As a was entering a cut in the reef in the engine surged and died. I was able to sail in and anchor safely, but I am having trouble fixing it.
I replaced the Racor filter and tried to prime it with the inline electric pump, but no fuel came out (yes, the valve is open). Is it possible that the line picking up the fuel from the tank has been clogged? How do you remove the fuel line from the tank and is it advisable?
There was considerable gunk when I changed the Racor. The boat had also been sitting for a month in the Bahamas before this happened.
Sounds like it ran out of fuel. The dirty Racor may have been the culprit. You might want to go ahead and change the engine mounted filter also. Our boat has a fuel shutoff solenoid valve at the fuel tank. Check to see if you have an electric valve where the line comes out of the tank. If you do, you will need to turn the key on in order to get fuel for priming.
Alright, I have spent the day tracing the fuel line from the tank to the Racor and I haven't found any clogs. Blew into the fuel tank and heard bubbles and blew threw all of the high pressure hoses to the racor filter - all was fine.
I still can't prime the racor with the electric pump or the manual pump. Any more ideas?
I do have an electric valve where the line comes out of the tank. It is in the "overide" position. I will try the other position.
If the solenoid valve has an override position, you shouldn't need to power the valve to get fuel. I would try turning on the key anyway and see what happens. In fact, one of you can listen to the valve while the other turns the key on and off. You should hear or feel the valve click when it opens and closes.
Try blowing through the lift pump, same with the electric pump- You are looking for a failed check valve here. You should be able to blow in the direction of normal flow, but not backwards. If one of the pumps has a failed check valve, you should be able bypass it and run on the other pump until you get the failed pump repaired.
If you were able to blow through the solenoid valve, it is probably not the problem. Recheck the Racor o'rings and make sure you did not cut or roll one of them when you reassembled it- It happens. If you didn't change the o'rings when you changed the filter, do it while you have it back apart. The Racor should be located on the suction side of both pumps. If you have a damaged o'ring, the pumps will both suck air. Did you fill the Racor after changing it? If you can't find a bad check valve, no damaged Racor o'ring, try priming the engine from a jug of fuel. Put a hose on the inlet of the Racor and hang it in a gallon jug of fuel and see if you can get the engine primed. I'm kind of suspecting the Racor o'rings at the moment...
Problem fixed. For some reason I wasn't able to prime the fuel hoses until I tried cranking the engine with the starter. After that the electric pump did its job and I bled the engine normally.
All is well and I think I will congratulate myself with a drink at the bar for not having to get a mechanic.
You know, I would have been happy to come help you with that, especially if we were in the neighborhood. We hope to be in the neighborhood in a year or two. Keep your blog up as you have time- we're following you.