Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

00 VLX - Priming trouble / Rough start


MattyICE15

Recommended Posts

3rd winterization with the BU - no previous issues

Last week: Seafoam in gas while loading on trailer, drained all hoses + block, blew out heater hose

Yesterday: Re-attached all hoses, filled block with antifreeze through j-hose, poured some in manifold by t-stat hose, poured some in heater hose.

Step with issues: filled up a bucket with AF to hook up hose to run through other aux systems.

Symptoms: Engine had hard start and seemed to run rough (always started quick and ran smooth previously). Also could not get impeller to prime and suck anything out of the bucket. only ran for 15 seconds here and there (4 or 5x) trying to diagnose the problem. Have Globe run-dry impeller but checked inline hose and metal grate up stream to see if i had burned it up, but had no debris. Also took impeller cover off to visually inspect and it looked fine. Impeller housing was still cool to the touch. Checked hoses for bad connections/ air leaks but didn't see anything obvious. Decided to goose throttle a bit to try and get the pump to prime. was getting smoke out exhaust, gave a little more gas with no success, then a bit more and finally smoke cleared, engine started to run smooth, and then started sucking AF through. sucked up the whole bucket in a few seconds.

WTH happened? Something I did wrong or could have avoided? Should i be worried about exhaust smoke/and engine running rough?

Either way - I'm comfortable that I'm good for winter storage for now. Will inspect more carefully during spring with annual maintenance.

Link to comment
On 10/22/2018 at 1:43 PM, bscheper said:

These engine are not designed to suck out of bucket.  Get a pump and drop in bucket to get pressure.

Really? I've never had an issue with this and it seems to be pretty common across other members. Still surprised and a bit confused I guess...

Link to comment

I usually pull the neutral switch and rev the engine for a second to make sure it gets a good prime right when I crank the engine. Never had an issue this way with it not sucking up the antifreeze out of a bucket.  I do this every time I launch my boat at the lake too, just to make sure it gets that initial prime.

Link to comment
15 hours ago, jwl019 said:

I usually pull the neutral switch and rev the engine for a second to make sure it gets a good prime right when I crank the engine. Never had an issue this way with it not sucking up the antifreeze out of a bucket.  I do this every time I launch my boat at the lake too, just to make sure it gets that initial prime.

how much of a bump do you give it? I had to goose it fairly considerably to get it to pull from the bucket...

Link to comment

The smoke you discribe could be from the seafoam? Was it white? Also causes a rough running condition. I’ve seen guys smoke out whole neighborhoods by adding it directly to their engines. How much did you put in? To how much fuel? 

Edited by BlindSquirrel
Link to comment
1 hour ago, MattyICE15 said:

how much of a bump do you give it? I had to goose it fairly considerably to get it to pull from the bucket...

That's exactly what I do, that way I know it gets primed.  Usually rev up to about 2500-3000 rpms real quick and back to neutral.

Link to comment
On 10/25/2018 at 8:03 AM, BlindSquirrel said:

The smoke you discribe could be from the seafoam? Was it white? Also causes a rough running condition. I’ve seen guys smoke out whole neighborhoods by adding it directly to their engines. How much did you put in? To how much fuel? 

That's what i originally thought, but I didn't think I put that much in. At most a half a container (the smaller ones) with just less than 1/2 tank of gas. I usually measure out how much to put in but i just dumped it in this time since it wasn't close to a full bottle. As soon as I primed the white smoke went away which was interesting.

Link to comment

Probably just water vapor/steam from cooling water remains in your exhaust.

I think it’s nothing to worry about. And the blue impellers are notorious for not priming as good as the black neoprene ones.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...