a 05 Malibu Wakesetter VLX Monsoon 340

 

Topside view

9C1175E3-1296-4169-840F-A1EAB4D1F796_zps

bottom view

D523D5B8-78F1-4AF3-9F89-4F875E52E193_zps

 

 

 

Edited by jdeltoro
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jdeltoro, you have the location right.

afaik the screen does NOT pop out.

that's part of the difficulty; cleaning it in situ.

i swabbed w q-tips and could see enough w mirror to convince myself that was all that was needed (in my case).

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When I looked at the bottom of the pump it appeared to have 3 screens with the center open. I cleaned it with carb cleaner, will run on a lake tomorrow to see if the issue under pressure continues. Did anyone else have the 3 screen look on theirs?

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  • 2 weeks later...

In case there are people like me wondering wtf this filter looks like.

Before cleaning you can see all the crap that misses the in line fuel filter and gets into the screen I could not believe it.

C2E7DF64-F3A5-4890-A8BB-40411C941139_zps

CC817ECB-B60D-41B4-974F-E325B603B2A0_zps

 

After

983D68DB-E3C3-4C9F-B2A9-41E363D9E605_zps

I plan on taking the boat out tomorrow so well see if that cured the bogging issue at 30+mph

  • Like 2
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Just to follow up, we took the boat out this 4th of july weekend. No issues in regards to bogging. We were on the water for a good 7hrs and had no symptoms.

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I am a new boat owner, and have just replaced my throttle and transmission cables. Since doing that, i have experienced the same symptoms described above... chugging when gunning it, occational backfire, the boat will start right up and when i go to put some throttle down it will bog out. 

Plan on trying to clean the screens described above. May seem like a silly question, but again new to this and not all that mechanical! But, do i have to shut the gas lines off before doing this? 

  • Like 1
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The pump should be higher than the fuel but if you have a shutoff valve it would be a good idea to close it just in case it tries to siphon.  

Bigger concern would be relieving the system of pressure before you start.  

Also make sure the ignition is off.  Better yet turn the perko switch to off before you start.  

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