2001 Sportster shutting down

[deerhunter]

2001 Sportster with carbuereted Indmar has served me well since new and now has appx. 635 hours on it. This season it runs great until it just shuts down in the middle of a pass thru the course. Usually it will re-start in a few minutes and finish the day. This time it wouldn't restart and had to swim it in(we have a private club lake and swim in wasn't a big deal). When it wouldn't restart, I checked spark at a plug and had plenty, next removed flame suppressor and pumped throttle and no fuel. Next day checked both filters at both carb inlets and they were clean, checked power to the fuel pump and had 13 volts, removed fuel line at carb and turned it over and had gas everywhere.Re-attached fuel line and it cranked immediately and ran great.A search @ crew turned up an issue in 2007 by Bondo, 88Skier, and Pup referencing the oil pressure sensing unit by the distributor that apparently can cut power to the fuel pump as a safety measure. If this sensor is bad can it cause my problem, can it work intermittently and why, or do I have a bad fuel pump and can it work intermittently, do I replace sensor or fuel pump or both? Any help will be appreciated.

[Green_Giant]

Use a probe or multimeter at the fuel pump when the problem occurs. If you have juice to the pump and still no pressure, sounds like a pump issue. If you have no juice and no pressure, sounds like a sensor or some sort of fuel pump relay or other safety related cutoff as you mentioned. I'm not that familiar with your particular setup.

Assuming your oil pressure is within the appropriate range. Those sensors are probably cheap, but there must also be a relay involved or something think the sensor runs on resistance but the relay is what would cut off the juice to the pump, if I understand the basics correctly.

Good luck.

[martinarcher]

Use a probe or multimeter at the fuel pump when the problem occurs. If you have juice to the pump and still no pressure, sounds like a pump issue. If you have no juice and no pressure, sounds like a sensor or some sort of fuel pump relay or other safety related cutoff as you mentioned. I'm not that familiar with your particular setup.

Assuming your oil pressure is within the appropriate range. Those sensors are probably cheap, but there must also be a relay involved or something think the sensor runs on resistance but the relay is what would cut off the juice to the pump, if I understand the basics correctly.

Good luck.

That's good advice. I installed a fuel pressure gauge between my pump and carb when i was having pump issues. It helps big time diagnosing fuel problems. Highly recommend one.

With that and a multimeter on the fuel pump leads it will be easy to diagnose when it happens again.

[SmoothWaterMan]

The oil pressure switch is the likely culprit. Next time it quits you can jump the wires on the switch and hear the pump run. If you do and it starts right up with it jumped, just replace the switch.

For 27 bucks you can just put a new one in too...

Peter

Edited June 19, 2010 by SmoothWaterMan

[deerhunter]

Use a probe or multimeter at the fuel pump when the problem occurs. If you have juice to the pump and still no pressure, sounds like a pump issue. If you have no juice and no pressure, sounds like a sensor or some sort of fuel pump relay or other safety related cutoff as you mentioned. I'm not that familiar with your particular setup.

Assuming your oil pressure is within the appropriate range. Those sensors are probably cheap, but there must also be a relay involved or something think the sensor runs on resistance but the relay is what would cut off the juice to the pump, if I understand the basics correctly.

Good luck.

[deerhunter]

Hate these intermittant problems. Thanks to all who responded. Skied yesterday with 5 skiers and each made 2 rounds and no problems at all. Boat is now equipped with all the tools, multi-meter, and recently fabricated jumper wire so I can properly diagnose and eliminate the problem should it occur again, or rather when it occurs again. Will keep ya'll posted.