Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I noted earlier the PC was running horrible last trip out. Fuel pressure was pretty low and I'm thinking I have a bad fuel pump (rarely happens with the 3.0, the Starcraft's is the original going into it's 11th season).

I pulled the line off of the fuel tank and found this:




Looks like the fuel line has some kind of plastic liner which is collapsed and melted, don't know what caused it but I will inquire at West Marine and our marina tomorrow.

Problem is, getting to the line at the fuel pump is a bear to get to. Good thing is, it's cheap as far as part costs go.

well that sucks.
the whole line collapsed, or just that end?
ethanol?

At least you found the problem. Once you dig into to it, it will probably easier than you think to fix it.

funky, I never knew fuel lines had a plastic liner inside???

FloterBoter wrote:well that sucks.
the whole line collapsed, or just that end?
ethanol?

I haven't removed the rest of the line yet. I assume it's ethanol, but it's odd that a boat built in '06 wouldn't have ethanol resistant lines. Never had a problem with the Starcraft. The fuel pump to carb line looks like it's made different, so this is the motor installer's fault (i.e Tracker's) and not Mercruiser's.

mike wrote:funky, I never knew fuel lines had a plastic liner inside???

New one to me too.

Thats not giving me warm fuzzies, sitting here with my 2007 3.0

Hi, i have seen that many times working on these boat motors, ethonal (sp) will eat the plastic lining and cause it to shrink up like that, Also if that is at the end of the line some people in a hurry will shove the end on and the end will push the linining back into the hose and create a block. i had one here that the guy took to the local boat shop 3 times,,,, they cleaned carbs and changed filters and did about 400.00 unnesasary work to the motor when all they had to do is cut off 2" of line and put it on slowly it took me about 15 min to find it, but i check out all the lines and filters and primer bulbs before i tear into the motor also check the gas tank vent, i have see mudd dobbers build nests in bunches of them... motor will run great then start slowing down and die because of vacume in the tank after about 15 -30 min it will start again

sorry to ramble on so much........ new here and i need to shut my mouth and sit back and read


PS: i cant spell worth a crap but i can run the hell outa a boat LOL

sHan tn wrote:Hi, i have seen that many times working on these boat motors, ethonal (sp) will eat the plastic lining and cause it to shrink up like that, Also if that is at the end of the line some people in a hurry will shove the end on and the end will push the linining back into the hose and create a block. i had one here that the guy took to the local boat shop 3 times,,,, they cleaned carbs and changed filters and did about 400.00 unnesasary work to the motor when all they had to do is cut off 2" of line and put it on slowly it took me about 15 min to find it, but i check out all the lines and filters and primer bulbs before i tear into the motor also check the gas tank vent, i have see mudd dobbers build nests in bunches of them... motor will run great then start slowing down and die because of vacume in the tank after about 15 -30 min it will start again

sorry to ramble on so much........ new here and i need to shut my mouth and sit back and read


PS: i cant spell worth a crap but i can run the hell outa a boat LOL

Welcome, Good to have additional mechanical knowledge here. Just know the basics now, had to quit when they started piling all that stuff on top of the motors. Cleaned all the grease off the sockets and ratchets and they have pretty much stayed clean. Admire the folks that kept up with the improvements that have come along over the years, the motors seem to last much longer. Remember when a car had 80k miles it was ready for the junk yard now it is just getting broke in. Again WELCOME TO THE BOARD
doc

Welcome glad to have you jump in and start helping right off the bat and don't worry about the spelling just add http://www.iespell.com/ to your browser and all you have to do is right click and hit spell check, I couldn't get by without it

Welcome to the forum sHan tn. Anybody with first hand mechanical knowledge is always welcome.

If you use Firefox browser, spell checking is automatic. Just right click on any word that it highlights and it will give you corrected words to choose from.
Check out http://www.mozilla.com

Welcome ! This was a few inches down the fuel line, not where someone shoved it on messing up the liner. Can't see in the pic, but it appears dissolved. When I went to West Marine for new line and asked for ethanol resistant fuel line, they looked at the blocked up sample I gave them with the plastic liner as if they've never seen anything like that their "alcohol resistant" fuel line has no liner. Neither does the 3.0 motor on my Starcraft.

To be safe, I'm replacing the fuel pump and filters. Hopefully the carb isn't screwed up, list price is about $800 new. There's a few brand new on eBay for $500 for the complete TKS retrofit kit with carb. I'm also removing and cleaning the tank....

Doing that, I found another issue. There's a slight leak in the anti-siphon valve fitting as well.

A throttle body fuel injection kit may be in my future

http://www.affordable-fuel-injection.co ... how_detail

We bought a used 98 Fisher Pontoon several years ago and that sounds like what happened on our boat. It ran great the day we bought it and a week later started cutting out. The people we bought it from were appalled that they had said it was fine and it not be and insisted on having it checked and paid for the work. The 2nd mechanic finally found it! AFter the hose was replaced it was great!

WaltF wrote:Thats not giving me warm fuzzies, sitting here with my 2007 3.0

This was an issue with the motor installer using incorrect fuel line, hopefully the same line wasn't used on yours. Parts come in Friday so that's my weekend chore.

Cheryl wants to take the good ship Moonshine for a cruise anyway. She hasn't been on it since we bought the PC.

Well take that sexxy gal out for a cruise!!