air in fuel line?

[hipster dufus]

please bear with me, i was heading down the lake with my 2009 9.8 4 stroke tohatsu, wot, all of a sudden it starting missing or maybe the right word is starving for fuel. wot for maybe 10 minutes. fresh fuel, marine stabil always in my fuel. the primer bulb was soft. checked for air leaks, disconnected lines, pushed in engine end of line to kind of bleed it. reconnected. ran wot for awhile, bulb stayed hard. is it possible i have or had an air leak? i baby this engine. i did run and check my top speeds and they stayed within my previos parameters. my tach speed was good. was it an abberation? was it just a bad fuel connection? thanks ahead of time.

 

[pvanv]

Re: air in fuel line?

You may have had a restriction or air leak between the bulb and the tank, or it may have been a "slug" of marginal fuel. Probably just an anomoly. Did the bulb actually suck down, or was it just a little soft? The fuel line and bulb is under suction, so any minor restriction -- even a tank that is a few feet below the motor -- can reduce available fuel delivery.

 

[hipster dufus]

Re: air in fuel line?

the bulb was a little soft, it never sucked down. it usually stays hard..i now have it pointed up, the hose is loosely coiled on top of the tank. any way to check it ? thanks for ur reply

 

[TOHATSU GURU]

Re: air in fuel line?

Generally you would check from the tank all the way up to the fuel pump by squeezing the bulb and looking for leaks. However, sometimes a leak may not manifest unless there is pressure on the exterior of the hose. Usually we pump it up rock hard and walk away for ten minutes. If it drops pressure you know there is an issue....But, what you probably had was a bit of debris in the carb that momentarily caused a problem.

 

[hipster dufus]

Re: air in fuel line?

flushed my motor today, like i always do after i use it, it wouldnt stay running at idle. my tiny tach read 850-870 rpm, tried the adjust. got it to 970 rpm. would idle fine then die. pulled plugs, loked good cleaned and reinstall. pulled fuel tank pick up. looked good. will try another test at a small local lake. motor revved right up while flushing. i have one last rtip left, hope that it will run okj. still under warranty. would appreciate any advice when i take it out for my test run, what to look for etc. once again i thank everyone for their help.

 

[pvanv]

Re: air in fuel line?

You may have some marginal fuel or some minor varnishing of the low-speed carb circuit. Try some known good fresh gas, and see.